What happened
On March 19, 2016, a CA-9 aircraft, registration PR-ZRA, departed from Campo de Marte Aerodrome (SBMT) in São Paulo, bound for Rio de Janeiro. The flight was intended to transport one pilot and six passengers. Shortly after takeoff from runway 3/30, the aircraft failed to gain sufficient altitude and began a curved trajectory to the right. Approximately ten seconds after leaving the ground, the aircraft struck a masonry residence in the Jardim São Bento neighborhood. The impact and subsequent fire destroyed the aircraft and caused substantial damage to the target house and an adjacent property. The crash also ignited four vehicles parked nearby. All seven occupants of the aircraft sustained lethal injuries.
The investigation
CENIPA investigators examined the aircraft, which was an amateur-built kit from a US manufacturer, assembled and maintained by a local company. The investigation found that the aircraft was operating under a Private Experimental category and lacked a formal Airworthiness Certificate. While the engine was found to be functioning normally and producing high power at the time of impact, the investigation identified significant discrepancies in the aircraft's performance data. Specifically, the aircraft had been authorized to operate at a weight 408 kg greater than what the kit manufacturer originally specified. Furthermore, the investigation noted that the aircraft's flight logs and maintenance records were outdated, and the pilot's flight experience could not be fully verified due to the destruction of his personal documentation.
Findings
- The aircraft was unable to clear obstacles on the takeoff trajectory due to insufficient altitude gain.
- Changes made to the original kit design during assembly directly impacted the aircraft's takeoff performance.
- A lack of official performance charts and manuals forced reliance on empirical knowledge, which may have led to an inadequate evaluation of takeoff parameters under specific weight, altitude, and temperature conditions.
- The flight planning was compromised by the absence of support systems to calculate performance degradation.
- The aircraft was operating over a densely populated area without proper authorization.