Maintenance failure led to helicopter crash that killed Ricardo Boechat, according...

SÃO PAULO – A report by the FAB’s Center for Investigation and Prevention of Aircraft Accidents (Cenipa), points out that several maintenance failures led to the fall of the helicopter that killed the journalist Ricardo Boechat, 66, in February 2019. In the accident, also the pilot of the aircraft Ronaldo Quattrucci, 56 years old, died.

According to Cenipa, the attitudes of the pilot, who also owned the helicopter, contributed to the tragedy. The report points out that Quattrucci did not check the functioning of the onboard instruments before take-off and made wrong decisions during the flight. At the time, the helicopter crashed on the Anhanguera Highway in São Paulo, collided with a truck that was passing by and then exploded.

The report highlights, above all, faults in the aircraft’s compressor, which had expired parts. Since 1988, there has been no complete upgrade or replacement of the equipment. The oil distribution pipe was also not changed according to the planned schedule.

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In addition, the investigation identified the abnormal wear of some parts. For this reason, the aircraft was overloaded and the tail rotor connecting shaft broke at the time of the crash.

However, the pilot obtained technical approval by the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) in August 2017. But both the professional and the helicopter were not authorized to make air taxi flights under payment.