Brazilian airplane crash investigation reveals indicators of ice buildup however no clear trigger | EUROtoday

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A preliminary report into the crash of an ATR-72 plane in Brazil in early August means that ice buildup on the airplane could have performed a task within the accident.

The report launched on Friday stops in need of figuring out a definitive reason behind the crash that claimed the lives of all 62 individuals on board the 9 August flight. The flight had crashed in Vinhedo, some 80km northwest of Sao Paulo.

According to the report, icing detectors had been activated on the Voepass plane, and cockpit recordings revealed that the co-pilot reported “a lot of icing” throughout the flight, an official with the nation’s Centre for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents (Cenipa) advised a press convention.

This has led investigators to suspect that the airplane’s deicing system could have failed, though additional affirmation is required.

Experts consulted by Reuters agree that icing may have been an element, however warning that the report is preliminary and that accidents are sometimes the results of a number of elements. US aviation security knowledgeable Anthony Brickhouse famous that “everything I have read from the report today is consistent with icing, but accidents are rarely caused by one single event”.

The investigation, led by Cenipa, is anticipated to final over a yr.

Officials say that whereas lack of velocity alerts had been triggered, the crew by no means declared an emergency earlier than the airplane crashed. The reason behind the lack of management stays unclear, with Lieutenant Colonel Paulo Froes stating, “what we know is that the airplane was flying in an area with severe icing conditions”.

The ATR-72 plane concerned within the 9 August crash has a troubling historical past of ice buildup resulting in lack of management, together with a 2016 incident in Norway the place a airplane stalled however the pilot managed to regain management. An identical situation unfolded in 2010, when icing and pilot error precipitated an Aero Caribbean Flight 883 crash in Cuba, leading to 68 fatalities.

The latest crash drew international consideration after dramatic photographs of the airplane’s so referred to as flat spin circulated on social media.

According to 3 cops who labored on figuring out the victims, the crash website revealed a harrowing scene: passengers bracing for affect, with one mom embracing her son. The airplane’s uncommon descent, characterised by an absence of ahead motion, resulted in minimal injury to surrounding houses.

Mauricio Freire, chief of Sao Paulo’s Identification Bureau, described the scene: “It was the first time I saw a plane hit the ground like that, it didn’t slide at all.”

Additional reporting by companies