A tragic plane crash occurred on August 9 when a Brazilian commercial aircraft crashed into a residential area in the state of São Paulo, killing all 61 passengers and crew members on board.
The airline Voepass confirmed that the ATR-72 aircraft had departed from Cascavel in Paraná, heading for São Paulo International Airport. The accident happened at approximately 1:30 PM local time in the city of Vinhedo, about 80 kilometers northwest of São Paulo.
Videos shared on social media show the aircraft losing control and spinning mid-air before crashing into a wooded area near a community, sending up a massive plume of black smoke.
Daniel de Lima, a local resident living near the crash site, described hearing a loud noise before looking out of his condominium window in Vinhedo. He saw the plane spinning horizontally. “It was spinning but not moving forward,” he told Reuters. “Then it fell, and there was an explosion.”
Officials from Valinhos, a nearby city, reported that a condominium sustained damage when the plane crashed into its backyard garden, but fortunately, no residents were injured.
The plane’s unusual horizontal spin before crashing has puzzled aviation experts. Some speculate that it could have been caused by ice buildup on the aircraft or an engine failure. However, investigators caution that it is too early to determine the exact cause.
“There was a forecast for icing (at the plane’s altitude), but it was within manageable levels,” stated Marcel Moura, Chief Operating Officer of Veopass, during a press conference. “However, this aircraft is quite sensitive to icing, so it could have been the start of this tragedy.”
Moura also confirmed that the plane’s de-icing system and other mechanisms were checked and found to be functioning normally before departure.
Celso Faria de Sousa, an aviation engineer and accident investigator, explained to Reuters that ice buildup could have caused the plane to lose lift (stall) and spin horizontally, as witnessed in the crash.
In the past, ATR-72 aircraft have experienced similar accidents due to ice buildup. In 1994, an ATR-72 crashed in Indiana, USA, killing 68 people after the plane failed to bank due to icing. In 2016, another ATR-72 in Norway faced similar icing issues but the pilots managed to regain control in time.
The head of Brazil’s Cenipa (Center for Investigation and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents) confirmed that authorities have recovered the plane’s “black boxes,” which include the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder, and they are currently being analyzed.
