An aviation expert reveals the likely cause that led to a Brazilian passenger plane falling into a “death spiral,” resulting in the death of 61 people.
Video footage of the accident on August 9 shows the Voepass airline’s aircraft plummeting from the sky, crashing to the ground behind a thicket near residential homes, and generating a large plume of black smoke, leading to the deaths of 61 passengers, according to Mail. Chief pilot Ross Aimer, who has 40 years of experience flying passenger jets in the United States, stated that the aircraft may have suffered an engine failure, a malfunction in the flight control system, or lost a wing, a critical component. He noted that once the plane enters a death spiral, it is very difficult to escape.
The passenger plane unexpectedly crashed during its flight from Cascavel to Guarulhos. Aimer assessed that the most plausible cause of the accident was the plane being in a stall at low speed, with the airflow over the wings being too slow to provide sufficient lift. This situation can occur due to technical faults, severe turbulence, pilot error, or an object such as birds striking the wings. For instance, US Airways Flight 1549 crashed into the Hudson River after a flock of birds struck the aircraft’s wings, causing a loss of thrust shortly after takeoff at an altitude of about 213 meters.
The ATR-72 aircraft crashed in Vinhedo, Brazil, flying at an altitude of 518 meters, according to the airline. At that altitude, the cause may not be due to a bird strike. After the aircraft stalled, it entered a circular descent, ultimately crashing to the ground. This is a type of fall known as a “death spiral.” When a wing stalls and pitches downward, and there is no thrust due to engine failure, the aircraft can enter a spiral descent as one wing generates lift while the plane rotates around the other wing until it crashes.
After the plane stalled, it entered a circular descent, ultimately crashing to the ground.
This is not the first time an ATR aircraft has caused a fatal accident. In 1994, an ATR-72 crashed into the Atlas Mountains while climbing to 4,876 meters during a flight in Morocco from Agadir to Casablanca. The pilot committed suicide, resulting in the deaths of all passengers. More recently, an ATR-42 crashed in 2017 after flying in freezing conditions and losing control in Canada, leading to the death of one passenger.
Although relatively safe, the ATR-72 is not commonly used in commercial aviation in the United States. Currently, the Brazilian Air Force has dispatched a team of investigators to the crash site.
