Last Thursday, there was an accident on a LATAM Brasil operation to Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport from Aracaju’s Santa Maria Airport. Crew on the Airbus A319-100 performed a maneuver in manual flight to reduce the speed on the aircraft. However, this move caused a flight attendant to fall, which resulted in serious injuries.
Unexpected event
According to The Aviation Herald, the jet that the incident happened on holds registration number PT-TMO. It was conducting flight JJ-3269 with 77 passengers and five crew members on board. However, on approach to Guarulhos, one of these members of staff got hurt.
Subsequently, the rest of the crew requested medical assistance, and the pilots continued to safely land at the destination airport’s runway 27R after ten minutes.
The Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center (CENIPA), a unit of the Brazilian Air Force, looks into aviation-based situations such as this. It has shared that the employee was standing at the time of the maneuver. The fall resulted in fractures to the fibula and ankle in her left leg. Investigations are still going.
According to FlightAware, the service left Santa Maria Airport at 15:13 on July 9th to head north along the eastern side of Brazil. The plane spent two hours and 31 minutes in the air before landing at Guarulhos Airport at 17:44. The incident did not delay the flight as it arrived 16 minutes ahead of schedule.
A similar occurrence
This event isn’t the only incident that saw an injury to a flight attendant last Thursday. A crew member on board an American Eagle operation from El Paso, Texas, to Chicago, Illinois, was also seriously injured. As the Embraer ERJ-175 descended to 16,000 feet, it faced severe turbulence caused by thunderstorms.
Hard times
Altogether, July 9th was a tough day for LATAM Brasil across the board. It was on this date when it announced that it began filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in the United States. Now, most of the branches under LATAM Airlines Group are undergoing this reorganization process.
Undoubtedly, the global health crisis is taking its toll on airlines across the globe. However, the current climate is especially continuing to rock Latin American carriers.
Most South American countries still have strict travel restrictions, with several borders remaining closed to all general foreign passengers. These measures have been in place since March. Therefore, millions of dollars are being lost each day across the industry. Ultimately, LATAM Brasil will be hoping for better news over the next few months.
Simple Flying reached out to LATAM for comment on the incident on the Airbus A319 but did not hear back before publication. We will update the article with any further announcements.
What are your thoughts on this accident on the flight to Sao Paulo Guarulhos? Were you traveling on this service when it happened? Let us know what you think of the situation in the comment section.