José Luiz Felício Filho, president of Voepass, an airline based in Ribeirão Preto (SP) Disclosure/Voepass In a statement to the Federal Police, the owner and president of Voepass, José Luiz Felício Filho, admitted to being aware of a "culture of omission" in the recording of technical failures within the airline, investigated after the crash of flight 2283, in Vinhedo (SP), with the death of 62 people, in 2024. The businessman revealed to investigators that directors of the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac) had already made personal warnings to him, over the years, about this pattern of conduct by pilots, who avoided formalizing problems in logbooks so as not to detain aircraft on the ground. "[Felício] admitted to being aware of the culture of failure to report breakdowns, even revealing that Anac directors had personally warned him about this pattern of pilot conduct over the years", recorded the PF report, at the end of the investigations. The information corroborates the conclusions of the Federal Police's final report, which points to the deliberate omission of maintenance records as a central element among the causes of the air disaster. Given the evidence that safety was being compromised in favor of the availability of the fleet, even with problems such as the de-icing system, the PF indicted Felício Filho and 15 other professionals for the crime of attacking the safety of air transport, aggravated by the death of 62 people. Among the others indicted are directors of operations, maintenance and security, as well as mechanics and operational dispatchers. ? Attacking the safety of air transport is provided for in article 261 of the Penal Code. The crime occurs when someone endangers an aircraft or hinders or impedes air navigation. The expected penalty is 2 to 5 years in prison. If the incident results in the crash or destruction of the aircraft, the sentence increases to 4 to 12 years. If there is death, the penalty can be applied double. The report sought the defense of José Luiz Felício Filho and the other defendants, but did not obtain a position until the last update of this news. Federal Police indict 16 people for the accident with the Voepass plane in 2024 'Aircraft should not have been in that condition', said Felício In addition to recognizing the systemic failure in the organizational culture, Felício Filho admitted to the inquiry that there was a serious error on the day of the tragedy. During his hearing on August 4, 2026, he expressly acknowledged the problems with the plane, although he stressed that the trip should not have taken place. "The aircraft should not have been in that condition, but it also should not have been dispatched on that route." On the date of the accident, the PS-VPB aircraft took off with known failures in the deicing system to a region with a confirmed forecast of severe ice formation. ATR-72 plane from Voepass, formerly Passaredo Linhas Aéreas, in Ribeirão Preto, SP Disclosure In his defense, the businessman tried to distance senior management from the operational core, claiming that the operational safety board, led by David Faria, worked "separately" from the daily decisions taken by the managers of the Operational Control Center (CCO) and Maintenance Center (MCC). However, the PF highlighted that Felício Filho, as a trained pilot, was fully technically aware of the vulnerability of the ATR-72 model in ice conditions and was the formal recipient of the irregularity notifications sent by Anac. READ ALSO José Luiz Felício Filho: who is the owner of Voepass indicted for the air disaster that killed 62 people From pilots to the owner of Voepass: understand the chain of responsibilities that led the PF to indict 16 people for a plane crash Voepass accident: who are those indicted for the air disaster with 62 deaths in the interior of São Paulo Voepass accident: PF indicts 16 employees and former employees for the crash that killed 62 Art shows who the 16 are indicted by the Federal Police after the crash of flight 2283 in Vinhedo (SP). Art/g1 The air disaster and the end of Voepass' activities The air disaster with flight 2283 occurred on August 9, 2024, when the aircraft crashed into a condominium in Vinhedo (SP), killing all 58 passengers and 4 crew on board. Federal Police investigations and Cenipa's technical conclusions indicate that the cause of the accident was the loss of control in flight, resulting from the accumulation of ice, the inoperability of the structure's de-icing system and the crew's failure to immediately carry out emergency procedures. After the tragedy, Voepass went into operational collapse. In March 2025, Anac ordered the precautionary suspension of all company operations after identifying the persistence of structural flaws and the degradation of safety management systems. Months later, in June 2025, the regulatory agency definitively revoked the company's Air Operator Certificate (COA) and Maintenance Organization Certificate (COM). Currently, the company's activities are closed and the group is dealing with restructuring processes to pay off million-dollar debts, including labor debts. PF states that the 16 people indicted for the crash of the Voepass plane attacked the safety of air transport Jornal Nacional/ Reproduction What Voepass says VOEPASS informs that operational safety has always been its priority. Over more than 30 years of operation in Brazilian aviation, the company has strictly adopted all safety, maintenance and crew training protocols provided for by the National Civil Aviation Agency (Anac). The company reinforces that its operations have always been guided by the highest aviation safety standards, having, since 2012, the IOSA (IATA Operational Safety Audit) certification, granted by the International Air Transport Association (IATA) to companies approved in a rigorous international operational safety audit. Pilot training included the procedures foreseen for combat