A great deal has been said regarding other aircraft during the day having issues on the same approach and landing....but not on how close were they to their MLGW....???
Not much has been said about TAM adding at least 2 rows of seats to this aircraft from their original config....5 more rows than the revised B6 config....4 rows more than TED.....40 or more seats than the same aircraft in a typical North American 2 class config. The flight was full...NRSA's filled it.
I have read that TAM has tankered fuel into that airport in the past...I do not know if that was the case on this flight....and I have not seen any weight manifest for this aircraft regarding cargo and baggage...but in any case, just on pax count alone, I would think that this aircraft was close to its Max Landing Gross Weight and thereby make any landing attempt far more difficult...and then adding in no ILS, no grooves, no #2 reverser, known wind eddy problems from surrounding buildings, and rain with reduced visibility on a short runway.
