The twin-engine plane carrying the singer Marília Mendonça and four other people hit a cable in a Cemig distribution tower in the city of Piedade de Caratinga, in Minas Gerais. According to CNN anchor William Waack, the distance the power lines were from the ground helps to understand the accident, as well as the topography of the site.
Aircraft pilots make a “visual” calculation when landing at an unknown airport: the idea is a kind of ramp, that is, a descent angle, which allows them to have the aircraft perfectly controlled in terms of direction and, especially, in terms of how much altitude it loses to the distance it travels. The calculation is called “1:3”: if you have a mile to go to the runway, you need to be 300 feet off the ground; 2 miles 600 feet; 2.6 miles, as was the case at the site of the accident with Marília Mendonça, would be 780 feet.
However, at the crash site, the wires were approximately 300 feet high. That is, the plane flew considerably below the “ramp”. It remains for investigations to discover what may have caused the less than ideal flight.
The topography of the Caratinga airport, surrounded by hills, is also not considered ideal, according to Waack.
The accident
According to Infraero, the plane with the artist took off at 1:05 pm (GMT) from Santa Genoveva airport, in Goiânia.
The singer’s advisors confirmed the deaths of producer Henrique Ribeiro, of the singer’s uncle and advisor, Abicieli Silveira Dias Filho. Earlier in the evening, the pilot was identified as Geraldo Martins de Medeiros and the copilot was identified as Tarciso Pessoa Viana. All bodies were removed from the scene.
The distance from the point of the accident to the airport in the city of Caratinga, where she would perform a show, is estimated at three kilometers.
Reference: CNN Brasil
