"Brazil's accident investigator has published their preliminary report into the Voepass ATR 72-500 accident on August 9.
The report indicates that the co-pilot was speaking to the Voepass operational dispatcher, who was on the ground, after the anti-ice alarm went on and off eight times. The pilots also received CRUISE SPEED LOW and DEGRADED PERFORMANCE alerts while flying in icing conditions at Flight Level 170. Two minutes before control of the aircraft was lost the co-pilot commented: “a lot of ice”.
The investigation has found that the plane's anti-icing system was activated several times by the pilots during the flight. However, at one point, the plane flew for six minutes with an ice warning without the de-icing system being activated.
The Cenipa report does not yet indicate what caused the accident. The lieutenant colonel explained that, at this point, what the agency did was analyze the objective facts regarding the flight. It is not yet possible to say that a failure led to the crash.
The pilots did not report an emergency at any point during the flight."
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