The aircraft’s uncommon remaining circling movement earlier than hitting the bottom triggered widespread curiosity amongst aviation specialists, main some to invest that ice had constructed up on the aircraft or it had skilled engine failure, however investigators mentioned it was too early to find out the reason for the crash.
“At this time ice was predicted (on the altitudes the aircraft was flying at), however throughout the acceptable vary,” Voepass chief operations officer Marcel Moura instructed a press convention.
“However the aircraft is delicate to ice, that may very well be a place to begin,” Moura mentioned, including the aircraft’s de-icing system, together with all different programs, had been deemed operational earlier than takeoff.
Brazilian aviation engineer and crash investigator Celso Faria de Souza instructed Reuters {that a} buildup of ice might have brought on the aircraft to stall and spiral in the way in which that it did.
An ATR-72 crashed in 1994 in Indiana, killing 68, after the aircraft was unable to financial institution as a result of ice accretion. One other ATR-72 stalled out in 2016 in Norway after ice constructed up on the aircraft, however the pilot was in a position to regain management of the plane.
An ATR-72 additionally crashed in Nepal in 2023, with the ultimate report attributing pilot error.
The pinnacle of Brazilian aviation accident investigation centre Cenipa mentioned the aircraft’s so-called “black field” containing voice recordings and flight knowledge had been recovered from the positioning.
US aviation security professional Anthony Brickhouse mentioned investigators would have a look at issues like climate and whether or not the engines and controls have been functioning correctly forward of the crash.
“From what I’ve seen, it was undoubtedly what we’d name lack of management,” he mentioned.
Flightradar knowledge confirmed important gyrations in velocity earlier than the crash, US aviation security advisor and former business pilot John Cox mentioned, cautioning that he would wish to confirm the info however that one thing “actually important” occurred to trigger the aircraft to spin when it got here down.
“It seems that there might have been some catastrophic occasion earlier than that lack of management,” he mentioned.
