The aviation community was profoundly shaken by the tragic crash of the Voepass ATR 72 near São Paulo on 9 August 2024, a calamity that has sent shockwaves through the industry. This incident, which claimed numerous lives, serves as a stark reminder of the relentless challenges faced by pilots and the critical importance of accurate and reliable data in ensuring the safety of flight operations.
As we delve deeper into the details surrounding the crash, it becomes increasingly evident that this tragedy may have been preventable. Emerging evidence from preliminary investigations, which include SIGMET (Significant Meteorological Information) reports and flight data analysis, points towards severe icing conditions as a significant contributing factor.
The consequences were dire: a catastrophic aerodynamic stall that left the pilots with little time and few options to recover, spiraling the aircraft into an unrecoverable situation. This analysis underscores the fragile interplay between weather conditions, aircraft systems, and human decision-making in the high-stakes environment of aviation.
The SIGMET, issued by SBGL (Galeão International Airport in Rio de Janeiro), was explicit in its warnings, detailing the presence of freezing rain and supercooled large droplets.
These weather phenomena are notorious in aviation for their ability to rapidly accumulate on aircraft surfaces, including control surfaces and propellors. This can potentially lead to a dramatic loss of lift, increased drag, and other aerodynamic and propellor issues that can severely degrade aircraft performance. In the case of the ATR 72, a turboprop aircraft commonly used for regional flights, the threat posed by such conditions is particularly acute.While the ATR 72 is equipped with de-icing systems designed to protect against such hazards, including heated leading edges on the wings and tail, propeller, and windshield de-icing, these systems have their limits.
Severe icing conditions, like those forecasted in the SIGMET, can overwhelm these protective measures, leading to the formation of ice on critical surfaces or, worse, on the aircraft’s sensors, such as the pitot tubes.
When these systems are compromised, the aircraft can give incorrect speed and altitude readings, creating a dangerous situation where pilots are forced to make decisions based on faulty data.
