04/10/2024 – 13:56
The commander of the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), Air Lieutenant Marcelo Damasceno, said on Thursday, 3, that there is no evidence of a bird collision with the presidential plane. The aircraft had a technical breakdown shortly after takeoff last Tuesday, 1st, in Mexico.
“We do not rule out the possibility of bird ingestion. The aircraft had just retracted its landing gear at an altitude that may have bird ingestion, but we have no indication. There’s no blood, there’s no feathers, there’s nothing that we’ve yet identified. When we open the engine, it may appear. But we are waiting for the preliminary report,” said the commander.
The Aeronautical Accident Investigation and Prevention Center (Cenipa) was deployed to investigate the exact causes of the incident.
The brigadier informed that two technicians from the entity were sent to Mexico to investigate the case and that the pilot complied with all the protocols provided for this type of situation.
The military also positioned itself in favor of the purchase of a new presidential plane, in agreement with the President of the Republic, Lula Inácio Lula da Silva, who, as Coluna do Estadão anticipated, assessed the purchased model as “old-fashioned” and once again considered its replacement.
“Personally I support (the purchase of a new aircraft). This plane turns 20 years old on January 5th. The plane is safe, but in addition it has autonomy that partially suits us. I think that a country like ours, a world power, among the ten largest economies in the world, should have a bigger plane, which has more autonomy and more space to carry the country’s leader”, said Damasceno.
The current presidential plane, model Airbus A319 and called VC-1 by the FAB, was acquired in 2004, during Lula’s first term and cost US$ 56.7 million – US$ 91.7 million in corrected values, which at the current price is just over R$503 million.
The vector, assembled in Hamburg, Germany and officially named Santos Dumont, has capacity for up to 40 passengers and belongs to the Special Transport Group (GTE), a FAB unit responsible for carrying out the missions requested by Planalto.
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