The passenger jet fell from an altitude of five kilometers, smashing to pieces when it hit a residential area near Sao Paulo
All 62 people on board an ATR-72 aircraft have died after the plane abruptly plummeted from the sky in the Brazilian city of Vinhedo on Friday.
The plane, operated by regional airline Voepass Linhas Aereas, was en route from Cascavel in the state of Parana to Sao Paulo at the time of the crash. Data from FlightRadar24 showed the aircraft cruising at 17,000 feet (5,190 meters) until it entered a seemingly uncontrollable flat spin while banking right for Sao Paulo and crashed to the ground in a residential area of Vinhedo two minutes later.
Voepass said 58 passengers and four crew members were on board. Emergency services rushed to the scene but local authorities announced shortly afterwards that there were no survivors.
Video footage posted on social media captured the turboprop aircraft’s final moments as it spiraled toward the ground.
Footage from the crash site showed a pile of flaming wreckage. It is unclear whether there were any casualties on the ground.
Speaking at a military event in the southern city of Itajai, Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva held a minute’s silence for the victims of the crash.
The cause of the crash is still unknown. In aviation, a flat spin typically occurs when a plane’s center of gravity shifts too far towards its tail, pitching its nose up and reducing airflow over the wings. With less air flowing over the wings, the plane loses altitude, and any subsequent horizontal rotation can cause it to enter an uncontrollable spin. With reduced air flow over control surfaces, recovering from such a spin can be extremely difficult, particularly on larger aircraft. Icing on a plane’s wings can also trigger a flat spin.
The Brazilian Air Force has sent a team of investigators to determine the cause of the accident, local media reported.
