Drama in Brazil

Icing could have led to plane crash

The plane crashed over a populated area.

(Bild: APA/Felipe Magalhaes Filho)

Investigations have been launched following the plane crash in Brazil on Friday that left 61 people dead. Experts are already discussing a possible cause for the tragedy: On the day of the accident, there was a warning (Sigmet) for very heavy icing in the air. Brazilian pilots assume that the wings iced up.

"Everything is still very premature," explained Marcelo Moreno, head of the Center for the Investigation and Prevention of Aviation Accidents, at a press conference regarding the cause of the accident. Environmental and technical factors are being considered, as well as possible human error.

The flight data recorder, the so-called black box, had been found by the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), he said. This is of fundamental importance for the investigation into the crash.

It is certain that a warning was issued at the time of the accident. Sigmets are warnings for aviation that inform about potentially dangerous weather phenomena. weather phenomena. Friday's warning concerned altitudes between 3650 and 6400 meters. Warnings were also issued for turbulence. 

In aviation groups in Brazil, pilots traveling in the vicinity of the crash site shared photos of icing on their cockpit windows. A meteorologist at the CNN news channel explained that the plane was flying at an altitude where there was 100 percent humidity and freezing temperatures.

A picture of the nose of the crashed plane

(Bild: APA/Felipe Magalhaes Filho)

Ice on wings can affect aircraft controls
When an aircraft ices up, ice also collects on the wings - the additional weight can change the aircraft's center of gravity, making it no longer controllable. Sensors that provide information on speed, temperature or air pressure can also freeze and display incorrect values as a result. 

However, the pilots were experienced and the aircraft took off with functioning systems. "The aircraft was 100 percent operational at the time of take-off," admitted the Managing Director of VoePass, Eduardo Busch.

The VoePass airline plane was on its way from the city of Cascavel in the state of Paraná to Guarulhos airport near São Paulo on Friday with 57 passengers and four crew members on board.

Pictures and videos posted on social media showed the plane spinning in the air and falling from the sky. Dense smoke then rose. Data from the Flightradar 24 platform suggests that the plane dropped almost 4,000 meters in less than a minute.

No people on the ground injured
It crashed in a residential area near a house where residents were staying, the news portal "G1" reported, citing authorities in Vinhedo. However, no one on the ground was injured.

The plane involved in Friday's accident was an ATR 72 turboprop passenger aircraft, a shoulder-wing model built by the French-Italian consortium Avions de Transport Régional. In January 2023, 72 passengers, including four crew members, were killed in the crash of an ATR 72-500 on approach to Pokhara airport in Nepal.

Deadliest crash in Brazilian aviation
According to media reports, the accident is one of the deadliest in the history of Brazilian aviation. Many people remember a crash on November 28, 2016, when the plane of Brazilian soccer club Chapecoense crashed on its way to Medellín for the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final in Colombia. At the time, 71 people died, including almost all the players, coaches, trainers and journalists traveling with them. Six passengers survived.