One of the pilots of the Brazilian plane that crashed last week, killing everyone on board, sounded the alarm about an impending disaster just a minute before the plane went down.
A transcript from the cockpit voice recorder revealed that the pilots noticed a sharp drop in altitude before the crash, local Brazilian broadcaster TV Globo reported on Wednesday, citing unnamed sources involved in the investigation into the accident.
At one point, the co-pilot asked the pilot what was going on, and he said the plane needed “more power,” according to the transcript, which covers two hours of audio.
The new revelation comes as investigators are still trying to determine what caused the plane, an ATR-72-500 operated by Voepass, to crash, killing all 62 passengers and crew.
The plane was heading to Sao Paulo from Cascavel when it crashed in Vinhedo on Friday afternoon local time.
The plane descended 17,000 feet in about one minute, but no one on the ground was hurt.
Brazil’s Air Accident Investigation Center said in a statement that it “guarantees” that no news outlet will have access to the audio, text or data on the voice recorder, though it did not directly comment on the Globo report.
Video footage shows the moment the plane spun dangerously out of control as it crashed into a cluster of trees.
The pilots reported no emergency or adverse weather conditions before losing contact with workers on the ground.
Globo TV reported, citing people involved in the investigation, that the sound was unlikely to determine the cause of the accident.
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