Voepass black box records screams and questions from the co-pilot about 'giving power' to the aircraft
The black boxes registered approximately two hours of conversations in the cabin. Analysis of the extracted data reveals that the aircraft experienced an abrupt drop in altitude.
Black boxes from the ATR-72 plane that crashed in Vinhedo - Photo Reproduction / Disclosure / FAB
The ongoing investigation into the accident involving the Voepass aircraft, which crashed in Vinhedo, in the interior of São Paulo, revealed new information. The ATR-72 plane's cockpit voice recorder captured the copilot's conversations mentioning the need to "give power" to the aircraft a few minutes before the accident, in addition to recording screams on board. The information, released on Wednesday night (14) by Jornal Nacional, on TV Globo, was extracted from around two hours of transcription carried out by the data reading and analysis laboratory of the Accident Investigation and Prevention Center (Cenipa) , linked to the Air Force.
Screams and tension on board
According to investigators, preliminary analysis of the data suggests that the ATR 72-500 lost altitude suddenly. Cabin audio analysis alone does not allow us to determine a clear cause for the crash. The black box transcript reveals that, upon noticing the loss of lift, co-pilot Humberto de Campos Alencar e Silva asked what was happening.
He requested to "power up" – an attempt to stabilize the aircraft and prevent it from crashing, which, unfortunately, was not successful. Approximately one minute passed between the loss of altitude and the impact with the ground. During this time, the audio indicates that the crew tried to react. The recording ends with screams and the sound of the aircraft crashing into the ground.
Recording License
The National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) granted Voepass an 18-month license not to record eight flight information in the aircraft's black box. According to the newspaper O Globo and the broadcaster CNN, among the unrecorded data were the activation of the brakes and systems that guarantee balance in the plane's direction. The license was approved on March 1, 2023, at the request of Voepass, made after the aircraft was added to the fleet in September 2022. The ATR 72-500 model was acquired from the Indonesian company NAC Aviation 19 Limited.
When it arrived from Indonesia, the plane was not equipped to record all the parameters required by Brazilian civil aviation regulations. Requirements may vary depending on the legislation of each country. According to ANAC, the ATR 72-500 involved in the accident was certified by a European authority, which requires a smaller number of parameters than the Brazilian agency, which has more restrictive standards.
ANAC declared that, due to this, aircraft operating in Brazil will need a period of time to adapt to local requirements, which are more restrictive. According to Anac, the absence of recording these eight flight information does not affect the operation of the aircraft. However, the agency admits that this data could be useful in accident investigation.
Ongoing Research
The ATR 72-500 has propellers located in the upper part of the fuselage, very close to the cockpit. According to investigators, this configuration caused a high level of noise, making the recorded dialogue difficult to understand. Despite this, in the preliminary analysis, Cenipa did not identify sounds characteristic of alerts that could direct the investigation, such as alarms indicating the presence of fire, electrical failure or engine failure.
The black box data, at this initial stage, is not yet sufficient to confirm or rule out the main hypothesis recently raised by experts: that the accident may have occurred due to the formation of ice on the wings, resulting in a loss of stability ( known as "flock"). Confirming the cause of the accident will depend on further analysis of black box records and combining this information. The preliminary report on the case must be completed within 30 days. During this period, investigators hope to clarify the "context" of the tragedy, which is still considered obscure.
Engineers from ATR, the French aircraft manufacturer, and Pratt & Whitney, the Canadian engine manufacturer, spent Wednesday morning at Cenipa's headquarters in Brasília. The work also has the support of representatives from BEA and TSB, bodies responsible for flight safety in their respective countries and with in-depth knowledge of the systems of this aircraft model. The participation of international teams in this process is a practice provided for by international cooperation agreements whenever an air accident occurs, such as the one that occurred last week.
Identification of Victims
After intense and delicate work, the São Paulo Legal Medical Institute (IML) task force announced this Wednesday morning the identification of 56 of the 62 fatal victims of the tragic plane crash. The identification of the remaining six bodies does not yet have a defined deadline for completion. Experts are considering carrying out DNA tests on at least four of these bodies to compare the genetic material with that of family members. According to the Technical-Scientific Police Superintendence, 15 bodies were identified by dental x-rays, 37 by fingerprints and 4 by both methods. All 58 passengers and four crew members died as a result of multiple trauma caused by the plane crash, according to experts.
