São Paulo – Londrina

On September 14, 2002 at 05:40 AM, São Paulo – Londrina experienced a crash involving ATR42-300, operated by Total Linhas Aéreas, with the event recorded near Paranapanema São Paulo.

The flight was categorized as postal (mail) and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

2 people were known to be on board, 2 fatalities were recorded, 0 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 100.0%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 0, passenger fatalities: 0, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is human factor. The twin engine airplane departed São Paulo-Guarulhos Airport at 0440LT on a postal service (flight TTL5561) to Londrina with two pilots on board. About an hour into the flight, while cruising at an altitude of 18,000 feet, the autopilot disconnected while the crew was encountering technical problems with the elevator trim system. The captain asked the copilot to pull out the circuit breaker but this instruction was not understood immediately. Nevertheless, the copilot executed this request few seconds later. Shortly later, the aircraft nosed down and the Vmo alarm sounded, indicating to the crew that the aircraft's speed was above the maximum operating speed. The crew reduced the engine power to 10% but the aircraft entered an uncontrolled descent and crashed at a speed of 366 knots in an open field located 38 km south of Paranapanema. The aircraft was totally destroyed upon impact and both pilots were killed. Some debris were found at a depth of three metres.

Aircraft reference details include registration PT-MTS, MSN 026, year of manufacture 1986.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately -23.3902°, -48.7209°.