A month has passed since the pilot of a light aircraft made an emergency landing on São João da Caparica beach,Almada, killing two people - a 56-year-old man and an eight-year-old girl.
The aircraft was being used for training and, after the engine cut out in mid-flight, the experienced instructor took the controls and opted to land on a crowded beach.
The instructor has broken his month long silence and said today that he had no regrets and that he was following standard operating procedure, "I did what should be done" said Carlos Conde de Almeida.
"I have been a pilot since 1980 and I have been an instructor for 30 years ... what I did was exactly what they taught me when I was learning."
Carlos Conde de Almeida shows no regret over the choices he made, stating that he did what he was trained to do and followed what is written in the training manuals, despite his actions causing the deaths of two members of the public.
Suggesting he has no choice but to land on a busy beach in the middle of the holiday season, the instructor said, "When someone says they could have done it differently, you already know it's a lie."
On board the Cessna was student pilot Rui Relvas having a Visual Flight Rules lesson which allows pilots to visually control the altitude of aircraft, using several references such as the horizon and the ground.
Faced with an engine failure, as stated in the preliminary accident report by the Office of Prevention and Investigation of Accidents, Carlos Conde de Almeida had to take over the Cessna controls. He has no idea why the Cessna's engine stopped.
The pilot says he feels wronged and is convinced that he acted in the right way, "don’t forget that I had 74 seconds to decide everything, not 90 seconds as was reported by you," referring to journalists.
Both the instructor and the student were heard as defendants by the Public Prosecutor's Office the day after the accident. Conde de Almeida continues to be able to fly.
