By: Lauren Wu

On August 9, 2024, a plane heading to São Paulo, Brazil, crashed in the city Vinhedo, killing 62 people. Aviation experts say that the plane’s wings had lost the lift needed to keep the aircraft aloft.

There were 58 passengers and four crew members on the plane ride, which was supposed to last one hour and forty minutes, from Cascavel, Brazil, to São Paulo, Brazil. The plane crashed in a small city called Vinhedo, about 30 minutes away by plane to São Paulo. No one on the ground was injured.

Aviation experts around the world watched footage showing the plane spinning in circles, falling to the ground, almost directly on its belly. Most of them said that the plane had stalled. In other words, the plane’s wings lost the force that keeps the plane in the air, causing it to fall.

The most probable theory so far of why the plane stalled is severe icing, meaning ice formed on its wings or on other parts of the plane, increasing its weight. With icing, a plane has to travel at faster speeds to avoid stalling, experts said.

“The way the aircraft fell, spinning out of control, is characteristic of someone who lost control of the functionality of the wing and the aircraft controls,” said Celso Faria de Souza, a Brazilian engineer who designs and tests planes, and is an expert in plane crashes. “This can happen because of ice.”

In conclusion, this plane crash has made people more aware of ice on airplanes and will lead to better de-icing systems on airplanes.