TAM Airlines Flight 3054

Introduction
TAM Airlines Flight 3054 was a passenger flight from Porto Algre to São Paulo. The aircraft overshot the runway because of pilot error, killing 199. This made it the worst air accident in Brazil.

Pilots
The pilots on the flight were Captain Henrique Sacco and First Officer Kleyber Lima, and they were at fault for the accident.

The Crash
The A320 is preparing to land, but something is different about this particular plane. The right thrust reverser is not working. A thrust reverser helps to stop the plane, and is used on landing. The A320 can land with one thrust reverser, and this same flight crew have landed the plane in this state before. They were approaching the airport, and began to prepare for the landing.

The A320 touches down on the runway, and its one thrust reverser deploys. But despite this, the plane doesn't slow. As mentioned before, the plane should be able to stop, and has done so before. The flight crew, noticing this begin to panic and look for whats wrong. The Captain exclaims 'Look at This!', followed by the First Officer saying 'Decelerate, Decelerate!'. The plane, not stopping, turns off the runway, acknowledged by the First Officer's 'Go, go, go, turn, turn, turn, turn!'. The plane then flies off the raised airport, glides over the nearby highway, and smashes into a petrol station at the other side of the road. The last words on the cockpit voice recorder was simply 'Oh no'.

Aftermath
After most accidents, a fire would break out in the crash site. This is well demonstrated in Korean Air Flight 801, in which a Boeing 747 crashed into a hill in Guam. A fire broke out after this incident, but it was one of the largest in aviation history. As the flight had crashed into a petrol station, all the petrol had been ignited by the fire, and the entire building was engulfed in flames. Also affected by the crash was a TAM office building, which was sat directly next to the petrol station. The ensuing impact and fire lead to the deaths of 12 people on the ground, which was now stacked atop the 187 who had died in the plane. This stack of 199 deaths lead to this incident being the worst in South American history, taking the title from Gol Transportes Aéreos Flight 1907 which crashed less than a year before this one. A memorial was built in the place of the crash site, and it still stands today. But what lead to South America's worst air disaster?

Investigation Results
During the flight, the first officer reminded the Captain of the flight's only thrust reverser, and this pressured the Captain. After being warned many times during the flight, he was pushed to remember to only move the left engine lever down to reverse thrust. So when the plane touched down, he moved the left lever down to reverse thrust, but leaves the right. Instead of doing what he had done before and pushed the right lever down to idle, he left it. What this meant was the left engine was trying to stop the plane, whilst the right was trying to speed it up. Not only does this explain why it didn't decelerate, but it also explains the left turn.

May the 199 who died in South America's worst air disaster rest in peace.