2019 São Paulo helicopter crash
RQ Serviços Aéreos Especializados Bell 206B · Mechanical failure
From Campinas, São Paulo, Brazil to São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
Event
- NTSB case
- ERA19WA099
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- InvestigationHow far the investigation had got when the record was published: preliminary, ongoing, final or completed. Unknown where the source does not say. Glossary
- Unknown · led by another country; figures from NTSB notifications
- Event fatalities
- 2 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- 0
- Occupants
- 2
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- 1 · all on the ground
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Unknown
- WeatherVisual meteorological conditions (VMC): good enough to fly by looking outside. Instrument conditions (IMC): cloud or low visibility, flying by instruments. Glossary
- Not recorded
Bell 206B
- Aircraft type
- Bell 206
- Category
- Helicopter
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- PT-HPG
- Onboard fatalities
- 2
- Route
- From Campinas, São Paulo, BrazilTo São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
- Aircraft age
- Not recorded
- Flight rulesThe regulations the flight operated under: in the US, Part 91 (general aviation), Part 121 (airlines), Part 135 (air taxi and commuter) and others; for flights abroad, the NTSB's coarser commercial or non-commercial code. Glossary
- Non-U.S., Non-Commercial
- Phase of flightThe stage of the flight when things started to go wrong: standing, taxi, takeoff, initial climb, en route, maneuvering, approach or landing. Glossary
- Landing
- Defining eventThe single coded event the NTSB judges best describes what happened (records from 2008 on). Older records name the first occurrence in the sequence instead. Glossary
- Loss of control in flight
- DamageDestroyed: beyond practical repair. Substantial: damage that affects the structure, performance or handling and normally needs major repair. Minor: less than that. Glossary
- Destroyed
Cause areas
No findings designated as a cause are recorded in the NTSB data yet.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
On 11 February 2019, a Bell 206B helicopter crashed while trying to land on the Rodoanel Mário Covas highway, following an unspecified malfunction. Among the victims was journalist Ricardo Boechat. The pilot, Ronaldo Quatrucci, was also killed and one person on the ground was injured. The aircraft crashed around 12:15 pm (UTC−02:00) and the journalist and pilot were pronounced dead shortly after. The helicopter was owned by RQ Serviços Aéreo Especializados Ltda.
Accident
Journalist and news anchor Ricardo Boechat, from Rede Bandeirantes, was on his way to the head office of the broadcaster in São Paulo after speaking at an event for pharmaceutical company Libbs in Campinas, which is located about 100 km from the head offices. The helicopter crashed near kilometer 8 of the Rodoanel, on the Anhanguera highway, after attempting to make an emergency landing on one of the highway locks, following low-altitude flight and an unspecified malfunction. It collided with a semi truck unable to brake on time, burst into flames, and eventually exploded.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
Preliminary information published by the National Civil Aviation Agency of Brazil (Anac) showed that the helicopter had a valid flight certificate until May 2023. However, RQ Serviços Aéreos Especializados Ltda was not authorized to provide air taxi services, only specialized air services such as aerial photography, airborne and aerial transport. Anac has announced that it has opened an investigation on the case. In 2011, RQ had paid a fine of 8,000 BRL ( USD) for offering panoramic flights without air taxi certification.
RQ Serviços Aéreos Especializados Ltda., owner of the helicopter, had been contracted by Zum Brazil, an event company that, in turn, rendered services to the pharmaceutical company Libbs, which promoted its annual sales agreement.
CENIPA (Aeronautical Accidents Investigation and Prevention Center) issued their investigation report in October 2020.
Text from the Wikipedia article “2019 São Paulo helicopter crash” (revision 1373554074, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
NTSB narrative
The government of Brazil has notified the NTSB of an accident involving a Bell 206 helicopter that occurred on February 11, 2019. The NTSB has appointed a U.S. Accredited Representative to assist the government of Brazil's investigation under the provisions of ICAO Annex 13.All investigative information will be released by the government of Brazil.
Verbatim NTSB factual narrative from the NTSB dataset
Sources
Wikipedia article: 2019 São Paulo helicopter crash
- Revision
- 1373554074 · 2026-09-06 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q61714848
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
NTSB record ERA19WA099
- Event ID
- 20190212X92610
- Case number
- ERA19WA099
- Dataset
- full-current
- Source SHA-256
- 5cf380f0061817c0331a6b2d8cc7e0ee3a79bea469a1001dc5c10e56f35f5ab3
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "2019 São Paulo helicopter crash" (page 59939088, revision 1373554074); merged with NTSB case ERA19WA099 (events / aircraft)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site
- Map position
- Wikipedia: Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports); gaps and aircraft details from NTSB record ERA19WA099
- Operation
- not stated in the Wikipedia article's infobox or opening paragraph
- Fatalities
- Reviewed (2026-09-19): Aviation Safety Network (summarising the CENIPA final report), https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/221737
- Ground fatalities
- Reviewed (2026-09-19): Aviation Safety Network (summarising the CENIPA final report), https://aviation-safety.net/wikibase/221737
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (3)
- One occurrence in two sources, merged: the Wikipedia article "2019 São Paulo helicopter crash" and NTSB case ERA19WA099, matched by the same aircraft registration and date. For this event outside the United States Wikipedia's values are used where the two differ; each value names its source.
- Death toll settled: the NTSB record (ERA19WA099) gives 3 and the Wikipedia article 2; Aviation Safety Network (summarising the CENIPA final report) gives 2. The pilot and the one passenger (Ricardo Boechat) died at the scene. According to the CENIPA-based account the truck driver was unharmed; Wikipedia says he was injured, but either way he did not die. The NTSB's 3 is an error, perhaps counting the truck driver. The CENIPA PDF could not be opened because it sits behind a bot check.
- No bulk values were replaced by the NTSB case API.