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Marie Schiavo described in detail what she saw when Brasilia Airlines Flight 2283 crashed Friday, killing all 62 people on board.
“This video gives us a lot of clues,” Schiavo told Global News in Charleston, South Carolina, commenting on a cellphone video showing the plane in a spiral.
The aviation lawyer and former U.S. Transportation Department inspector general was asked to review what investigators will look for after the crash of an ATR 72-500 near Sao Paulo, Brazil.
“It was clear that the aircraft was in a complete aerodynamic stall and by the time the video was captured, it was too late to save the aircraft,” Schiavo said.
Flight tracking data showed the French-made twin-engine turboprop plane dropped 17,000 feet in just one minute, but the cause of the rapid descent was unclear.
Schiavo said the plane appeared to still have power, based on video and audio that were widely circulated on social media.
“It’s helpful to know that the engine is still running and has not broken down,” she said.
Even so, based on video and radar footage, the plane appeared to have fallen from the sky.
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“According to the radar, they were going very fast. They were going 204 knots and then they just stopped moving at all,” she said.
“There was no air traffic control communication, no mayday call, no advisory to the tower to clear the path, nothing; they had no time to communicate,” Schiavo added.
Some aviation experts in Brazil believe the crash may have been caused by icing, a problem that has previously caused accidents with ATR 72s.
Most notably, American Eagle Flight 4184 encountered severe icing on October 31, 1994, en route from Indianapolis to Chicago. The ATR 72 aircraft lost control and crashed into a field. All 68 people on board were killed.
According to reports, a weather alert for “high icing risk” was issued for the plane’s flight path when the Brazil crash occurred.
Transport Canada approved the ATR 72-500 for Canadian service in 2017. At the time, the Franco-Italian consortium claimed the aircraft was “well suited to a challenging market such as Canada”.
ATR touted the aircraft’s “unparalleled capabilities of operating in extremely cold, icy weather conditions and taking off and landing on short, unpaved runways are invaluable,” in a news release.
Airlines with ATR aircraft include Calm Air, a regional carrier in Manitoba, Canadian North, which serves the Northwest Territories, Nunavut and some provinces, and North Star, based in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
While it may take weeks for investigators to pinpoint the cause of the Brazil crash, after reviewing the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, Schiavo agreed that Transport Canada may want to review its certification of the ATR 72 depending on the findings.
She said she understood why people were again concerned about icing and were wary of flying this type of aircraft.
“Fear is a very important emotion and feeling, and frankly, on an icy ATR, after seeing that accident, I honestly wouldn’t want to ride on an ATR in icy conditions either,” she said.
“I can tell you that after a terrible ATR icing accident in the US in 1995, I would not fly one again.”
© 2024 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
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