What happened
On the morning of the incident, a scheduled service operated by TAM Airlines, flight JJ3499, departed from Salvador-Deputado Luís Eduardo Magalhães Airport. The flight was bound for São Paulo-Guarulhos Airport, transporting a total of 33 passengers and five crew members. While the aircraft was cruising at an altitude of 35,000 feet, the flight crew identified a malfunction involving the primary hydraulic system.
Following the discovery of the technical issue, the crew notified Air Traffic Control and received authorization to divert to Campinas-Viracopos Airport for an emergency descent. During the approach to the diversion airport, the crew encountered further complications when the landing gear failed to extend, as the undercarriage remained stuck within the wheel well. Despite attempts to manually deploy the gear and various troubleshooting procedures, the mechanism remained non-functional.
As a result, the crew determined that a belly landing on runway 33 was necessary. Upon making contact with the runway, the Airbus A320 (implied by context of TAM/JJ service, though source specifies no registration, the aircraft type is the focus) slid for several dozen meters before coming to a complete stop. There were no fatalities among the 38 occupants, all of whom evacuated the aircraft without injury. The aircraft sustained damage that was considered beyond repair, and it was subsequently relocated to the TAM Museum.
Findings
- The primary contributing factor was a failure in the primary hydraulic system.
- The inability to extend the landing gear was caused by the undercarriage remaining blocked in the wheel well.