The Brazilian Congress has announced the formation of a committee to oversee an investigation into an airplane crash earlier this month that claimed 62 lives. The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Arthur Lira, approved the establishment of a 37-person committee last week, tasked with monitoring the investigation by the Air Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center (Cenipa), an institution responsible for investigating aviation accidents.
The House of Representatives is expected to decide who will be called to testify before the committee on Tuesday. “Our intention is not to conduct a witch hunt,” said Congress member Nelsinho Padovani. “We want to propose measures so that a similar incident does not happen again.”
The tragic event involved an ATR 72-500 aircraft operated by the regional airline Voepass, which crashed in the city of Vinhedo, approximately 80 kilometers north of São Paulo. This incident marks Brazil’s deadliest aviation accident in over a decade. Padovani informed Reuters that the committee is expected to summon individuals such as Voepass’s president, Jose Luiz Felicio Filho, the head of Cenipa, Marcelo Moreno, and the chief of Brazil’s National Civil Aviation Agency (ANAC), Tiago Sousa Pereira, to testify before the panel. However, those invited are not obligated to appear before the committee.
While Cenipa is expected to release preliminary findings from its investigation before September 6, the congressional committee will hold hearings until December and aims to publish a report in February. The circumstances surrounding the crash on August 9 remain uncertain, with videos from the aftermath showing burning wreckage from the aircraft scattered across the ground.
Some experts have suggested that the accident could have been caused by ice formation on the wings of the aircraft, which may have led the pilot to lose control. Several similar incidents have previously occurred with ATR aircraft when ice has accumulated on their wings. “At this moment, we cannot provide further comments as the situation is developing,” stated a spokesperson for ATR, adding that they are “continuing to monitor the situation closely.”
The plane was en route to São Paulo from Cascavel Airport in the southern state of Paraná.