Brazil forms committee to oversee investigation into plane crash that killed 62 | Aviation news

The panel is expected to bring in several key figures to prevent a repeat of the fatal accident north of Sao Paulo.

Brazil's parliament has announced the formation of a committee to oversee the investigation into a plane crash that occurred earlier this month and killed 62 people.

Lower House Speaker Arthur Lira last week approved the creation of a 37-member committee tasked with overseeing an investigation into Cenipa, an organization that investigates aviation accidents.

The House of Commons is expected to decide on Tuesday who will be invited to speak before the committee.

“Our intention is not to conduct a witch hunt,” said Congressman Nelsinho Padovani. “We want to propose measures to prevent this from happening again.”

The tragic incident in which an ATR 72-500 aircraft belonging to the regional airline Voepass crashed in the city of Vinhedo, about 80 kilometers north of Sao Paulo, is the worst aviation accident in Brazil in over a decade.

Padovani told Reuters that the committee is expected to summon figures such as Voepass president Jose Luiz Felicio Filho, Cenipa chief Marcelo Moreno and the head of Brazil's civil aviation authority ANAC Tiago Sousa Pereira to address the panel. The invited speakers are not obliged to appear before the committee.

While Cenipa is expected to release preliminary results of its investigation by September 6, the congressional committee will hold hearings through December and is expected to issue a report in February.

The circumstances leading to the crash on August 9 remain unclear. Videos of the aftermath show burning debris from the plane scattered across the ground.

Some experts believe the crash may have been due to ice forming on the plane's wings, causing the pilot to lose control.

There have been several such incidents in the past when ice accumulated on the wings of ATR aircraft.

“At this time, we cannot comment further on the further development of the story,” an ATR spokesman said of the committee, adding that they “continue to monitor the situation closely.”

The plane was en route from Cascavel airport in the southern state of Paraná to Sao Paulo.