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yesterday

Pilot Killed in Copacabana Banner-Plane Crash as Wreckage Is Recovered and Inquiries Begin

Authorities plan sanctions over an unauthorized ad flight as investigators analyze the recovered wreckage.

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Overview

  • An ultralight towing an advertising banner crashed into the sea around 12:30 p.m. between lifeguard posts 3 and 4 near Rua Santa Clara on Copacabana Beach.
  • The pilot, Luiz Ricardo Leite de Amorim, 40, the sole occupant, was found dead after roughly two and a half hours of searches; his body was taken to the 1st Maritime Group in Botafogo.
  • Search teams deployed jet skis, inflatable boats, divers and aerial support, and a tugboat with a crane lifted the aircraft from the water the next day for forensic examination.
  • The Brazilian Air Force’s accident investigators (CENIPA/SERIPA III) opened the initial technical probe involving aircraft PT-AGB, and a parallel Polícia Civil investigation is underway.
  • Rio’s city government says operator Visual Propaganda Aérea lacked permission for that specific campaign and will be fined, and a local official said it was the pilot’s first banner-tow flight.