By: Timothy Xia

What Happened?

A passenger plane crashed near a house in the city of Sao Paulo, Brazil. Reporters say that the plane fell 17,000 feet from the air and killed all 58 passengers and 4 crew members on board. The plane tried to belly land but failed. It was supposed to fly 2 hours from Cascavel, Brazil to Sao Paulo. The pilot survived and claimed that he contacted Brazilian officials before the plane crashed, but the air traffic control said they didn’t receive any message from the pilot. Joselito Paulo, president of BASA (Brazilian Aviation security Association) said, “If there was no communication, then the crash happened really fast and unexpected,” (From New York Times). The plane speed was 325 MPH in the air and suddenly began to drop quickly as it headed toward the ground.

How Did This Happen?

The reason for this crash is because the plane stalled, meaning the wing lost its ability to keep the plane afloat. The reason why the plane stalled is still under investigation. The theory is that the plane sustained severe icing; this means that ice formed on the plane’s wing, causing it to malfunction. But this is not confirmed because after 2010, passenger planes have a feature that inflates and deflates a tube to break the icing. Jeff Guzzetti, a former crash investigator, wondered: “Did the crew activate the anti-icing system, or did they activate it and it failed?” (From New York Times). Now, air traffic officials are checking everything works to prevent future plane crashes.