Posted on 08/10/2024 4:42:22 AM PDT by Libloather
Witnesses have described their horror at watching a plane 'fall out of the sky and explode' in Brazil on Friday - as experts scramble to make sense of what happened.
Dramatic video showed the moment a Voepass Airlines plane came spiralling down over populated areas before crashing behind a cluster of trees, near homes.
'I almost believe the pilot tried to avoid a nearby neighbourhood, which is densely populated,' Daniel de Lima, a resident of Vinhedo near the crash site, told Reuters.
All 61 people on board have been reported dead, though relatives are still waiting for confirmation of the fate of their loved ones.
Voepass has since revealed that all those on board - including 57 passengers and four crew - were carrying Brazilian-issued documents.
Some of the passengers were doctors from Parana heading to a seminar, Governor Ratinho Junior told reporters.
'These were people who were used to saving lives, and now they've lost theirs in such tragic circumstances,' he said.
Daniel de Lima said he heard a loud noise on Friday before looking outside his condo 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.'
'When I heard the sound of the plane falling, I looked out my window at home and saw the moment it crashed,' witness Felipe Magalhaes told Reuters.
'Terrified and not knowing what to do, I jumped over the wall,' he said.
The plane was on its way from Cascavel to Guarulhos cruising at 17,000 feet when it began the sudden descent.
Brazil's Civil Defense says the plane struck several houses within the residential area, CNN Brasil reported.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Loud engines still spinning...it must have been quite a terrifying sight/sound to witness in person.
Jet or prop?
Embraer?
RIP to the unfortunate victims.
Didn’t see the jet’s manufacturer. Boeing?
ATR-42 turboprop manufactured in France/Italy.
I’ve flown on one on a very bumpy flight to North Carolina.
Wasn’t filled with confidence.
No, it was an https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ATR_72
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voepass_Linhas_A%C3%A9reas_Flight_2283
ATR Statement
Toulouse, 9 August 2024 – ATR has been informed that an accident occurred in Vinhedo, Brazil involving an ATR 72-500. Our first thoughts are with all the individuals affected by this event. The ATR specialists are fully engaged to support both the investigation and the customer.
https://www.atr-aircraft.com/presspost/atr-statement-2/
Flat spin
Either lost an engine or stalled one wing, coming in too slow in the pattern. The inboard wing, in a turn, losing too much speed and no longer generating lift.
Very difficult to recover as it often happens at low altitudes and it would require dropping the nose to regain lift on both wings.
Low altitude and one engine out is a very bad situation in a stall.
Is 17,000 a low altitude? I believe that is what is reported. I don’t have a clue. It sounds like you know about aviation. I just know from the movies it’s called a “flat spin”. I don’t know if that’s right.
Could you say a bit more?
Looks like a twin engine turboprop. Can’t think of what could have gone wrong, something to kill both engines is pretty rare from what I’ve heard. Mostly doctor’s aboard. Damn shame. R.I.P. doctors and crew.
Iced up wings. It was reported there were icing conditions between 12K and 20K feet of altitude. That aircraft was in the zone.
“I almost believe the pilot tried to avoid a nearby neighbourhood, which is densely populated,”
Whatever the pilot tried or wanted to do mattered not. Plane went straight down in an out of control flat spin “death spiral”.
That is what brought one down in NY a few years ago.
DETECTION
Visual cue identifying severe icing is characterized by ice covering all or a substantial part of the unheated portion of either side window and/or Unexpected decrease in speed or rate of climb and/or
The following secondary indications:
• Water splashing and streaming on the windshield
• Unusually extensive ice accreted on the airframe in areas not normally observed to collect ice
• Accumulation of ice on the lower surface of the wing aft of the protected areas
• Accumulation of ice on propeller spinner farther aft than normally observed
The following weather conditions may be conducive to severe in-flight icing:
• Visible rain at temperatures close to 0°C ambient air temperature (SAT)
• Droplets that splash or splatter on impact at temperatures close to 0°C ambient air temperature (SAT).
THIS IS PRELIMINARY INFO, SUBJECT TO CHANGE, AND MIGHT CONTAIN ERRORS
Even more difficult in a multi engine aircraft. Have more physical forces to manage, feathering dead prop, etc.
Failure to maintain altitude is my determination.
17,000 is not too low to recover from that. But I can’t imagine that they were in a flat spin all that way down unless pilots were doing something wrong.
They should have been able to at least turn the aircraft into a lawn dart -nose down. As that is the only real way to get out of that situation.
Aircraft of this type have variable pitch props. They can control the amount of bite the props take as they spin. Occasionally, the mechanics of those fail, possibly even reversing the pitch. That could be very bad, quickly. One prop doing what it should, the other generating no thrust or in reverse.
That could cause the tight flat spiral if they were trying to fix that issue and needing time to figure that out before lowering the nose. But turboprop engines themselves don’t fail too often so engine failure by itself doesn’t seem as likely.
I doubt it is was icing either. That wouldn’t affect just one side that much even at 17,000. The systems there are usually pretty good, and its Brazil - how cold and wet is it at 17,000’? This was big.
I am a general aviation pilot - 30 years worth. Though I have never piloted a twin or a turboprop.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.