The airport had been restricted to a 4,711-foot backup since the crash while investigators tried to determine if the main runway's condition played a role in the accident. Both runways are relatively short by modern standards.

Flight 3054, an Airbus A320, landed in driving rain and seemed to accelerate rather than slowing on the main runway before crashing into buildings at 109 mph and exploding.

The accident created more chaos in Brazil's air travel industry, led to the ouster of the defense minister and prompted a safety advisory from Airbus, though authorities have not yet publicized what they learned from the plane's data recorders.

Airbus spokeswoman Barbara Kracht would not specify the nature of the information from the data recorder and said that the advisory did not imply any conclusion about the causes of the crash.

On Friday, the newly appointed Defense minister, Nelson Jobim, made a personal inspection of the Congonhas airport and the terminal where the Airbus crashed and exploded. Jobim also met with São Paulo governor José Serra and São Paulo City mayor Gilberto Kassab.

Brazilian press reports indicate that the network of domestic airports is beginning to normalize following the almost six days collapse when Congonhas main runway was closed down causing massive flight delays and cancellations.

Congonhas is the Brazil's busiest international and domestic airport which on rainy days becomes a dangerous trap because of poor drainage.

Brazilian president Lula da Silva promised on national television a new airport and that Congonhas will be limited to regional flights. A new airport, however, would take at least 10 years to be built.

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Ifatca has stated that the Brazilian government doesn't have the capacity to get out of this mess without international assistance.

"There are some morons out there willing to interfere," said Pereira, irritated. "Brazil doesn't need international help. They should look after their own air space and we will take care of ours."

The brigadier, however, admitted that the Brazilian authorities have made some mistakes while trying to solve the Brazil's air crisis,  which became evident on September 29, when a Boeing 737 collided with a Legacy executive jet over the Amazon killing all 154 people aboard the Boeing. The situation just exacerbated last Tuesday, July 16, when another plane accident left at least 200 dead.

Infraero president said that he knows that authorities will have to deal with their own mistakes. And added: "It certainly was a tragedy, but it was our tragedy. For sure we've made mistakes, but we are going to solve them cutting our own flesh."

Pereira also dismissed the criticism to the reopening of Congonhas to traffic just a few hours after the tragedy:  "It's easy to blame the Congonhas airport for the accident. The plane can't brake and the culprit is the runway." He also protested against an action by the Public Prosecutor's Office demanding that Congonhas be closed: "This just disrupts air traffic even more."

Meanwhile, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva reiterated today that in 90 days, the Conac (Civil Aviation Council) will present a proposal and a location to build a new airport in São Paulo. As for the causes of the accident, he stated that "there is no chance that the truth won't come to light."

For the president, it's still too early to point fingers and people should wait for an analysis of the black boxes contents that have been sent to the United States.

Lula called on Brazilians to not recklessly judge anyone. "I think," said Lula, "that all premature judgment is, I would say, almost irresponsible. In a time such as this, when there is a tragedy, the best thing we have to have is prudence to investigate correctly instead of start making inferences, blaming someone or acquitting someone else".

Lula also repeated that Congonhas should have less flights and that all connection flight there should end. "We will try to make a new airport to lower the chances of a new tragedy," he said.

Further shaking Brazilians' confidence, authorities said they had mistaken a piece of the fuselage from Tuesday's accident for the flight recorder and sent it to the United States for analysis.

The radar outage from 11:15 p.m. Friday to 2:30 a.m. Saturday, caused by an electrical problem, forced at least 700 flights heading to Brazil from the U.S. to return to their points of origin and make unscheduled landings at airports from Puerto Rico to Chile.

Eight of the 17 planes flying in the coverage area of the radar system were rerouted, and some airlines canceled flights bound for Brazil.

While the nation has had chronic problems with delays and cancellations on domestic flights over the past 10 months, the radar outage was the first time that international flights have been severely affected.

The confusion followed a nationally televised speech by President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, who tried to calm the nation Friday night by announcing new safety measures and saying authorities will build a new airport in Sao Paulo, where an Airbus A320 operated by TAM Airlines crashed, killing at least 191 people.

All 187 people aboard and at least four on the ground died when the jetliner raced down the runway, skipped over a crowded highway and exploded in a fireball that was still smoldering three days later. Many experts have said that the short, rain-slicked runway could have contributed to the disaster at the downtown Congonhas airport, Brazil's busiest.

Silva's speech Friday night was his first public pronouncement about the crash except for a brief statement.

"Our aviation system, in spite of the investments we have made in expansion and modernization of almost all Brazilian airports, is passing through difficulties," Silva said. "The security of our aviation system is compatible with all the international standards. We cannot lose sight of this."

Silva said aviation officials will limit the number of flights and restrict the weight of planes traveling into Congonhas airport and that the location of the new airport will be chosen within 90 days.

But São Paulo's Mayor Gilberto Kassab told reporters Saturday that building a new airport, which could take between five and 10 years, was not a priority for the city, which would instead seek to claim houses around Congonhas airport as eminent domain in order to lengthen runways.

Also Saturday, officials said they had mistakenly sent part of the plane's fuselage to the United States, thinking it was the flight recorder.

Gen. Jorge Kersul Filho, head of the air force's accident prevention division, told reporters in São Paulo that the real flight recorder had been located early Saturday in the wreckage and would be sent to Washington for analysis, a process expected to take several days.

The radar outage was caused when a short circuit cut off electricity during routine maintenance Friday night in the jungle city of Manaus, Brazil's Air Force said in a statement. Power was restored by 1:30 a.m. Saturday and the radar coverage was working again an hour later.

When the power went out, 17 flights were within the coverage area of the radar system in a large swath of the Amazon, the statement said. Nine planes continued to their destinations, and eight were rerouted. None of the jets were in any danger, the statement said.

The problem forced American Airlines to divert 13 Brazil-bound planes that had departed from New York, Miami and Dallas, said company spokeswoman Mary Frances Fagan.

Two American Airlines flights from São Paulo to Miami made unscheduled landings in Manaus, said Celso Gick, a spokesman for Brazilian airport authority Infraero. Brazilian media reported that another American Airlines flight landed in Santiago, Chile.

Four United Airlines flights were also canceled as a result of the outage, spokeswoman Robin Urbanski said. In addition, Brazil's Globo TV reported on its Web site that Brazil-bound flights from Colombia, Panama and Venezuela were affected.

The September Gol crash in the Amazon was the country's worst air disaster until Tuesday's accident and it exposed widespread problems with the country's air traffic control system.

It also touched off months of work slowdowns by air traffic controllers protesting precarious working conditions. Congressional investigations turned up holes in the country's radar coverage; antiquated equipment and flight controllers with only rudimentary knowledge of English.

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They read a manifesto condemning the homages and decorations given employees of the National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC) when the nation was still officially mourning the about 200 victims of the new air crash. In the document, the group revealed that ANAC's officials refused to receive the families for a meeting and only accepted to get together with six of them after considerable pressure.

"In the first meeting," says the statement, Denise Abreu, one of the ANAC's official who was honored, received the relatives saying: "You are smart, the plane fell from a height of 36,000 feet, at 250 miles an hour and what do you expect? Bodies?"

The document accuses ANAC's employees of being insensitive, aggressive and disrespectful.

"These same people are still in the same position getting decorations. We are disappointed with our country," said Angelita De Marchi, president of the association that gathers the families of the Gol's accident victims.

Meanwhile families of those killed in the latest crash are getting mad at the time that's taking to identify the bodies. The coroner's office has already warned that the identification work may take months. Some are accusing authorities of rushing to identify celebrities like the House Representative who was in the plane and forgetting the rest.

Osório Pereira, a doctor, whose son, Guilherme Pereira, died in the TAM crash blames his son's death on irresponsibility. Citing press reports, he reminded that two airplanes had skidded off the Congonhas runway the day before the accident and besides, he says, the aircraft should not fly without a non-working thrust reverser as it was admitted by the airline. 

"The blame belongs to TAM. If the tarmac is not good the plane cannot land. If there is something wrong with the aircraft, it should not fly. And the blame also belongs to the government. They are all irresponsible. When is this going to stop?" the bereaved father asks. 

He doesn't want to get the crackers, the cheese, the free tickets and psychologists, he says. And he accuses TAM of not caring and being interested only in making more money, adding:

"I don't want everybody to lose his trust in the country, but I lost mine. It died together with my son."

Lula five minutes speech late Friday evening begun with a message to the "hearts of all Brazilians" asking God to give strength to all the families of the victims of the Tuesday air accident, when a landing TAM Airbus 320 skidded off Congonhas's airport runway and crashed into a repairs building killing all 187 passengers and crew members plus ground personnel.

Only 45 bodies were identified until now by the coroner's office. The work of rescuers has turned now to collecting fragments of bodies under the rubble with the help of search dogs.

Congonhas airport is Brazil's busiest with over 20 million travelers annually, but it is also one of the most difficult for pilots since runways are too short for large modern aircraft, and the whole area is insufficiently drained causing additional problems when it rains.

Originally in the middle of fields, but now trapped in the sprawling cement of São Paulo, Congonhas has become the hub for regional flights and has suffered several tragic accidents in the last few years.

However as promised by Lula, Congonhas traffic will in the future be significantly reduced to flights in the São Paulo region and the Rio/São Paulo shuttle, a new international air terminal is to be built and overall air safety should be improved.

A federal judge closed Congonhas for several days last summer on safety grounds and it was reopened on promises of improved runways drainage conditions. This Friday, 19 pilots refused to land in Congonhas fearful of what happened last Tuesday.

Lula promised a rigorous investigation into all events of last Tuesday but also cautioned that it will all be done with no "precipitation or impassiveness", adding that "we don't want to condemn or absolve with precipitated actions so as not to commit possible injustice."

Besides practical common sense measures for the airport, Lula promised to exert greater influence over the Civil Aviation Agency to ensure they act in defense of travelers; a modernization of Brazil's air traffic conditions thus cutting drastically potential risks.

As to the cause of the accident, TAM airlines revealed early Friday that a thrust reverser from the crashed aircraft had been deactivated during maintenance checks.

The reversers can be used to help jets slow down on landing but TAM Airlines insisted the deactivation was in accordance with proper procedures and "in conditions stipulated by the maintenance of the manufacturer Airbus and approved by Brazil's National Civil Aviation Agency".

Tam Airlines' comments came after Brazil's Globo TV said a problem with the right thrust reverser had emerged four days before the crash.

Tam said Airbus's own manual says an inspection can be done up to 10 days after it is first detected and that the plane can continue to operate in the meantime. The same plane, it was reported, had problems landing at Congonhas the day before the crash.

While most of the nation seems to agree that the country's air transportation is in a state of chaos, the president in his speech to his fellow citizens concluded that the biggest problem the civil aviation has in Brazil now is the Congonhas airport, in the heart of São Paulo city, and the country's busiest.

"Our air system," stated Lula during a radio and TV linkup, "despite the investments we made for the expansion and modernization of almost all the Brazilian airports, is going through a hard time. And its biggest problem today is the excessive concentration of flights in Congonhas. And this is what we need to solve immediately."

Despite the fact that this is the second major accident in 10 months – last September a collision between a small executive jet and a Boeing 737, over the Amazon jungle, killed all 154 people aboard the Boeing – Lula reaffirmed his belief that Brazil's air system is safe.

"The safety level of our air system is compatible with all the international standards," he told Brazilians. "We cannot lose sight of this. My friends, we are working in all seriousness and with serenity, without haste. Seriousness to know truth and serenity not to commit any injustice."

The president used the occasion to once again present the measures that had been announced earlier by Brazil's Board of Civilian Aviation.

"Congonhas needs to abide by even more severe safety measures. It has to be an airport geared to regional aviation and air shuttle. It can't be a flights, connections and stop-overs distribution point anymore," said Lula.

The president also promised to modernize the country's air control, to improve the  National Agency of Civil Aviation (ANAC) and to define in 90 days where a new airport will be built in São Paulo.

And he added: "With the measures I'm announcing today and with other steps the government is going to take in the coming days, I'm sure that our air system will once again be adequate to meet the country's needs.

According to unnamed sources, Lula told his closest aides that Defense Minister, Waldir Pires will get his walking papers in the coming days.

Since the September air tragedy and the ensuing airport chaos, which included work-to-rule campaigns by flight controllers, it has been rumored that Pires, an octogenarian best known for his resistance and exile during the military dictatorship (1964-1985),  would be fired.

This time, however, Pires's political erosion is much more evident. Lula has all but ignored his Defense Minister since the latest tragedy. A Conac (Aviation National Board) meeting scheduled for Friday to discuss the air crisis was transferred from the Defense Ministry to the Planalto Palace, the president's office. Pires wasn't even invited for another high-level meeting on Thursday, which was also put together to deal with the tragedy.

Another one who should lose his job is José Carlos Pereira, the president of Infraero (Brazilian Company of Airport Infrastructure), Brazil's air authority. 

According to the president, his aviation top brass, have lost the little prestige they still had after the latest plane crash, which killed the 187 aboard and at least 3 people on the ground. The search for bodies is still going on, however.

Congonhas airport should halt operations "until its security conditions are examined and questions about the accident are answered," said Brazil's Public Ministry, which acts as an ombudsman in matters of public interest.

However it was unclear when judges would rule on the request for the airport that lies in the heart of Sao Paulo. Doing so would likely create huge problems for civil aviation throughout Latin America's largest nation because Congonhas is a key hub, but prosecutors called the move essential to ensuring air safety.

"It is necessary to temporarily paralyze the activities at the Congonhas airport in Sao Paulo until a complete renovation of both of its runways can be completed and there is certainty that they are fully secure," prosecutors said in a statement.

For months, air safety concerns have been aired in congressional hearings, and pilots and traffic controllers have worried for years about the short, slippery runways at Brazil's busiest airport.

Landing on the 6,362-foot runway at Congonhas airport is so challenging that pilots liken it to an aircraft carrier – if they don't touch down within the tarmac's first 1,000 feet, they're warned to pull up and circle around again. The un-grooved runway becomes even more treacherous in the rain, when it turns into a slick landing surface.

Making things worse this Thursday a TAM jet pulled out of an attempted landing at Congonhas. The TAM jet was rerouted to São Paulo's international airport after coming in at an unsafe angle to Congonhas, the nation's airport authority Infraero said. Besides on the day before the crash, two other planes skidded off the runway's end.

Congressional investigations have raised questions about Brazil's underfunded air traffic control system, deficient radar and lack of investment in infrastructure, even as airlines struggle to cope with a surge in air travel caused by the booming economy.

President Luis Inácio da Silva has been unable to wrest control of the civil aviation system from the military, which oversees Brazil's air traffic controllers and has filled top positions at the national aviation agency with political appointees.

Brazil's airway infrastructure has been under scrutiny since the September crash of a Gol airliner with 154 people on board in the Amazon jungle. The plane had been clipped by a smaller jet.

Congonhas main runway had been resurfaced last month, but more work was scheduled for September to build grooves to improve water drainage.

"Control tower operators had warned the runway should be closed because it didn't have 'grooving,' but no one in the government wanted to hear about it," said Sergio Oliveira, who heads the Federation of Air Controllers.

The probe of the crash should take about 10 months, according to investigators, who hope they will be able to retrieve recorded data from one of the black boxes found at the site of the crash.

Congonhas is Latin America's busiest airport, with an average of 630 daily landings and take-offs. It is mainly used for flights from other parts of Brazil and South America. But like many congested urban airports, Congonhas's domestic air travel hub is surrounded by development and has no room for the runway extensions recommended by air safety groups.

The International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations said the accident shows the need for the next best thing – braking systems of soft cement beyond the runway, where wheels can sink in and slow the jets to a safe stop.

Known as an arrestor bed, the system has prevented several planes from ending up in the bay next to New York's John F. Kennedy International Airport, said Gideon Ewers, the pilot group's spokesman.

The accident is certain to have political ramifications, however, if only because the dead included federal Deputy Julio Redecker, 51, a leader of the opposition Brazilian Social Democracy Party and vocal critic of Lula da Silva's handling of the aviation crisis.

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The ITF also backed Ifatca (International Federation of Air Traffic Controllers' Associations) and Ifalpa (International Federation of Air Line Pilots' Associations) in their warning that the crash proves that the problem of runway lengths must be urgently examined.

Ingo Marowsky, Secretary of the ITF's Civil Aviation Section, said: "Like everyone else who works in the industry or has ever been a passenger our hearts go out to the families of all those affected. But even while the investigation continues we must also work to make sure that this kind of tragedy does not happen again.

"We and the Brazilian trade unions have repeatedly stated that safety was being compromised. There is no better proof of this than that union representatives were meeting with management in the TAM building at the time of the crash to complain about safety."

Marowsky continued: "It gives us no pleasure to say that Latin American aviation is on the verge of a crisis. I hope that everyone concerned – governments, airlines and trade unions – will now commit themselves to an emergency meeting to address that fact and see what can be done to pull the aviation sector there back from the brink."

The ITF also backed a full investigation into the crash including, if the investigation demands it, prosecution of those who allowed the situation to degenerate to such a hazardous state.

It also called for the immediate release of the two air traffic controllers who had been courageous enough to warn that this kind of accident was likely, and for a review of industry standards, including fair competition, so as to increase safety and working standards to a decent and safe level when compared with the rest of the world.

The ITF stated that the need for a plan to improve the industry in Brazil and the Mercosur countries was predicted several years ago by trade unions, who, as long ago as 2004, helped the ITF draw up just such a plan, which sought to avoid the kind of problems that have subsequently occurred.

Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, has declared three days of mourning following Tuesday's crash when the Airbus 320 belonging to the Brazilian airline TAM slid off the runway at Congonhas airport while landing, killing up to 200 people inside the plane and on ground.

Video footage appears to show the plane traveling along the runway at higher speed than other similar aircraft.

The runway, which has been criticized for being too short, had been recently resurfaced, but not yet properly grooved to help drain rain water. 188 bodies have been found so far.

Brazilian press reports indicate that the pilot of the TAM A320 that crashed apparently tried to abort the landing and pull up as he contacted the rain-slicked 6,365-ft. runway at Congonhas.

Instead, the aircraft slid across a multilane road and into a building that was adjacent to a fueling station, killing all 180 passengers and six crew aboard and an unknown number of people on the ground. TAM owns the building, which was used as a cargo handling center.

Initial investigation reveals that the aircraft was seen attempting to lift off following touchdown. Both the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder have been located and sent to the US for analysis.

Sao Paulo press recalls Congonhas airport was shut down 18 times during the first quarter of this year because of flooded runways. Brazilian courts addressed the safety of the airport for large aircraft in February, with an appeals court overturning an initial ruling that banned larger planes from the facility.

TAM took the A320 aircraft in January of this year and had accumulated approximately 20,000 flight hours. The plane had undergone a regular checkup last June and structural review in November 2006.

Tuesday's accident represents the worst involving an A320 and the worst in Brazilian history. Brazil's Bar Association, OAB, called for the immediate resignation of all those responsible for what it described as Brazil's "air inferno."

"What exploded in Congonhas was not only a TAM Airbus, but the whole credibility of the Brazilian air system. Rebuilding it demands the immediate ousting of all those involved", pointed out the OAB in an official release signed by the organization's president Cezar Britto.

Brazil's air industry has been in shock since last September when a Boeing 737 from the budget line Gol collided with a small private jet over the Amazon rain forest with a death toll of 154. The smaller jet somehow managed an emergency landing.

In October 1996, a Fokker 100 from TAM crashed minutes after take off from Congonhas killing 99 people.

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The airplane, an Airbus A320 from Tam Airline, flight JJ 3054, left Porto Alegre, in the south, a 5:16 and landed in São Paulo at 6:45 pm.

The legal action is signed by three prosecutors who believe the accident was caused by the conditions of the airport's runway, which is being rebuilt. The document requests that the main São Paulo airport and the country's busiest, "do not operate until safety conditions have been guaranteed and all doubts raised by the accident have been removed."

In a note the prosecutors say that "the accident in itself, due to its magnitude, justifies immediate action by the Federal Public Prosecutor's Office in order to try to avoid that any reckless situation be carried on, so that the interests of life preservation and citizenry be given priority."

Federal prosecutors had already tried unsuccessfully to get a preliminary order on January 24 to shut down the airport. At that time, they argued that Congonhas main runway should be closed while the airport underwent repairs. The action asked that all flights be diverted to two nearby international airports: Cumbica in Guarulhos and Viracopos in Campinas. In February, the Prosecutor's Office once again tried to close Congonhas.

In October 2006, the prosecutors had already requested that bank secrecy be lifted for a former president as well as three directors and an ex-manager of Infraero, the state-owned company in charge of administering Brazil's main airports. All of them were suspect of having taken part on a corruption scheme, that overbilled the projects to modernize and expand the airport.

The day after Brazil's biggest air tragedy the Infraero could not explain why Congonhas's main runway continued in operation even after two near accidents on Monday, July 16, when a small plane from Pantanal Airline and another TAM's Airbus A320 had also had problems,  losing control due to the wet airstrip.

Armando Schneider Filho, an Infraero superintendent, restated that "Congonhas' s runway is safe" and that it could not be closed before the causes of Monday's mishaps were looked into.

Now, however, before any cause can be found by the federal police, that airport authority has decided to shut down the runway until July 20. After that the airport will only operate in dry weather. In rainy days, planes would have to use the secondary runway that has the grooving, which hasn't yet been applied to the new rebuilt airstrip.

The superintendent didn't blame anyone for the accident and maintained that the Infraero acted correctly when it didn't shut down the runway after Monday's skiddings. "The runway is within international standards and within standards accepted worldwide." he said. "We didn't know for sure what had happened to the Pantanal's jet. We could not close the São Paulo runway just based on an assumption."

Schneider seemed annoyed that reporters would come back again and again to the question of the lack of grooving in the runway, which according to some experts was the main cause of the accident. "The grooving doesn't increase attrition," he answered. "It only helps to drain the water." He also told reporters that many airports don't have this kind of extra protection.

Brazil's Cenipa (Center of Investigation and Prevention of Aviation Accidents) believes that it will be able to conclude in 10 months the inquiry on the causes of the crash although this kind of probe generally takes one year and a half or more. For air brigadier and Cenipa's chief, Kersul Filho, people won't have to wait for the inquiry's conclusion, however, before adopting measures to prevent similar accidents.

Kersul Filho informed that the Airbus's black box is already in the United States and that transcriptions of the data should start Monday. The investigative work, he explained, should not start before the Brazilian team who went to the US to accompany the transcription work returns to Brazil. They are expected back on Wednesday, July 25.

The journalists' insistence that Kersul Filho explain why the accident occurred led the brigadier to comment: "The questions that you ask are the same questions that we ask ourselves. If we knew the answer the investigation would have already been finished by now."

Reporters also wanted to know if the pilot had tried to take off again after noticing that the landing hadn't been successful. His answer: "Only the probes will answer that. But we can say that he had an atypical speed for that stretch. If the airplane had a slow speed it would have fallen into the avenue."