Flight recordings suggested there was no equipment malfunction, fuelling intense speculation over the cause of the incident that killed Teori Zavascki

The plane crash that killed the supreme court justice at the centre of Brazil’s biggest corruption scandal was not caused by mechanical problems, according to a preliminary analysis of flight recordings that will further fuel already intense speculation over the cause of the incident.

Brazil supreme court justice overseeing vast corruption case dies in plane crash Read more

Communications by the pilot suggested there was no sense of panic inside the cockpit before the small-turbo prop plunged into the sea off Rio de Janeiro State last Thursday, killing all five people aboard.

The most prominent of the victims was Teori Zavascki, who had been overseeing Operation Lava Jato (Car Wash), a politically explosive investigation of bribery and corrupt links between senior politicians and Brazil’s biggest corporations, notably the oil firm Petrobras and construction company Odebrecht.

Zavascki had just returned from vacation and was shortly due to rule on the eligibility of plea bargain testimonies by 77 Odebrecht executives, which are thought likely to implicate many of the most powerful figures in Brazil and its Latin American neighbours.

His plane came down into the Atlantic about 4km from the small airport in Paraty, where it had been trying to land in poor weather.

Aviation authorities are examining the cause of what is, at the very least, a politically sensitive accident.

Cockpit recordings of the 30 minutes before the incident suggest there was no equipment malfunction, according to an initial study by the Centre for Research and Prevention of Aeronautical Accidents.

But the conditions were bad, with rain, heavy cloud and lightning. Paraty airport is a small airport with no control tower. According to the Globo newspaper, pilot Osmar Rodrigues made two attempts to land.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest President Michel Temer attends the funeral of Teori Zavascki in Brazil. Photograph: Jefferson Bernardes/AFP/Getty Images

On the recording, he told other pilots in the area that he would wait for the rain to subside before he attempted again. There was no distress signal before the recording stops abruptly.

What happened then is a key to the investigation.

Newspapers have suggested the greying of the horizon may have led the pilot to mistake the plane’s position and altitude so he hit the water. On social media, however, the theories have tended in a more conspiratorial direction, with many suggesting sabotage.

The judge had many influential enemies. His son, Francisco Zavascki, said in a TV interview on Sunday that family members were constantly concerned about threats, though he said it was too early to say what had caused the crash.

Last week, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights urged Brazil to conduct an “especially careful and timely investigation” due to Zavascki’s position.

Before a conclusion is reached, police and aviation officials will also need to study the wreckage, results of autopsies and witness statements, including a fisherman who told reporters he saw smoke coming from the wings of the plane before it crashed.

There is also the question of why the judge was travelling with a business associate of a financier who is being investigated by Lava Jato prosecutors. Carlos Alberto Fernandes Filgueiras, who also died in the crash, was a partner of BTG Pactual, a bank whose former president André Esteves is among those who have been arrested.



After a delay, the supreme court has vowed that Lava Jato will press ahead before the end of the month. President Michel Temer, who has also been named in several Lava Jato plea bargains, will choose Zavascki’s replacement, though the new judge will reportedly not be given jurisdiction over the case.