Bubbers,
The lack of eyewitnesses. Several on the street saw the crash but were unable to describe it. Bear in mind that it was a dismal, cold early evening. Crews sitting in cockpits would have been facing the terminal and any aircraft taxying would have been going in the opposite direction to the crash site. Between the passenger terminal and the end of the runway there’s a smaller airforce/VIP terminal which would have blocked much of the view to that end.
Presumably some in the tower saw but might be forbidden to make any statements. When the TAM airbus landed on 35L there was a light twin awaiting takeoff clearance on 35R. Exactly when they received it will probably only be revealed in the report, but they had begun the takeoff and did not notice anything amiss until the explosion, when the tower instructed them to abort. By that time they were nearly airborne and judged it safer to continue.
In post #338 Rippa mentions having seen tyre marks at the end of 35L while he was (departing?) on 35R. The weekly newsmagazine Veja published a photo yesterday showing deep marks from the main gear crossing the grass pretty much as in the Google Earth image in #283. No nosegear marks are visible in the photo; the grass surface is uneven so the lack of marks at the exit may have been due to the nosewheel bouncing upwards on a small hummock. There is also a photo of where the main gear broke through the low wall.
BOAC
Slippery? A captain who flew the accident aircraft BHZ-CGH on Sunday evening (15 Jul, date of the first rain after the new surface was laid), told friends in an email that he’d had one of the biggest frights of his 17 year career: they touched down at the 500ft mark, aquaplaned, nearly left the side of the runway and came to a near stop at the very end, just in time to swing onto exit “E”. The email was in response to the friends’ concern that he might have been involved in the crash. To his chagrin it appeared later on a local aviation forum before being pulled, and he’s been hounded by reporters seeking (but not getting) interviews.