You may have heard, at some point, about the difficulties Brazil has been having with it's aviation, air safety and such. Less than a year ago, we had the worst air crash in Brazilian history. 154 people died. Since then, the situation has been, to put it in one word, chaotic. Problems regarding air control, lack of air traffic controllers, outdated equipments and a bunch of other problems have surfaced. There were strike threats, absolute chaos in the airports, planes that had delays of more than 10 hours. It's really been a nightmare. All sorts of investigations into the plane crash are still taking place.
This evening, a little before 7PM, a plane was landing in one of the airports in São Paulo - the most important airport in the country - and it skidded off the runway, over an avenue that's next to the airport, and into a building on the other side of the street. There was a gas station beside that building. There were explosions, a huge fire, and it's really, really insane. There were 187 people on the plane. Most probably all dead. Plus the people on the ground. I am in such a state of shock. It was really bad. And this is not going to be a good thing for the country. It's been the main story on CNN and BBC International all night.
The airport in São Paulo, called Congonhas - one of the two in the city -, as I mentioned, is the most important in the country. As in, the airport with the biggest flow of people and airplanes. The busiest airport in the continent, if I'm not mistaken. It's small in size, but has a huge volume of flights. But the airport is literally right in the middle of the city, as you can see in the pictures below. I've always found that very scary. When you land there, it's almost like you're landing right on top of the buildings.
I think I really am loosing my mind. One of the first things I thought, after the shock, was that the Chief Justice might have been on that flight, because the city it was coming from - Porto Alegre - is her hometown. Plus, I'm not quite sure, but I think her parents and her daughter probably live there. Until I realized it was the beginning of the week, and she had been at Court today, so she couldn't have been on the plane.
The whole country is in quite a state. We've never had two airplane accidents happen one so soon after the other. Besides, before the crash last year, we'd never really had an accident this big. The entire Brazilian delegation at the Pan American Games is said to wear a black armband for the next few days, in respect for the victims. The President has declared three days of national mourning.
Even I'm scared of flying now, and I've been flying almost since the day I was born. Last year I made more than ten flights in the space of one month, for work. Come to think of it, during one of those trips, one to São Paulo, when we arrived at Congonhas the plane made a turn on the runway and sort of skidded a little and I remember my colleague and I making some comment about the pilot being drunk. Thank goodness I don't actually have to travel for work now, but people can't stop flying because of accidents and stuff, although the situation in the country has really been insane recently and many people really don't want to fly. People who do have to fly all the time have had to face unbelievable delays and all sorts of inconveniences. This really, really sucks.


The plane skidded off that runway, to the left a little, past that avenue on the left side and into the building.