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RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) – An ATR-72 turboprop aircraft operated by Brazilian regional airline Voepass crashed into a residential area near Sao Paulo, Brazil, on Friday, killing all 62 people on board.
The head of Brazil’s aviation accident investigation center, Antonio Cenipa, said on Sunday that investigators have found the plane’s black box, which contains voice recordings and flight data, and expect to issue a preliminary report within 30 days.
How did the accident happen?
The plane, flying from Cascavel in Paraná state to Sao Paulo, crashed at around 1:30 pm (16:30 GMT) in Vinhedo, about 80 kilometres (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo.
The Brazilian Air Force said in a statement that the plane was flying normally until 1:21 p.m. when it stopped responding to calls and lost contact with radar at 1:22 p.m. The plane did not report any emergency.
Video of the incident shows that the sky was apparently clear when the plane began its unusual circling motion.
What are the experts looking for?
U.S. aviation safety expert Anthony Brickhouse said investigators will consider factors such as weather and check the normal operation of the engines and controls to help determine what caused the loss of control.
Could weather conditions have been the cause of the plane crash?
After aviation experts analyzed the crash video, some speculated that ice had formed on the plane. On Friday, Wopas said ice was expected at the altitude the plane was flying, but the level of ice should be within acceptable limits.
Celso Faria de Souza, a Brazilian aerospace engineer and air crash investigator, said that based on the video he was almost certain that ice was to blame.
The ATR-72 has had problems with icing before, with a 1994 crash in Indiana, USA, killing 68 people, due to the aircraft being unable to tilt due to ice. After the accident, manufacturer ATR improved the de-icing system. In 2016, an ATR-72 had problems with icing in Norway, but the pilots were able to regain control.
Could there be an engine failure?
John Hansman, a professor in MIT’s department of aeronautics and astronautics, reviewed some of the video of the Brazilian crash shared on social media and said, without reviewing the flight data, that the crash did not appear to be caused by weather.
Hansmann said the plane may have spun downward due to a failure of one engine or due to improper operation by the crew.
Are there multiple points of failure possible?
Experts say plane crashes can be caused by a variety of factors. They could include icing, engine failure or human error. In many cases, there is more than one cause, said Robert A. Clifford, a lawyer who represents some of the families of the victims of the 1994 crash.
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