2024-09-07 00:50:41
By Ricardo Brito
BRASILIA (Reuters) – The Voepass turboprop ATR plane that crashed in Vinhedo (SP) at the beginning of August, killing 62 people, crossed a region with heavy ice formation, which led to the activation of visual and audible warning signals to the pilots and of the aircraft’s defense systems, said the investigator on the causes of the tragedy this Friday.
According to Lieutenant Colonel Paulo Fróes, from the Aeronautical Center for the Investigation and Prevention of Accidents (Cenipa), “there was no declaration of emergency at any time” by the pilots of the aircraft. The plane fell in an almost vertical trajectory over a condominium in the inner city of São Paulo, before reaching its destination at Guarulhos airport, after taking off from Cascavel, in Paraná.
Minutes before the crash, warning signals of low speed and lack of lift were immediately activated on the aircraft, according to data from the two black boxes recovered from the wreckage of the turboprop, according to Cenipa investigators.
The report presented this Friday is not final and the investigations are expected to take more than a year, said members of the body linked to the Air Force.
During the flight, one of the black boxes recorded the voice of one of the crew stating that there was “lots of ice”. Another time, the pilot would have mentioned a failure of one of the plane’s ice reduction systems, but this information was not found on the aircraft’s data recorder.
According to Fróes, the ATR has equipment to help the aircraft deal with the formation of ice and data from the black boxes shows that they are activated, but sometimes the system was turned off.
When asked if the pilots could turn off the system or if it could have failed and turned itself off, Fróes said that the system is “turned off with a button”.
Voepass flight planning predicted severe icing conditions, according to records verified by the Cenipa team.
Reuters asked if the anti-icing system might not be able to cope with the build-up on the wings – which, when it happens, could cause the plane to lift lost in the air – one of the members of the investigation stated that it has been confirmed that the aircraft is operating in icy conditions and that maintenance was up to date, according to records.
The members of the investigation also said that it is not yet known how much ice may have accumulated on the wings of the plane before the accident.
“What we have at the moment is that the aircraft had nothing that would make it impossible to take off”, said the head of Cenipa, Brigadier Marcelo Moreno.
For pilot Rafael Bessa, who currently works in the Middle East and has previous experience with ATRs, it is important to understand why the anti-icing systems turned on and off repeatedly and whether there was any failure.
“If there was a failure, why didn’t they go down looking for a lower temperature? It’s hard to say without knowing exactly what was happening in the cockpit,” said Bessa. “I believe the ice condition was controllable and deteriorated quickly at first… When the condition worsened, I believe they were unable to come down because of other aircraft in the region”, he said, citing that only Cenipa will be able to clarify with the investigations.
According to Cenipa’s preliminary investigation, the Voepass plane took off 18 minutes late and the flight plan predicted an altitude of 17 thousand feet after take-off, an altitude which at that time, according to meteorological data, indicated the possibility of ice formation . After stabilizing at 17,000 feet, the flight plan called for a drop in altitude when the RIA was at an ideal point closer to São Paulo.
However, flight controllers in São Paulo instructed the Voepass pilots to maintain an altitude of 17,000 feet for a few minutes after the pilots requested permission to reduce altitude, as provided in the flight plan, due to another aircraft being present.
Screw
One point that will still be investigated, according to investigators, is why the aircraft in the final stretch of the flight went into a “flat turn” – a vertical drop – making five sharp turns until it hit the ground.
“This condition is not normal, it is extremely atypical,” said aviator colonel Carlos Henrique Baldin, head of investigation at Cenipa.
Voepass said in a press release after Cenipa’s release that the preliminary report confirmed that the aircraft had a valid flight certificate and that all the necessary systems were in place. The company also said the document shows both pilots were able to fly, with all valid pilot certificates and up-to-date training.
“It is worth remembering that the investigation of an air accident is a complex process, which involves many factors and requires time to be done correctly. Only the final report of Cenipa will be able to indicate the reasons for what happened definitively”, it was said. the enterprise.
(Additional reporting by Alberto Alerigi Jr. and Luciana Magalhães in São Paulo)
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