By: Sandy Wang
On August 9, 2024, a passenger plane carrying 58 passengers and 4 crew members crashed in Vinhedo, Brazil, killing everyone on board. The reason for the crash is unclear, and experts from around the world are trying to find out what actually happened.
After watching videos of the ATR 72-500 turboprop plane spinning as it plummets down towards Earth, aviation experts agree that the airplane had stalled, or stopped moving, prior to the crash. According to The New York Times, John Cox, an airline pilot for 25 years who now aids plane crash investigations, said, “You can’t get into a spin without stalling. It’s A plus B equals C.”
Currently, the main theory for why the plane stalled is due to ice forming on the wings, therefore making it less aerodynamic and heavier. “The way the aircraft fell, spinning out of control, is characteristic of someone who lost the functionality of the wing and the aircraft controls,” said Celso Faria de Souza, a Brazilian aeronautical engineer and forensic expert in plane crashes. “This can happen because of ice.”
However, if ice had formed, then the pilots could have activated the built in system that breaks the ice by inflating and deflating rubber tubes. And even if the system failed, the pilots would have been able to lower the altitude of the plane and melt the ice. Also, if the ice warning system failed, the pilots would be able to see ice forming on the wings and the windshield.
In the case that the pilots lowered the altitude, they should have first contacted the air traffic controllers, but Brazilian officials said there was no such communication. According to Joselito Paulo, president of the Brazilian Aviation Security Association, the plane’s radio may have failed, or the communication wasn’t intercepted by air traffic control. And if there was no attempt at communication in the first place, then the event must have happened suddenly and quickly.
Experts were able to obtain this much information using the plane’s two black boxes containing flight data and recordings from the cockpit.