It was just a scare. Twenty minutes after taking off from Brazilian capital BrasÀlia with President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva aboard, the presidential Boeing 737 had a failure and was forced to turn back.
According to governmental sources, neither the president nor anybody else suffered any injury. These same sources informed that the presidential plane landed normally.
Due to the incident Lula, who was going to Rio de Janeiro to participate in a political rally with a group of women, cancelled his commitment. The president has been travelling daily as part of his reelection campaign. National elections happen October 1st.
Lula was flying his backup airplane, the Sucatinha (the Little Wreck), an aging Brazilian Air Force jet used for shorter trips inside the country.
Initial information tells that the plane failure had to do with the artificial horizon indicator on the instrument panel.
According to special secretary for women policies, Nilcéia Freire, more details on the aborted flight shouldn’t be released before tomorrow, September 14..
In Rio, about 2,000 people were waiting for Lula at the Progresso Foundry, among them Freire and São Paulo’s former mayor Marta Suplicy.
