The twin-engine ATR 72-500 aircraft of the Brazilian airline Voepass that crashed on Friday in Vinhedo, 70 km from Sao Paulo, killing all 62 people on board, had caused a series of problems since last March, including structural damage. journalistic program “Fantastico” on the Globo TV channel on Sunday evening. Recall that among the 62 victims was a Portuguese woman, 48-year-old Gracinda Silva.
According to the report, which collates data and reports from aviation authorities, the aircraft has had problems with its hydraulic system and air conditioning since this month, among other things, and hit the runway with its tail while landing at the airport in Salvador, the capital of Bahia state, on March 11. Between March and the crash last Friday, the plane had undergone several maintenance checks, being grounded for almost four months for repairs, so it cannot be said that the tragedy was caused by the reported problems, but they attract attention.
Ahead of Thursday’s fatal crash, passengers on the same plane posted images on social media saying the heat inside was so intense that some people became ill and one man took off his shirt. On Friday, the day of the crash, one of the injured passengers also posted photos of the ATR’s entrance, complaining: “Old plane, chaos.”
After an abnormal tail strike on the runway on March 11, the report diagnosed structural damage to the aircraft, so it was grounded at Salvador airport until March 28, when it was taken to Voepass’s workshops in Ribeirão Preto, a city in the inland region of São Paulo state, where the company’s headquarters are also located. The ATR was in maintenance for more than three months, until July 9, when it made its first commercial flight after repairs, and on that day, during a flight between Ribeirão Preto and São Paulo, the aircraft developed a new problem – depressurization, which caused it to return to the workshops empty and be grounded again for further repairs.
There are over 4,000 complaints of all kinds against Voepass on consumer advocacy platforms, and the company is also facing several lawsuits from pilots and other employees who accuse it of subjecting them to grueling work, including on weekends. Voepass replaced Passaredo, an airline that specialized in low-cost regional flights, which eventually closed amid a sea of problems, complaints, and debt.
Author: Domingos Grilo Serrinha (Correspondent in Brazil)
Source: CM Jornal
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