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VINHEDO, Brazil (AP) — Brazilian authorities labored Saturday to piece collectively what precisely triggered the airplane crash in Sao Paulo state the prior day that killed all 61 folks on board.
Native airline Voepass’ airplane, an ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop, was headed for Sao Paulo’s worldwide airport in Guarulhos with 57 passengers and 4 crew members when it went down within the metropolis of Vinhedo.
Pictures recorded by witnesses confirmed the plane in a flat spin and plunging vertically earlier than smashing to the bottom inside a gated group, and leaving an obliterated fuselage consumed by fireplace. Residents mentioned there have been no accidents on the bottom.
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Rain drizzled down on rescue staff as they recovered the primary our bodies from the scene within the chill of the Southern Hemisphere’s winter. Some residents of the condominium silently left to spend the night time elsewhere.
It was the world’s deadliest airline crash since January 2023, when 72 folks died on board a Yeti Airways airplane in Nepal that stalled and crashed whereas making its touchdown method. That airplane additionally was an ATR 72, and the ultimate report blamed pilot error.
A report Friday from Brazilian tv community Globo’s meteorological heart mentioned it “confirmed the potential for the formation of ice within the area of Vinhedo,” and native media cited consultants pointing to icing as a possible trigger for the crash.
An American Eagle ATR 72-200 crashed on Oct. 31, 1994, and america Nationwide Transportation Security Board decided that the possible trigger was ice buildup whereas the airplane was circling in a holding sample. The airplane rolled at about 8,000 toes and dove into the bottom, killing all 68 folks on board. The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration issued working procedures for ATRs and related planes, telling pilots to not use the autopilot in icing situations.
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However Brazilian aviation professional Lito Sousa cautioned that meteorological situations alone may not be sufficient to clarify why the airplane fell within the method that it did on Friday.
“Analyzing an air crash simply with photos can result in flawed conclusions concerning the causes,” Sousa instructed the AP by telephone. “However we are able to see a airplane with lack of assist, no horizontal velocity. On this flat spin situation, there’s no approach to reclaim management of the airplane.”
Talking to reporters Friday in Vinhedo, Sao Paulo Public Safety Secretary Guilherme Derrite mentioned the airplane’s black field had been recovered, apparently in a preserved state.
Marcelo Moura, director of operations for Voepass, instructed reporters Friday night time that, whereas there have been forecasts for ice, they have been inside acceptable ranges for the plane.
Likewise, Lt. Col. Carlos Henrique Baldi of the Brazilian air pressure’s heart for the investigation and prevention of air accidents, instructed reporters in a late afternoon press convention that it was nonetheless too early to verify whether or not ice triggered the crash.
The airplane is “licensed in a number of international locations to fly in extreme icing situations, together with in international locations not like ours, the place the impression of ice is extra vital,” mentioned Baldi, who heads the middle’s investigation division.
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In an earlier assertion, the middle mentioned that the airplane’s pilots didn’t name for assist nor say they have been working below hostile climate situations. There was no proof that the pilots tried to contact controllers of regional airports, both, Ports and Airports Minister Silvio Costa Filho instructed reporters Friday night time in Vinhedo.
Brazil’s Federal Police started its personal investigation, and dispatched specialists in airplane crashes and the identification of catastrophe victims, it mentioned in a press release.
French-Italian airplane producer ATR mentioned in a press release that it had been knowledgeable that the accident concerned its ATR 72-500 mannequin, and that firm specialists are “totally engaged to assist each the investigation and the client.”
The ATR 72 usually is used on shorter flights. The planes are constructed by a three way partnership of Airbus in France and Italy’s Leonardo S.p.A.
Crashes involving numerous fashions of the ATR 72 have resulted in 470 deaths going again to the Nineties, in line with a database of the Aviation Security Community.
Brazilian authorities started transferring the corpses to the morgue Friday, and referred to as on victims’ members of the family to deliver any medical, X-ray and dental exams to assist establish the our bodies. Blood checks have been additionally completed to assist identification efforts.
Costa Filho, the airports minister, mentioned the air pressure’s heart can even conduct a legal probe of the accident.
“We are going to examine so this case is totally defined to the Brazilian folks,” he mentioned.
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Sa Pessoa reported from Sao Paulo and Koenig from Dallas.
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