2021 Palmas FR plane crash

The 2021 Palmas FR plane crash took place on January 24, 2021, when a private Beechcraft Baron belonging to the Palmas Futebol e Regatas, a Brazilian association football team, crashed on takeoff from Associação Tocantinense de Aviação Aerodrome, a private airfield near Porto Nacional, Tocantins, Brazil.^[1] All six people on board were killed: four footballers, the team's owner, and the pilot.^[2] The team was en route to Goiânia^[3] for a regional cup football game between Palmas and Vila Nova, for the Brazilian Copa Verde championship.^[4][5]

2021 Palmas FR plane crash

A Beechcraft Baron similar to the incident aircraft.
Accident
Date	January 24, 2021 (2021-01-24)
Summary	Crashed shortly after takeoff due to overloading^[1]
Site	Porto Nacional, Tocantins
Aircraft
Aircraft type	Beechcraft Baron 95-B55
Operator	Construtora Meirelles Mascarenhas Ltda
Registration	PT-LYG
Flight origin	Associação Tocantinense de Aviação Aerodrome, Tocantins
Destination	Santa Genoveva Aerodrome, Goiás
Passengers	5
Crew	1
Fatalities	6
Survivors	0

Victims

In a statement released to various media outlets such as CNN Brazil, it was announced that six deaths had occurred. Among the victims of the crash were identified as football players Marcus Molinari, Lucas Praxedes, Guilherme Noé, and Ranule, team president Lucas Meira plus the pilot Wagner Machado.^[4][6][7] The four footballers who died had been travelling separately from the rest of their team because they had tested positive for COVID-19.^[8]

Investigation

The Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center (CENIPA)^[a] performed a post-crash accident investigation and issued a final report dated March 30, 2023.^[1]

Ground witnesses told CENIPA that the aircraft lifted off the runway and pitched up but did not climb; it then touched down briefly while still over the runway, lifted off a second time, and the landing gear retracted. The aircraft then settled in a wings-level attitude and crashed 150 metres (490 ft) past the end of the runway, slightly to the left of the extended runway centerline. An intense post-crash fire consumed the bodies of the aircraft occupants and all baggage and paperwork in the fuselage.^[1]

CENIPA found that the occupants and baggage were not weighed before the flight, and was unable to verify precise aircraft weight and loading due to the fire damage, which CENIPA said presumably obliterated any weight-and-balance paperwork that the pilot may have completed. However, based on information gathered from the football team and the owner and players' relatives and friends, CENIPA calculated that the aircraft was loaded far in excess of its permissible gross weight, possibly by about 300 kilograms (660 lb), and it was loaded about 2 inches (51 mm) beyond its aft center of gravity (CG) limit; furthermore, the retraction of the landing gear would have caused the CG to shift even further aft.^[b] CENIPA stated that the probable cause of the accident was a loss of lift and control caused by improper loading; contributing factors were the pilot's failure to follow operational standards, his poor flight planning which did not take proper weight and balance into account, and his failure to reject the takeoff when the plane would not climb.^[1]

See also

• LaMia Flight 2933, another air crash involving a Brazilian football team

References

Notes

1. Portuguese: Centro de Investigação e Prevenção de Acidentes Aeronáuticos
2. CENIPA does not elaborate, but this presumably occurred because the nosegear of the Baron retracts aft.

Citations

1. "Final Report" (PDF). Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center. 2023-05-30. Retrieved 2023-12-18.
2. Serrano, Ivan (Jan 24, 2021). "Beechcraft 95-B55 Baron Crashes at Palmas–Brigadeiro, Brazil". from the original on January 24, 2021. Retrieved Jan 25, 2021.
3. Farrugia, Cedric (2021-01-24). "Plane crash kills Palmas FR club president and 4 players". Newsbook. from the original on 2021-01-24. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
4. "Football news 2021: Palmas football club, plane crash, Lucas Meira, Lucas Praxedes, Guilherme Noe, Ranule, Marcus Molinari". Jan 24, 2021. from the original on January 24, 2021. Retrieved Jan 25, 2021.
5. Admin. "Air Accident Kills President And Four Players Of Palmas Futebol E Regatas - Prime Time Zone » Sports » Prime Time Zone". from the original on 2021-01-24. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
6. "Torino send condolences to Palmas FR after plane crash | Football Italia". www.football-italia.net. from the original on 2021-01-24. Retrieved 2021-01-24.
7. "Piloto do avião que caiu com jogadores do Palmas tinha mais de 30 anos de experiência, diz amigo" (in Portuguese). Jan 25, 2021. from the original on January 25, 2021. Retrieved Jan 27, 2021.
8. Couzens, Gerard (2021-01-24). "The four deceased players from Palmas FR had COVID-19". Mail Online. from the original on 2021-02-27. Retrieved 2021-10-24.