The minister had been on vacation since September 28th, but had been traveling for 3 days; returns this Thursday (3.Oct) to organize the repatriation of Brazilians in Lebanon
The Minister of Defense, José Múcio, interrupted his vacation ahead of schedule and will be back to work this Thursday (3.Oct.2024). He must take care of rescuing Brazilians in Lebanon, bombed by Israeli attacks against Hezbollah, and investigating the technical problem with the president’s plane Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva (PT), who had to return to Mexico after 5 hours of circling the airport post-takeoff.
The minister had been officially on vacation since September 28th, but had only been traveling for 3 days.
The rescue operation with a plane from FAB (Brazilian Air Force) begins this Wednesday (2.Oct.2024) to repatriate a group of Brazilians trapped in the country as a result of the escalation of attacks by Israel.
Named Operation Raízes do Cedro, the FAB will use a KC-30 plane, with the initial estimate of repatriating 220 Brazilians who are on Lebanese soil, from Beirut airport, capital of the Middle Eastern country. The flight will stop for refueling in Lisbon, both on the way out and on the way back. Other flights have not yet been confirmed, but should be carried out over the next few days.
The largest community of Brazilians in the Middle East is currently in Lebanon. In total, 21,000 Brazilians live in the country. Last week, Israeli bombings in Lebanon caused the death of 2 Brazilian teenagers.
According to the FAB, the flight team will be made up of, in addition to the plane’s operational crew, military personnel from the health sector (doctor, nurse, psychologist), who will be ready to provide the necessary support during the mission.
PROBLEM ON PLANE
The plane carrying Lula and his entourage took off from General Felipe Ángeles International Airport, in Mexico City, at 5:15 pm (Brasília time) on Tuesday (October 1st) and landed at the same airport at 10:15 pm (Brasília time) on the same day.
The Airbus 319 CJ had to fly in circles for almost 5 hours to burn off fuel.
They were on board the Aerolula:
- Lula, president;
- Janja, first lady;
- Cida Gonçalves, Minister of Women;
- Soraya Thronicke (Podemos-MS), senator;
- Teresa Leitão (PT-PE), senator;
- Andrei Rodriguesdirector general of the Federal Police;
- Gabriel Galípolodirector of Monetary Policy at the Central Bank;
- Audo Faleiroadvisor to the Presidency of the Republic;
- José ChrispinianoPress Secretary of Secom;
- Ricardo StuckertSecretary of Production and Dissemination of Audiovisual Content at Secom;
- José Rezendespecial advisor to Secom;
- Taynara Pretoadvisor to the first lady;
- Sérgio Xavier Ferreiratranslator of Lula.
The FAB (Brazilian Air Force) said that the technical problem on the VC-1 plane has been resolved “successfully”, but without saying what happened. Lula and the Brazilian delegation changed planes to return to Brasília.
The maneuver of burning fuel before an unexpected landing is common. Normally, the weight of the plane at the time of takeoff is greater than the maximum allowed for landing – landing with a heavy aircraft increases the risk of a collision with the ground.
If the plane has a jettison system, pilots can just dump the fuel. This may not be the case with President Lula’s Airbus 319 CJ. If the aircraft does not have this system, it is necessary to fly and use up the QAV (aviation kerosene) until the landing is safe. This can take hours, as was the case with Aerolula.
#Múcio #interrupts #vacation #Lebanon #Lulas #plane #crashes