Cockpit audio indicates de-icing problems in deadly Brazil plane crash last month, investigators say

ASSOCIATED PRESS

SAO PAULO (AP) — Investigators say the pilots of a Brazilian passenger plane that crashed last month, killing all 62 people aboard, reported failure in the system to remove ice from the plane. They were careful to avoid saying this was the cause of the accident, and stressed there was more work to be done. Their preliminary report made public Friday lent further credence to aviation experts’ main hypothesis: that the lift loss had been caused by ice formation on the plane’s wings and failure of its de-icing system. Weather reports from the day of the accident predicted ice formation in the region where the plane went down.