SAO PAULO, Aug 13, (AP): The pilot of the plane that crashed down in Brazil last week was buried Monday in Sao Paulo, becoming the first person laid to rest among the 62 victims, as authorities continue working to determine what exactly caused the accident.
A hearse bearing the casket of Danilo Santos Romano rolled through the streets of Penha, a working class neighborhood of Sao Paulo’s east side, en route to the cemetery that lies beneath his apartment. Family members and friends walked behind the vehicle and dozens of shop owners who knew him as a regular customer gathered on the sidewalks to applaud as it passed. Romano was 35.
Clesio Moura, one of the applauding shopkeepers, said he met the pilot two years ago.
"He had lived abroad, worked for foreign companies, but was always humble," Moura said. "We used to chat about soccer, he really wanted to have a child to take to the stadium one day. Danilo was full of life.”
The crash 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 Friday that Romano and his copilot 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 5,202 hours flying for Voepass, all in ATRs. It is the only type of plane the company owns.