Brazil’s Cenipa says frost detectors activated on downed Voepass plane Reuters

BRASILIA/SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazil’s Aeronautical Accident Research and Prevention Center (Cenipa) said on Friday that a preliminary report on the crash of a Voepass airliner in August showed that hail detectors had been activated on the ATR aircraft.

According to a Cenipa official, the plane’s fuselage freeze button was activated at least three times during the flight, while cockpit recordings showed the co-pilot saying there was “a lot of frost”.

The ATR-72 aircraft from local carrier Voepass spun out of control before crashing to the ground on August 9, killing all 61 on board.

Cenipa said the co-pilot’s comment indicated the plane’s de-icing system may have failed, but said that still needed to be confirmed.

According to Cenipa, investigations into the accident will probably last over a year.

The preliminary accident report confirmed that the pilots repeatedly turned the fuselage deicing system on and off.

The report provides a chronology of the flight but does not present clear causes.

“This is consistent with the flight crew being aware of airframe icing and attempting to resolve it using onboard systems,” said Anthony Brickhouse, a US aviation safety expert.

The turboprop, bound for Sao Paulo International Airport, had taken off from Cascavel in Parana state and crashed in the town of Vinhedo, about 80 km (50 miles) northwest of Sao Paulo.