The ATR 72-500 aircraft was on a journey from Cascavel in Brazil to Guarulhos Airport in Sao Paulo when it lost control and crashed, killing all on board
09:04, 16 Oct 2025Updated 09:09, 16 Oct 2025
A black box captured two hours worth of audio from the flight (Image: Getty)
Every single passenger aboard this flight bound for Guarulhos Airport in São Paulo perished after the pilot lost control, with his final moments of sheer panic recorded on the aircraft’s black box.
The plane was travelling from Cascavel in Brazil to Guarulhos Airport in São Paulo when it plummeted to earth last August.
Voepass, the carrier, confirmed the aircraft had crashed in the small town of Vinhedo.
Initially, the airline was unable to confirm how many people were on board, but within 24 hours they verified that the ATR 72-500 flight was transporting 58 passengers and four crew members.
There were no survivors, reports the Express. The black box, subsequently recovered from the wreckage, disclosed the pilot’s haunting final words.
The crash took place on August 9, 2024(Image: Getty)
The transcript reveals that his co-pilot turned to him and questioned, ‘What is going on?’ as the aircraft started to drop, stating that the plane needed to be “stabilised”.
Whilst helping the pilot, he observed a sudden and dramatic loss of height, mere minutes before the plane struck the ground with devastating force.
Footage shared on social media captured the precise moment the aircraft spiralled downwards to its catastrophic end, claiming the lives of everyone aboard. TV Globo’s news programme, Jornal Nacional, reported that just moments before the crash, screams were heard from the ground, which were also captured in the black box audio.
Despite the analysis of the audio not revealing any signs of engine failure or unusual activity leading to the crash, these questions remain unanswered.
The small town was thrown into chaos as residents heard the abnormal sounds of the plane approaching, and soon a large area was ablaze with the smouldering wreckage at its heart. Emergency services were swift to respond, and thankfully no one on the ground was injured, although one home was damaged in the disaster.
Local resident Felipe Magalhaes, who witnessed the incident, said: “When I heard the sound of the plane falling, I looked out my window at home and saw the moment it crashed.”
Another local, Nathalie Cicari, told CNN Brasil she was simply having her lunch when she heard “a very loud noise”.
“I went out on the balcony and saw the plane spinning,” she said. “Within seconds, I realised that it was not a normal movement for a plane.”
Brazil’s President at the time, Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, expressed his solidarity with the families of those who perished and held a minute’s silence at an event he was attending.
In the meantime, São Paulo’s state governor, Tarcísio Gomes de Freitas, declared three days of mourning.
ATR issued a statement in August 2024, acknowledging an accident involving an ATR 72-500. The statement read: “Our first thoughts are with all the individuals affected by this event. The ATR specialists are fully engaged to support both the investigation and the customer.”