VOEPASS ATR Turboprop Crashes in Vinhedo, Brazil

DALLAS — VOEPASS Linhas Aéreas (2Z) has confirmed that one of its ATR 72-500 headed for São Paulo/Guarulhos International Airport (GRU) from Cascavel (CAC) crashed near the city of Vinhedo, a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil, with 58 passengers and 4 crew members on board.

The airline said on Saturday that all the passengers on board flight 2283 presented themselves for boarding with documentation issued in Brazil. Out of the 58 passengers, four had dual citizenship, three Venezuelans and one Portuguese.

Local media has shown video footage of a twin-turboprop spinning and drifting rapidly from the sky in the Vinhedo area. At the time of writing, it is unclear what caused the 2Z aircraft to spiral down, but radabox.com shows the plane plunging 4,000 feet from 17,000 in a matter of minutes before its GPS signal was lost.

According to flightaware.com, the 2Z twin-turboprop with registration PS-VPB departed at 11:50 a.m. local time and was scheduled to land at GRU just before 2 p.m.

Though there's no official announcement of any casualties, Brazil's civil defense said the plane hit multiple houses as it crashed into a residential area. The Brazilian Air Force has already deployed a team of investigators to the site.

Early reports suggested severe icing conditions led the pilots to request a descent as part of anti-icing protocols. It appears that ATC disapproved, an early theory that has not been officially confirmed. According to NBC News, the ATC did not receive an emergency declaration from the pilots.

VOEPASS Linhas Aéreas

Situated in Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, Brazil, 2Z, formerly known as Passaredo Linhas Aéreas, operates regional services from Leite Lopes Airport (RAO) in Ribeirão Preto, which serves as its principal hub.

The National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (ANAC) reports that 2Z was Brazil's fourth largest domestic airline between January and December 2023, with 737,928 passengers transported and 0.3% of the domestic market share of revenue passenger kilometers (RPK).

In a statement released hours after the accident, ATR said it had been "informed that an accident occurred in Vinhedo, Brazil involving an ATR 72-500. Our first thoughts are with all the individuals affected by this event."

The Franco-Italian aircraft manufacturer added that its specialists were "fully engaged to support both the investigation and the customer." The black boxes of the ATR 72-500 were recovered late Saturday August 10.

"Very sad news," the Brazilian president said at an event shortly after the crash. "My deepest sympathies go out to the victims' friends and family." The airline has released a list of the passengers lost in the crash.

This is a developing story.