Reuters –A regional turboprop plane fell into what aviation experts called a flat spin before crashing in a residential neighborhood near Sao Paulo in Brazil on Friday, killing all 61 people on board.
Regional carrier Voepass said the plane, bound for Sao Paulo’s international airport, took off from Cascavel, in the state of Parana, and crashed at around 1:30 p.m. (1630 GMT) in the town of Vinhedo, some 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo.
Video shared on social media showed the ATR-72 aircraft spinning out of control as it plunged down behind a cluster of trees near houses, followed by a large plume of black smoke.
City officials at Valinhos, near Vinhedo, said a home in the local condominium complex had been damaged after the plane crashed into its backyard. None of the residents were hurt.
“I almost believe the pilot tried to avoid a nearby neighborhood, which is densely populated,” de Lima said.
The plane’s unusual final circling motion before hitting the ground triggered widespread curiosity among aviation experts, leading some to speculate that ice had built up on the plane or it had experienced engine failure, but investigators said it was too early to determine the cause of the crash.
Nearby resident Daniel de Lima said he heard a loud noise before looking outside his condominium in Vinhedo and seeing the plane in a horizontal spiral.
“It was rotating, but it wasn’t moving forward,” he told Reuters. “Soon after it fell out of the sky and exploded.
City officials at Valinhos, near Vinhedo, said a home in the local condominium complex had been damaged after the plane crashed into its backyard. None of the residents were hurt.
“I almost believe the pilot tried to avoid a nearby neighborhood, which is densely populated,” de Lima said.
The plane’s unusual final circling motion before hitting the ground triggered widespread curiosity among aviation experts, leading some to speculate that ice had built up on the plane or it had experienced engine failure, but investigators said it was too early to determine the cause of the crash.
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Today ice was predicted (at the altitudes the plane was flying at), but within the acceptable range,” Voepass Chief Operations Officer Marcel Moura told a press conference.
“But the plane is sensitive to ice, thit could be a starting point,” Moura said, adding the plane’s de-icing system, along with all other systems, had been deemed operational before takeoff.
Brazilian aviation engineer and crash investigator Celso Faria de Souza told Reuters that a buildup of ice could have caused the plane to stall and spiral in the way that it did.
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The head of the Brazilian aviation accident investigation center, Cenipa, said the plane’s so-called “black box” containing voice recordings and flight data had been recovered from the site.
REUTERS