Questions remain as Brazil plane crash funerals begin
The pilot of the plane that crashed down in Brazil last week has been buried in Sao Paulo, becoming the first person laid to rest among the 62 victims, as authorities continue determining what exactly caused the accident.
A hearse bearing the casket of Danilo Santos Romano on Monday rolled through the streets of Penha, a working class neighbourhood of Sao Paulo's east side, en route to the cemetery that lies beneath the apartment he shared with his wife.
Family members and friends walked behind the vehicle and dozens of shop owners who knew him as a regular customer gathered on the footpaths to applaud as it passed. Romano was 35.
The crash on Friday killed 58 passengers and four crew members. Footage of the plane plunging while in a flat spin horrified people around the world, and the cause of the accident has yet to be determined.
Some experts have pointed to the possibility of severe icing on the wings, which caused pilots to lose control of the plane, but airports minister Silvio Costa Filho told reporters that Romano and his co-pilot made no calls for an emergency landing, nor did they communicate any adverse weather conditions.
They were flying the ATR 72 twin-engine turboprop for local airline Voepass, headed for the Guarulhos international airport, but the plane plunged from the sky in the nearby city of Vinhedo. Romano had just finished his first full year as commander for Voepass, which hired him as a copilot in November 2022, the airline told the AP in a statement. It added Romano had logged 5202 hours flying for Voepass, all in ATRs. It is the only type of plane the company owns.
Romano's widow, Thalita Machado, didn't speak to journalists gathered outside the ceremony, but provided a letter with a list of the people and organisations she wished to thank: his former classmates; friends of the flying club of Jundiai, a city outside Sao Paulo, and the union of aviation workers.
"We want to give a very special thanks to his flight partner Humberto de Campos Alencar e Silva, who fought together with Danilo," her letter said.
"We are sure they did everything possible and that they are heroes."
Meanwhile in Cascavel, the city from which the doomed flight departed, more than a dozen families are awaiting the remains of their loved ones.
Authorities recovered both the plane's "black boxes" - one with flight data and the other with cockpit audio - that are key to determining what exactly went awry. The air force's centre for the investigation and prevention of air accidents began analysing them at its laboratory in the nation's capital, Brasilia, and said it will issue a preliminary report within 30 days.
Voepass and French-Italian plane manufacturer ATR are collaborating with the investigations, they said in separate statements.
