Part 4/9:
Upon reaching 20,000 feet and seeing nothing but thick smoke obscuring their view, Captain Garces concluded that they must have flown past Belém. He initiated a 180-degree turn to approach the city from the opposite direction. Zile then asked for permission to descend further to 4,000 feet in hopes of spotting the airport more easily.
As the aircraft followed a river that they believed to be a tributary of the Amazon, their predicament became increasingly dire. With each passing minute, they should have been nearing Belém, but the reality was that they were deep into the jungle, continuously searching for something that was not there.