Brazilian authorities on Saturday finished recovering the bodies of the 62 people who died when their plane tumbled from the sky, as experts began examining the doomed aircraft’s black boxes to determine the cause of the disaster.
Brazilian authorities on Saturday finished recovering the bodies of the 62 people who died when their plane tumbled from the sky, as experts began examining the doomed aircraft’s black boxes to determine the cause of the disaster.
Videos of the ATR 72-500 aircraft on Friday showed it in a terrifying spiral of decline before it crashed into a residential area in the town of Vinhedo, about 50 miles (about 80 kilometers) northwest of Sao Paulo, the financial center of Brazil.
Voepass’s aircraft virtually “flattened” before plunging almost vertically, crashing on its belly, and exploding in flames. Olivia Perroni Cazo, a fire lieutenant in Sao Paulo, described the impact as severe.
After being found, 62 bodies—34 male and 28 female—were taken to the morgue inn Sao Paulo for identification and delivery to their families,” the regional government said Saturday evening
Two have already been identified through fingerprints, with Vinhedo Mayor Dario Pacheco saying they were the pilot and co-pilot.
The twin-engine turboprop, built by aviation firm ATR, was flying from Cascavel in southern Parana state to Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport.
According to Marcelo Moreno, the center’s chief, experts from Brazil’s Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center (CENIPA) have started investigating two black boxes that have been recovered from the wreckage and included in-flight data and cabin discussions.
The plane received standard maintenance the night before the crash, according to Marcel Moura, director of operations at Voepass, and “no technical problems” were discovered.
According to Vinhedo Mayor Dario Pacheco, fingerprints have already been used to identify two people: the pilot and the co-pilot.
The twin-engine turboprop, built by aviation firm ATR, was flying from Cascavel in southern Parana state to Sao Paulo’s Guarulhos International Airport.
Experts from Brazil’s Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center (CENIPA) have begun analyzing two black boxes recovered from the wreckage, containing cabin conversations and in-flight data, said the center’s chief, Marcelo Moreno.
It plans to publish a preliminary report “within an estimated 30 days,” the Brazilian Air Force said.
According to the Flight Radar 24 website, the plane flew for about an hour at 17,000 feet (5,180 meters), until 1:21 pm (1621 GMT) when it began losing altitude at a catastrophic rate.
Radar contact was lost at 1:22 pm, the air force reported. It said the plane’s crew “at no time declared an emergency or were under adverse weather conditions.”
No technical problems
ATR, a joint subsidiary of European giant Airbus and Italy’s Leonardo, said its experts will assist in the investigation.
The plane, in use since 2010, was in compliance with current standards, the National Civil Aviation Agency said, adding that the four crew members were all fully certified
Voepass’s operations director, Marcel Moura, said the plane had undergone routine maintenance the night before the accident and that “no technical problems” were found. However, experts suggested icing of the plane’s wings may have been behind the accident.
Moura said the plane was a type that flies at an altitude “where there is a greater sensitivity to icing,” but that conditions Friday were “within acceptable parameters for a flight.”
National mourning
The fuselage of the aircraft had been reduced to a mass of twisted metal after the terrible crash. There were no casualties on the ground despite the destruction.
Three days of national mourning have been announced by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva in memorial of one of the biggest aviation disasters in the nation’s history.
“It was really terrible… A frightened Lourdes da Silva Astolfo, 67, whose home is located just yards (meters) from the crash scene, described the incident as “such a sad tragedy.”
She recounted the first sensation as a “rumbling, almost like a tremor,” and then the jet appeared almost straight overhead, she told AFP. Shortly afterward, there was a stunning impact and terrified cries from nearby residents as a thick plume of smelly smoke rose upward.
