Relatives of the four people who were on board the helicopter that disappeared on December 31st while traveling from the capital of São Paulo to the city of Ilhabela will use sniffer dogs to help with rescue operations. The search for the aircraft reached its 12th day this Friday (12).
According to Silvia Santos, who is the sister of Luciana Rodzewics, 46, and aunt of Letícia Rodzewics, 20 – both passengers in the helicopter – a company specializing in operations with dogs volunteered to participate in the work.
Silvia says that the families gathered the passengers' clothes so that the dogs could use them as references during searches in the forest. “If necessary, we will go down [em direção ao litoral norte] to talk to the drone people,” he added. Family members also count on the help of bushmen and volunteer drone operators.
Luciana and Letícia's sister was at Campo de Marte airport last Thursday (11), where she met with family members of the other passengers and the flight pilot's lawyer to define strategies and try to get news about the investigation.
In addition to reinforcing the animals, Silvia asks for help from residents of Vale do Paraíba and the north coast to help with information that could lead to the whereabouts of the aircraft.
“If anyone in the region has heard anything, contact me and I will pass it on to the authorities and, together, we will find this helicopter.”
Despite being committed to closely monitoring the work of authorities and volunteers, Silvia considers it “distressing” that almost two weeks have passed without news of the four people who were on the flight. “We only have one objective, which is to find the four alive.”
While the families organize themselves on the outside, the Brazilian Air Force (FAB) and the Civil and Military police continue their official search for the Robinson R-44 helicopter prefix PR-HDB.
On Thursday (11), the sweep carried out by the FAB's SC-105 Amazonas plane focused on the Paraibuna region, in the Paraíba Valley. The PM uses Águia helicopters, while in the Civil Police the work is carried out with the help of the Pelicano helicopter.
Another front of investigation is carried out using data from the cell phones of the aircraft's occupants. The Civil Police use the signals emitted by the devices to try to define the location of the helicopter.
Video: Color of the helicopter also hinders the search, says expert
Who else was on board
In addition to Luciana and Letícia, businessman Raphael Torres, 41 years old, was also in the helicopter. He was the one who invited mother and daughter to the flight. They would make a “day trip” to Ilhabela, where they would have lunch.
The aircraft took off from Campo de Marte airport, in São Paulo, on December 31st in the early afternoon and disappeared from radars around 3pm. In messages sent to relatives, Letícia and Raphael said that the weather was bad in Ilhabela and that the helicopter was having difficulty reaching its destination.
The PR-HDB pilot was Cassiano Tete Teodoro, 44. He had his license and qualifications revoked by the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) because of “serious infractions against civil aviation safety”. The regulatory agency says he appealed, but the decision was upheld.
“Cassiano Tete Teodoro was revoked due to, among other reasons, evasion of supervision, fraud in flight plans and practices involving clandestine air transport”, adds Anac.
Also according to the agency, “in October 2023, after observing the legal maximum period for the administrative penalty of revocation, which is two years, the pilot returned to the civil aviation system by obtaining a new license with qualification for Private Helicopter Pilot ( PPH)”. “This license does not give authorization to carry out commercial passenger flights”, concludes Anac.
Video shows helicopter that could be the missing aircraft
On Wednesday (10), the Tamoios dealership sent the police a video captured by a security camera that shows a helicopter that could be the missing aircraft. Look here.
The equipment flies low, close to the vegetation, at a point on the banks of the Paraibuna Dam. The image was taken at km 58 of Rodovia dos Tamoios.
There is still no confirmation whether this helicopter is the one that is missing.
Video: Missing helicopter pilot in SP reported difficulties crossing mountains in audio
Source: CNN Brasil
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