VINHEDO, Brazil. Brazilian authorities are intensifying their investigation into the plane crash that claimed the lives of all 62 people aboard on Friday. The crash involved a Voepass ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop, which went down en route to São Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport.
The aircraft, carrying 58 passengers and 4 crew members, crashed in the city of Vinhedo. Initial reports from the airline listed 62 passengers. Still, this number was revised to 61 before being updated to 62 again after discovering that passenger Constantino Thé Maia was missing from the original list.
Witnesses captured footage of the plane in a flat spin, descending vertically before crashing inside a gated community. The impact caused a significant fire that consumed the fuselage. Fortunately, local residents reported no injuries on the ground.
As recovery operations continued amid the winter chill, São Paulo Public Security Secretary Guilherme Derrite confirmed that the plane’s black box had been recovered in a seemingly intact condition.
“This incident is the deadliest airline crash worldwide since January 2023,” said Brazilian aviation expert Lito Sousa. He cautioned against drawing premature conclusions solely from visual evidence. “Analyzing an air crash just with images can lead to wrong conclusions about the causes,” Sousa told the AP. “But we can see a plane with loss of support, no horizontal speed. In this flat spin condition, there’s no way to reclaim control of the plane.”
Marcelo Moura, Voepass’s director of operations, noted that while there were forecasts for ice, they were within the aircraft’s operational limits. Lt. Col. Carlos Henrique Baldi of the Brazilian Air Force’s accident investigation center indicated that it is too early to determine if ice played a role. “The plane is certified in several countries to fly in severe icing conditions,” he said.
The Brazilian Federal Police have initiated their own investigation, focusing on crash dynamics and victim identification. The São Paulo state government reported that 21 bodies have been recovered, with two already identified.
ATR, the French-Italian manufacturer of the ATR 72-500 model involved in the crash, has pledged full support for the investigation. The ATR 72, commonly used for shorter flights, has been involved in 470 fatalities since the 1990s, according to the Aviation Safety Network.
The air force’s center will also conduct a criminal probe to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the accident. Ports and Airports Minister Silvio Costa Filho stated, “We will investigate so this case is fully explained to the Brazilian people.”
Si Venus L Peñaflor ay naging editor-in-chief ng Newsworld, isang lokal na pahayagan ng Laguna. Publisher din siya ng Daystar Gazette at Tutubi News Magazine. Siya ay isa ring pintor at doll face designer ng Ninay Dolls, ang unang Manikang Pilipino. Kasali siya sa DesignCrowd sa rank na #305 sa 640,000 graphic designers sa buong daigdig. Kasama din siya sa unang Local TV Broadcast sa Laguna na Beyond Manila. Aktibong kasapi siya ng San Pablo Jaycees Senate bilang isang JCI Senator.
