Cockpit recording indicates de-icing problems in Brazil plane crash

The debris at the site where an airplane crashed with 62 people on board, in Vinhedo, Sao Paulo state (Andre Penner/AP)

The pilots of a Brazilian passenger plane which crashed last month, killing all 62 people aboard, reported a failure in the system to remove ice from the plane, according to a preliminary report.

Investigators in Brazil were careful to avoid saying this was the cause of the accident and the report, made public on Friday, stressed there was more work to be done but gave further credence to aviation experts’ main hypothesis that the lift loss had been caused by ice formation on the plane’s wings and failure of its de-icing system.