One of the big names in the Brazilian aeronautical industry. Thus will forever be ed the Aeronautical Engineer Carlos Barreto Viana, who ed away last Thursday, September 8th, in the city of Novo Hamburgo, in Rio Grande do Sul (RS).
Founder of Aeromot Group and Aeroeletrônica (the latter acquired by the company Elbit, in 2001, giving rise to AEL Sistemas, one of the largest and most important in the sector), Viana is survived by two children and three grandchildren.
“Our warrior tired and rested. Cheers to him who loved a party and left a few days before his 91st birthday party.”, posted his daughter, Maria Alice, when announcing the departure of her father, who would have turned 91 on September 11th.
Engineer Viana, as he was known, graduated from the Instituto Tecnológico da Aeronáutica (ITA), a body linked to the Aeronautics Command (COMAER), and was part of the history of Brazilian aviation.
At the head of Aeromot, a company that had an industrial park in the North Zone of Porto Alegre (RS), he developed and manufactured models of motor gliders used by security segments, for military training and for private aviation.
Two of these planes had worldwide repercussions. The first was the AMT-100, “Ximango”, manufactured in 1980, which became the only one of this model to make the ocean crossing of the South Atlantic, later having a new version, the AMT-200. And the second, a low-wing land aircraft, which was named “Guri” – AMT-600.
In addition, Aeromot was a pioneer in structuring the aviation sector, even manufacturing aircraft components for other large companies, such as Embraer, and even providing services for Varig, the first airline in Brazil.
“Viana was a great entrepreneur who leveraged the aeronautical industry in Rio Grande do Sul, working in the areas of maintenance, production of aeronautical and avionics components”, said, in a note, AEL Sistemas, which is currently dedicated to the development, manufacture, logistical and maintenance of defense sectors, being a pioneer in the modernization of aircraft for the Brazilian Air Force (FAB).
The Rector of ITA, Professor Doctor Anderson Ribeiro Correia, recalled that Engineer Cláudio Viana attended the first class at ITA and did all his graduation at the facilities in São José dos Campos, from 1950 to 1954, on the campus designed by Marechal Casimiro Montenegro Filho.
“Not coincidentally, Casimiro Montenegro was chosen to be paranymph of the Class of 54 and in his speech he stated: 'I am unable to do the aeronautical industry now. You will one day do it!' Cláudio Viana confirmed the predictions of the paraninfo and Patron of Aeronautical Engineering”, ed.
Carlos Barreto Viana
Born in Cachoeira do Sul, he was born in 1931. In 1953, he graduated in Aeronautical Engineering from ITA. In 1955, he began his professional career as a Maintenance Engineer at the extinct company Varig, in Porto Alegre, where he worked for 12 years, at which time he was already the Assistant Director of Maintenance.
Upon leaving Varig, Viana took a leap in his life by becoming a founding partner of Aeromot Aeronaves e Motores, along with his colleague and friend João Cláudio Jotz. Since then, the company has established itself as one of the largest groups operating in the field of aviation, aircraft maintenance and manufacturing. In the mid-2000s, Aeromot was sold to a group from Belo Horizonte, which follows the precepts of one of the greatest icons of aeronautical aviation.
Street: FAB
