On a wooded residential edge of Vinhedo, a small turboprop fell from the afternoon sky and took with it all 62 people who had boarded it in Cascavel, leaving a neighborhood to sift through twisted metal and grief. It is the kind of loss that asks a community, and a country with a long memory of aviation tragedy, to hold two things at once: the search for why, and the slow, respectful work of bringing home every name. Until the flight recorder speaks through the investigators, the cause remains a question held open, as all such questions are.
Recovery and black box probe continue after Voepass ATR 72 crash in Vinhedo kills all 62 aboard
All 62 people on board died, and about 16 bodies had been removed from the wreckage as of Saturday morning.
A plane in a downward spin, a quiet wooded neighborhood, and no one on the ground hurt
Mark
Sixty-two people, and none of them on the ground. Why is that detail getting so much attention?
Mimi
Because the plane fell into a residential area. Some houses were damaged, yet no residents were reported hurt or killed, and the fires were brought under control.
Mark
What do we actually know about the final minutes?
Mimi
The plane cruised about an hour at 17,000 feet, began losing altitude at 1:21 pm, and radar contact was lost at 1:22. Videos show it spinning down.
Luke
Worth noting that the altitude figures come from Flight Radar 24, a tracking website, while the radar-loss time comes from the Brazilian air force. They are different sources.
Mark
The airline says there were no technical problems. Doesn't that narrow things down?
Luke
Not really. That is the airline's operations director describing the maintenance the night before. It is a statement, not a finding. The cause is unknown and CENIPA's inquiry has only just begun.
Mimi
The aviation agency did say the plane complied with current standards and the four crew were certified, which is useful context but still not a cause.
Mark
And the black box?
Luke
It was recovered, and that is all we can say. Nothing has been reported about what it contains.
Mimi
Meanwhile the recovery is slow. Sixteen bodies were out by Saturday morning, and firefighters expect it could take days.
O Pulso
- A Voepass ATR 72-500 dropped out of the sky over a Vinhedo neighborhood, and the afternoon turned into smoke and sirens.
- Rain soaked the wreckage and slowed crews as they lifted the dead from the twisted fuselage, with 16 bodies recovered by Saturday morning.
- CENIPA took the black box on Friday, and ATR engineers are joining the inquiry to find out what happened in those final minutes.
- Records show the plane was certified and freshly maintained, so investigators face a puzzle that will take days or longer to resolve.
On a wooded residential edge of Vinhedo, a small turboprop fell from the afternoon sky and took with it all 62 people who had boarded it in Cascavel, leaving a neighborhood to sift through twisted metal and grief. It is the kind of loss that asks a community, and a country with a long memory of aviation tragedy, to hold two things at once: the search for why, and the slow, respectful work of bringing home every name. Until the flight recorder speaks through the investigators, the cause remains a question held open, as all such questions are.
By Saturday morning, the wooded residential enclave of Vinhedo, about 80 kilometers northwest of São Paulo, was crowded with police cars, ambulances and fire trucks. The day before, a Voepass ATR 72-500 had come down in the neighborhood, and crews had begun the painstaking work of removing the dead from what remained of the fuselage.
All 62 people aboard died. The airline later confirmed the count was 62, not the 61 first reported, and all of them were Brazilian. By Saturday morning, firefighters had taken 16 bodies from the wreckage, with about 200 people working on the recovery. Steady overnight rain slowed everything, and local fire spokesman Captain Maycon Cristo said the work could take days.
The twin-engine turboprop had been flying from Cascavel to Guarulhos airport. At 1:21 pm it began losing altitude rapidly, and radar contact was lost a minute later. Residents heard a loud noise and watched the plane fall nearly vertically. Smoke rose over the site, and some houses were damaged, but no one on the ground was reported hurt.
The cause is unknown. Brazil's investigation center CENIPA has opened an inquiry and recovered the black box, and ATR's experts will assist. Early records offer some reassurance: the aircraft had flown since 2010 within current standards, its four crew were certified, and the airline said routine maintenance the night before found no technical problems.
The crash ranks among Brazil's worst aviation disasters, recalling the 2007 TAM crash at Congonhas and the 2009 Air France loss over the Atlantic. What comes next is slow work: identifying and returning the dead, and reading the flight data for answers.
By Saturday morning, the wooded residential enclave in Vinhedo, about 80 kilometers (50 miles) northwest of São Paulo city, was crowded with police cars, ambulances and fire trucks. A day earlier, a Voepass ATR 72-500 had dropped into the neighborhood, and crews had begun the work of removing the dead from what was left of the fuselage, now a mass of twisted iron.
All 62 people aboard died. The airline said on Saturday that a check of the passenger list showed 62 on board, not the 61 reported earlier. All were Brazilian, and there were no survivors. By Saturday morning, firefighters said 16 bodies had been taken from the wreckage. About 200 people were working on the recovery, and the dead are being taken to the São Paulo morgue.
Steady rain overnight slowed the work. Captain Maycon Cristo, a spokesman for local firefighters, said the recovery could take days.
The twin-engine turboprop, built by the French-Italian manufacturer ATR, had been flying from Cascavel in southern Paraná state to Guarulhos international airport in São Paulo. According to Flight Radar 24, it cruised for about an hour at 17,000 feet (5,180 meters). At 1:21 pm local time (1621 GMT), it began losing altitude rapidly. The Brazilian air force reported that radar contact was lost at 1:22 pm.
Videos of the fall show the plane in a downward spin. Residents said they heard a loud noise and then watched the aircraft come down in an almost vertical free-fall. A large cloud of smoke rose from the site. Some houses were damaged, but military police told local media there were no casualties on the ground, and the fires the crash set off were brought under control.
The cause is not known. Brazil's Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center, known as CENIPA, has opened an inquiry. Its investigators recovered the black box with flight data on Friday. ATR said its experts will assist.
Some of what is known so far points to a plane in good standing. The National Civil Aviation Agency said the aircraft had been in service since 2010 and complied with current standards, and that all four crew members were fully certified. Marcel Moura, Voepass's operations director, said the plane received routine maintenance the night before the accident and that "no technical problems" were found.
The crash ranks among the worst in Brazil's aviation history. In 2007, a TAM Airbus A320 overran a runway at Congonhas airport in São Paulo and hit a warehouse, killing all 187 aboard and 12 workers on the ground. Two years later, an Air France A330 flying from Rio de Janeiro to Paris fell into the Atlantic, and all 228 people aboard died.
What comes next is slow: finishing the removal and identification of the dead, and analysis of the recovered flight data by CENIPA, with ATR's experts assisting.
Citações Notáveis
The plane underwent routine maintenance the night before the accident, and no technical problems were found.— Marcel Moura, Voepass operations director
The recovery work could take days.— Captain Maycon Cristo, firefighters' spokesman
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