Posted on 09/29/2006 7:55:06 PM PDT by TexKat
SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) - A Brazilian passenger plane with 155 people on board disappeared over the Amazon jungle on Friday after colliding with a small plane, the company and news reports said.
Gol flight 1907, flying from the principle Amazon city of Manaus bound for the national capital Brasilia, disappeared after losing radar contact, the company said.
The head of Brazil's airports authority, Infraero, said the Gol aircraft collided with another smaller plane, Globo news agency reported.
The smaller plane, an executive jet, was able to land in a town called Serra do Cachimbo even though it suffered wing damage, Globo reported. Cachimbo is deep in the jungle about midway between Manaus and Brasilia.
Celso Gick, a spokesman in the Amazon region for Infraero, said the Boeing 737-800 was carrying 149 passengers and six crew members.
Gol said the flight had 155 passengers on board but made no mention of crew members. Brazil's civil aviation authority said the plane was transporting 155 people and lost contact around the town of Sao Felix do Araguaia, also in the remote jungle.
Gol is a low-cost carrier that has expanded rapidly in recent years to become Brazil's number two airline and to offer flights to neighboring countries.
With its orange and white colors and stylized casual uniforms based on U.S. no-thrills carriers, it is an instantly recognizable brand in Brazil and one of its most successful new businesses.
Manaus is host to a number of foreign-owned manufacturing plants making motorcycles, computers and other goods in its duty free zone. It is also a base for tourism in the Amazon, the world's largest rain forest, and a headquarters for several environmental groups.
CBN radio said at least 20 passengers were employees of Yamaha Corp., the Japanese conglomerate.
The flight left Manaus at 2:36 p.m. local time (1836 GMT) but did not arrive in Brasilia at 6:12 p.m. (2112 GMT) as scheduled, a spokesman for the Manaus airport said.
"The Air Force is in the area of the collision," Infraero President Jose Carlos Pereira, said on radio. Five air force planes were searching for the missing Gol jet.
(Additional reporting by Raymond Colitt in Brasilia and Vladimir Goitia in Sao Paulo))
Doesn't sound good ... in a JUNGLE no less ... .
Actually, I think all of our carriers are that way.
...U.S. no-thrills carriers...
I prefer no thrills when I fly. Just a simple smooth take off and landing. No loop the loops. Thank you.
Is it possible they meant no-frills?
Well maybe the silver lining is that since it's a jungle, there still may be a chance of survivors, but they just haven't reached them yet.
MSNBC news alert to my email said "Mayor says missing Brazilian airliner crashed on farm in Amazon"
Man, what is the mathematical chance of that happening?
Amazing. There is one heck of a lot of space up there.
Sad.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.