TAM Issues Clarification to the Public
July 21 2007 - 2:49PM
PR Newswire (US)
SAO PAULO, July 21 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Still under the impact
of the tragedy occurred last Tuesday (17), TAM addresses the public
once again to offer clarifications. TAM rigorously complies with
all the technical maintenance and operations specifications of its
fleet, guaranteeing its absolute commitment to safety, one of its
salient commandments ("More important than the customer is
safety.") (Photo:
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060418/SPTU001LOGO ) With
respect to published news related to the thruster of the Airbus
A320 PR-MBK, which carried out flight JJ 3054, the company informs
as follows: 1) TAM President Marco Antonio Bologna and Technical
Vice-President Ruy Amparo answered questions on this issue during a
press conference held on Wednesday, July 18. Therefore, the
information that the right thruster of said aircraft was
deactivated -- a procedure carried out in accordance with the
Manuals from the manufacturer, Airbus, and approved by the
Brazilian National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) -- was public since
the day following the accident (7/18). 2) Modern airplanes, such as
the Airbus A320, include in their certifications a great number of
redundancies in their basic systems in order to raise their safety
and operational efficiency levels.
http://www.taminforma.com.br/images/5.jpg 3) The manuals of the
aircraft's manufacturer (MEL - Minimum Equipment List), approved by
French and Brazilian authorities, provide with a high level of
specificity the necessary configuration for the aircraft to perform
each type of flight safely and absolutely within the expected
operational conditions (meteorology and runway).
http://www.taminforma.com.br/images/2.jpg 4) In accordance with the
policy of transparency that guides the company's management, TAM
makes available on its websites (http://www.tam.com.br/ and
http://www.taminforma.com.br/) copies of the certified manuals that
clearly show the complete legality and safety of a flight performed
with a deactivated thruster.
http://www.taminforma.com.br/images/3.jpg 5) Also available on its
websites is a copy of the log book that clearly shows, including
the signature of the dear Captain Kleyber Lima, the absence of any
technical problem that may have affected the operation of the
flight on its takeoff from Porto Alegre.
http://www.taminforma.com.br/images/4.jpg 6) It also shows the
statement issued by Airbus, the aircraft's manufacturer, attesting
to the normalcy of a flight with one or even two deactivated
thrusters. http://www.taminforma.com.br/images/1.jpg 7) TAM further
notes that all landing performance calculations made by the
manufacturer and which are used as an operations guide by any
airline company for aircraft of the size and technology of the A320
are made depending exclusively on the hydraulic brake system of the
plane. 8) The MBK aircraft joined the TAM fleet in 2006, and had
26,320 flight hours. The last line check, or check-A, was performed
on June 13, 2007 and the last structural check, or check-C, on
November 27, 2006, and was due again in July 2008. 9) The
investigations of the accident are under the responsibility of the
Aeronautical Command through the National Center for the
Investigation of Aeronautical Accidents (CENIPA), which has already
sent the "black boxes" (Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice
Recorder) to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), in
Washington D.C., for the reading of the data corresponding to
flight JJ 3054. At present, in addition to lamenting the tragedy,
TAM shares the pain of the families and friends of the victims
among passengers and its staff. The company reaffirms its formal
commitment with the efforts to reduce the painful consequences of
the accident, including a strong effort to continuously follow-up
on the communications process from the company to the public. About
TAM: TAM (http://www.tam.com.br/) has been the leader in the
Brazilian domestic market for more than three years, and held a
49.1% domestic market share and 69.6% international market share at
the end of June 2007. TAM operates regular flights to 49
destinations throughout Brazil. It serves 76 different cities in
the domestic market through regional alliances. Additionally, it
maintains code-share agreements with international airline
companies that allow passengers to travel to a large number of
destinations throughout the world. TAM was the first Brazilian
airline company to launch a loyalty program. Currently, the program
has over 4.0 million subscribers and has awarded more than 4.3
million tickets.
http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20060418/SPTU001LOGO
DATASOURCE: TAM CONTACT: Investor Relations - Phone -
+55-11-5582-9715, Fax - +55-11-5582-8149, , or Press Agency - Phone
- +55-11-5582-8167, Fax - +55-11-5582-8155, Web site:
http://www.tam.com.br/ http://www.tam.com.br/ri
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