A Voepass ATR 72-500, registered as PS-VPB, tragically crashed near São Paulo, Brazil today, while operating flight 2Z-2283 from Cascavel to São Paulo Guarulhos Airport. The aircraft was carrying 62 people on board, including 58 passengers and 4 crew members.
The incident occurred during the aircraft’s initial approach at an altitude of 17,000 feet. According to unverified video footage circulating on social media, the aircraft appeared to spin out of control in a left-hand spiral before crashing into a residential area in the Recanto Florido complex, Vinhedo, approximately 7 nautical miles southeast of Viracopos Airport and 40 nautical miles northwest of its intended destination, Guarulhos Airport.
The crash took place at around 1:22 p.m. local time and the aircraft reportedly broke apart upon impact before bursting into flames. Military Police were alerted to the crash six minutes later. Hospitals in the nearby cities of Vinhedo and Valinhos were placed on high alert to receive any potential survivors, although the status of those on board remains unconfirmed.
Warning: Disturbing footage:
BREAKING: Media reports that a Voepass ATR-72 has crashed in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Unverified video shows the aircraft spinning out of control while enroute to Guarulhos, Brazil. More details to follow. pic.twitter.com/1X0QVdGZ0Q
— Breaking Aviation News & Videos (@aviationbrk) August 9, 2024
❗️✈️ – Images from the crash site of a Voepass Linhas Aéreas ATR 72-500 plane, which was heading from Cascavel (CAC) to São Paulo (GRU) and crashed recently in the Capela neighborhood, in Vinhedo, Brazil.
There is still no information about victims. pic.twitter.com/p2g5Bdm9b5
— The Informant (@theinformant_x) August 9, 2024
There’s more graphic content from the scene of the accident, which I won’t embed here.
The ill-fated ATR 72-500 had been in service for 14.3 years, initially delivered to Belle Air in June 2010. It joined the Voepass fleet on June 28, 2023. The aircraft was equipped with Pratt & Whitney Canada PW127M engines.
In the aftermath of the crash, Voepass confirmed the accident and stated that it had “activated all means” to support those involved. Brazilian aviation authorities launched a formal investigation.
Tragic, part of horizontal stabilizer looks missing in the video of it coming down.
The investigation will determine what happened, but the videos are almost a classic stall. The altitude, load, weight and balance all factor into the results.
According to Brazilian Press the cause was ice on the wings.
It appears there was a cold front passing through the area and there was a forecast for icing.
An American Eagle ATR crashed in 1994 due to icing.
Those videos are horrific – like the final seconds of the 9/11 planes.
This is why I never complain about de-icing delays.
Those videos are absolutely horrific. So sad.
@Tim Dunn: that’s the first thing I thought of too. IIRC, that crash was caused by a catastrophic control loss which occurred when icing extended rearward beyond the deicing boots. The icing disrupted airflow over the wings resulting in an unexpected loss of lift and a rapid loss of altitude. Some control was apparently regained at low altitude toward the very end, but it was far too late to save the flight. To my knowledge, AA (Eagle) still only uses ATRs in tropical climates to this day.
On newer ATRs, this issues was supposed to have been addressed. But the behavior of the aircraft certainly merits this issue being considered as a potential cause by the authorities.
The aircraft appears to be in a flat spin with virtually no forward motion. Engines sound like they are running. Whatever lift there was seems even as the aircraft was, more or less, wings level. It looks like they needed to drop the nose and recover from the stall, but ran out of altitude. Unless there was a control system failure, I’d bet this was a recoverable accident, but the investigation should tell us.
I live an hour from the crash site and there was definitely a cold front coming in from the South at the time. I don’t know anything about piloting but I suspect the bad weather had something to do with it. Interesting that the plane fell so close to Campinas Airport…
Flat spin. Unrecoverable. Sorry ’bout that folks.
I agree with Kyle and James. No doubt it’s a flat spin, but how did it happen? RIP to all aboard.
Incredibly sad. Makes me hesitate to fly again.
Very Tragic situation indeed
As an airline flight instructor, this appears as a classic stall/spin crash. Look back years ago at the Colgan crash that drove significant changes in crew rest and upset training. The Colgan aircraft was on autopilot. The autopilot was struggling to keep the aircraft upright as the ice continued to build on the aircraft’s wings and tail surfaces. Because of the lack of proper rest, the pilots were oblivious to the issue until the autopilot disengaged due to its inability to keep the plane upright. There was a stall/spin and…that was it. It is noted in comments that there was known icing at the time. Not knowing the ATR, I assume that the aircraft has both anti-icing and deicing capability for the leading edges of the wings and tail and the engine nacelles. It will be interesting to note what caused this. Icing is nothing to ignore!
I knew someone on that 1994 plane. He was coming home to New York from a business meeting in Indianapolis and, IIRC, connecting at ORD. So icing was my first thought when I read that it was an ATR. On further thought, it seems more likely that the design defect that led to the 1994 crash has been corrected and that Brazilian journalists googled the plane type, saw stories about the earlier crash and assumed 2+2=4