• Live
    • Audio Only
  • google plus
  • facebook
  • twitter
News > World

Brazil's Air Force Says Pilot Error Killed Brazilian Politician

  • Former governor of Pernambuco state and Brazilian Socialist Party presidential candidate Eduardo Campos, photographed in Sao Paulo, April 17, 2014.

    Former governor of Pernambuco state and Brazilian Socialist Party presidential candidate Eduardo Campos, photographed in Sao Paulo, April 17, 2014. | Photo: Reuters

Published 21 January 2016
Opinion

Investigators rule out foul play in the plane crash that killed presidential candidate Eduardo Campos in the lead up to the 2014 election.

Pilot error in bad weather caused the 2014 plane crash that killed Brazilian Socialist Party presidential hopeful Eduardo Campos, according to Cenipa aeronautical accidents investigation center).

Air force investigator Lt. Raul de Souza, who led the probe into the Aug. 13, 2014, crash, told reporters Tuesday that the Cessna business jet carrying Campos and six others "did not follow its charted route" in its flight from Rio de Janeiro to Santos, Sao Paulo.

NEWS: Brazilian Presidential Candidate Dies in Plane Crash

Souza described the two pilots as "disorientated" throughout the short journey. He also said they took a left turn "for no known reason" and gave air control operators incorrect information on their position when attempting to land at a small airport in a residential district of Santos.

"There is no evidence of any type of mechanical failure in what was found," he added.


Rescue personnel survey the wreckage site of the crashed private jet which was carrying candidate Eduardo Campos | Photo: Reuters

Although the pilot and co-pilot each had 20 years of experience, neither had received sufficient training to fly the Cessena model.

An analysis of the voice recordings from the small jet also found that the co-pilot had showed signs of "fatigue and sleep deprivation, which may have contributed" to the plane’s failure to properly land.

The crash near Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous city, killed six others along with Campos, who at the time was polling third in opinion polls, trailing eventual winner, Dilma Rousseff, and Aecio Neves of the right-wing Brazilian Social Democracy Party.

Campos’ party mate Marina Silva was chosen to replace him in the Oct. 14 presidential runoff. Their party finished third.

Upon hearing off Campos’ death, President Dilma Rousseff cancelled her campaign activities for three days and said that "the whole of Brazil is in mourning."

VIDEO: 130,000 in Recife mourn death of Brazilian candidate

Comment
0
Comments
Post with no comments.