 It is the second major crash in Brazil in less than a year |
Critics of Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo have said for years that a major accident would eventually happen on its runway. In February, a federal judge banned three types of large passenger jet from using the runway because it was too short to accommodate them, and because of concerns over the airport's drainage system.
The authorities at Congonhas appealed against the decision and it was overturned in court the following day.
After the case, the authorities began to resurface the runway and improve its drainage system.
However, should it be proved that the TAM plane overshot the runway, difficult questions will be raised as to why the judge's decision was overturned.
The incident also comes less than a year after Brazil's worst aviation disaster yet, in which 154 people were killed when a commercial airliner collided in mid-air with an executive jet.
That event prompted Brazilian air traffic controllers to work-to-rule in protest at the treatment of some of their colleagues - a protest which has periodically caused chaos in the air traffic control system, and massive delays at airports across the country.
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