Brazilian authorities are investigating the cause of the fiery plane crash that killed 61

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VINEDO, Brazil (AFP) – Brazilian authorities were working Saturday to determine the exact cause of a plane crash in Sao Paulo state the previous day that killed all 61 people on board.

The local ATR 72 twin-turboprop passenger plane, operated by local airline Voipas, was heading to São Paulo International Airport in Guarulhos with 57 passengers and 4 crew members on board when it crashed in the city of Vinhedo.

Eyewitness footage showed the plane spinning flat and then descending vertically before crashing into the ground inside a gated residential complex, leaving the fuselage completely burned. Residents said there were no injuries on the ground.

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Heavy rains pounded rescue workers as they retrieved the first bodies from the crash site in the bitter cold of the Southern Hemisphere winter. Some residents of the housing complex quietly left to spend the night elsewhere.

It was the world’s worst plane crash since January 2023, when 72 people died on a Yeti Airlines plane in Nepal that malfunctioned and crashed as it approached for landing. That plane was also an ATR 72, and the final report blamed pilot error.

A report issued on Friday by the meteorological center of the Brazilian Globo television network said it “confirmed the possibility of ice formation in the Vinhedo area,” and local media quoted experts as saying ice was the likely cause of the crash.

On October 31, 1994, an American Eagle ATR 72-200 crashed, and the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the probable cause of the accident was ice buildup while the aircraft was in a stalled flight. The aircraft rolled over at about 8,000 feet and crashed to the ground, killing all 68 people on board. The Federal Aviation Administration issued operating procedures for ATRs and similar aircraft, instructing pilots not to use the autopilot in icy conditions.

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But Brazilian aviation expert Lito Souza warned that weather conditions alone may not be enough to explain the plane crashing the way it did on Friday.

“Analyzing a plane crash through photos alone can lead to wrong conclusions about the causes,” Souza told The Associated Press by phone. “But we can see that the plane lost support, there was no horizontal speed. And in this flat spin, there was no way to regain control of the plane.”

The plane’s black box has been found and appears to be in good condition, Sao Paulo Public Security Secretary Guilherme Deret told reporters in Vinedo on Friday.

Marcelo Mora, operations manager at Vopas, told reporters on Friday evening that despite the forecast of ice formation, these levels were within acceptable levels for aircraft.

Similarly, Lt. Col. Carlos Henrique Balde of the Brazilian Air Force Center for Air Accident Investigation and Prevention told reporters at a late afternoon news conference that it was too early to confirm whether ice was the cause of the accident.

“The aircraft is certified in many countries to fly in severe icing conditions, including in countries unlike ours, where the impact of icing is more significant,” said Baldi, who heads the center’s investigations department.

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In an earlier statement, the center said the plane’s pilots did not call for help or say they were operating in bad weather conditions. Ports and Airports Minister Silvio Costa Filho told reporters Friday evening in Vinedo that there was no evidence that the pilots had tried to contact regional airport controllers either.

Brazil’s federal police said in a statement that they had launched their own investigation, sending in specialists in aircraft accidents and identifying disaster victims.

Franco-Italian aircraft manufacturer ATR said in a statement that it had been informed that the incident involved its ATR 72-500 aircraft, and that the company’s specialists were “fully engaged in supporting the investigation and the customer.”

The ATR 72 is mainly used for short-haul flights. The aircraft is manufactured by a joint venture between Airbus of France and Leonardo of Italy.

Air crashes involving various models of the ATR 72 have killed 470 people since the 1990s, according to the Aviation Safety Network database.

Brazilian authorities began transporting bodies to the morgue on Friday, and have called on family members of the victims to bring any medical tests, X-rays and dental exams to help identify the bodies. Blood tests have also been conducted to aid in identification efforts.

Airports Minister Costa Filho said the Air Force Centre would also conduct a criminal investigation into the incident.

“We will investigate until this case is fully explained to the Brazilian people,” he said.

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Sa Pessoa reported from Sao Paulo and Koenig from Dallas.

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