Brazilian Aviation Woes: VoePass Deadly Crash & ATC Comms Issues – Episode 235
What led to the deadly crash of a Voepass Linhas Aereas in August? Video of the flight’s final moments shows the aircraft rapidly descending in a flat spin. Early reports on the accident mention that icing conditions were present in the area at the time of the crash.
Recovering from a spin in a large airliner is a significant challenge for pilots. Understanding how to avoid situations that lead to stalls and spins is the best way to avoid these tragedies.
Flight training typically does not require pilots to experience actual spins. Even full-motion simulators do not provide the full range of physical experience on an actual airplane. Pilots need to understand their aircraft’s stall and spin characteristics and the situations that make an aircraft’s wings more prone to stalling.
John Goglia shares his experience as an NTSB Board member investigating a 1994 icing-related crash of an ATR72. That investigation included an FAA test involving another ATR72 in controlled icing conditions, which revealed that certain icing conditions could result in icing that the ATR72’s deicing system could not control.
Todd Curtis and John also delve into an incident at Boston Logan Airport where the pilot of a Brazil-registered Embraer Phenom 300E who had difficulties communicating with an air traffic controller. The pilot could not follow several ATC requests, resulting in altitude and speed deviations during a landing approach.
English is the language used by ATC at international airports, but pilots from countries where English is not the language used to communicate can have difficulties. The English used for air traffic control is not the same English used in normal conversations. Even native English speakers have challenges when communicating with ATC, particularly those performing a single-pilot IFR flight.
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