News from El Heraldo
(NOTE: Unofficial translation)
Fatal Flight 390
Aeronautics does not rule out failures
Airbus 320 of TACA acident could have been by mechanical failure or the humidity of the runway, say the authorities of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation
By: Peter Membreño
• The climate weather conditions in Honduras have decreased visibility in the terminal air Toncontín, a phenomenon that would have caused the accident Taca.
Tegucigalpa
For the authorities of the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), the crash of the Airbus-320 registered yesterday morning could have been due to a mechanical failure rather than weather generated by Hurricane Alma, which became a tropical depression. According to Boris Ferrera, deputy director of Civil Aviation, the plane landed on a routine basis at around 9:45 in the morning on the airport runway Toncontín arriving from the Comalapa airport in San Salvador.
Ferrera said that the Airbus-320 had enough space to maneuver on the runway, after ruling out that it had fallen erratically. According to the representative of Aeronautics, the control tower at Toncontin airport authorized the descent of the aircraft, as the flight progressed as usual.
"The flight was made in a normal way with over 100 passengers on board and the aircraft made his normal flight and had a perfect approach procedure to the runway, because no matter how long or short is the airport runway it has plenty runway at Toncontín to maneuver on land, but there are things that happen that are beyond the reach of humans," said Ferrera.
"The information we have from the staff at the control tower is that it made a perfect landing, but that's why we think that there could have been a mechanical fault, because it had spare runway and landed perfectly and could have made any maneuver on land, but there are things that are beyond the knowledge," he said.
Until yesterday it was handled that the accident reportedly killed at least five people, three travelling on the plane and two others who would have perished crushed. Among the dead is the chairman of the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (BCI), Harry Brautigam.
Investigation
In the afternoon, the director of Civil Aeronautics, William Seaman, said the Toncontín airport would remain closed pending the development of a an investigation process through insurance companies, Taca and the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration. Seaman said that it should analyze the experience of the pilot, weather conditions and status of aircraft before issuing an opinion thereon. The head of Aeronautics stated that a few weeks ago the airlines were warned about the danger represented by the runway under rainy conditions. "I took the representatives of the airlines to see the status of the runway. We do not want to say that these were the conditions, but the wet runway is a danger, it is one of the factors involved, we must see experience, weather conditions, the airplane, see if it was a human failure, a number of factors should be considered." According to reports from Honduras National Weather Service, the visibility conditions were not the best due to persistent rain generated by the passage of Alma on the national territory.