On 31/12/2023, a Robinson R44 helicopter that took off from Campo de Marte airport bound for Ilha Bela for an air transport with engers and disappeared from radars with four people on board and remains that way, despite immeasurable efforts by all teams committed to searching for wreckage, as reported here
Meanwhile, the media channels report that the pilot involved in the accident has already had his license revoked for just over two years due to a very controversial history, such as a conviction for clandestine air transport with his respective company, which brings back to debate (once again) the risks and frequency of this crime.
Dear reader, you can't imagine how much TACA still exists today... While we find out behind the scenes, many times we are unable to prove or report it. But, believe me, there are still many!
Finally, it is clear that to date there is no statement from the competent authorities – including ANAC and CENIPA – that the aforementioned flight with the accident helicopter was the result of an illegal contracting of such clandestine air transport, known as TACA, and any attempt of accusation or simple cogitation is nothing more than a huge fallacy or attempt at defamation.
However, given the heat of the current debates in the aviation corridors, the objective of this article is to demonstrate the importance of the subject, and to exclude at all costs the hiring of such TACAs, even more so considering that we soon enter the carnival season and the festivities They are attractive for leisure trips with family (or friends).
Firstly, what is most important to highlight? The operational security event history, of course! According to ANAC, an ESO (operational safety event) can be an accident, incident or serious incident.
It is with this information that we can say that hiring an air taxi will always be the safest decision! Even why it's not even close to the top of the statistics for these events.
Note below that, for example, private aviation s for the majority of events in 10 years, with 2.053 in total, according to CENIPA. Of this number, accidents correspond to a discouraging reality, with 797 catastrophes.
Of the occurrences, the most frequent ones stand out, such as tire blowouts, engine failure in flight and landing gear failures. Now, if we consider accidents, the most frequent are engine failure in flight, loss of control in flight, loss of control on the ground and runway excursion.
The Senecas are in first place, despite the ULAC representing the largest share of accidents (199 ULAC accidents versus 74 for Seneca).
In second place of operational safety events comes regular aviation, with the Embraer E190 as the champion (321 incidents and 6 serious incidents. ZERO accidents). Despite this, stay calm with the precipitation! This is because there have only been 14 regular aviation accidents in ten years, the rest are all incidents, with a bird strike, system failure and engine failure in flight being the biggest occurrences.
In third place we have instruction, which also occupies the same position in of number of accidents, despite being the second largest fleet by category, according to ANAC.
Air taxis are only in fourth place, as are the total number of planes flying, according to ANAC, being fifth in number of accidents. This is where we want to explore…
Preliminarily, I question what is probably safer: hiring a TACA, which belongs to the private fleet, or an air taxi subject to the most rigorous inspections, just like airlines?
AUTHOR'S NOTE: as the author of this article, I am not considering at any point that private aviation is more dangerous and risky, especially because I worked for many years as a pilot in command of executive aircraft, without being involved in any operational safety event, nor infractions. Here, I'm talking about probabilities, and the crime of clandestine air transport.
In the air taxi market, we see that the Cessna Grand Caravan (and the short Caravan) occupies the largest number, with 41 aircraft flying regularly, according to ANAC's RAB, with CTA – Cleiton Táxi Aéreo Ltda. in Amazonas, as the largest operator of the model in the TPX category (8 flying regularly) and Vera Cruz Táxi Aéreo (SP) as the smallest, with one model flying.
Also according to ANAC, the Caravan is also among the top in of total hours flown from 2010 to 2023, coming in second place, regardless of its category or type of air transport.
Having a greater number in air taxis and also flying a lot, you don't need to be an expert in statistics to imagine that there is also a significant number of operational safety events.
However, the Caravan is in second place in the total number of events, with the number of accidents in third place, over a ten-year period.
Does this mean that the Caravan is the most dangerous and most likely to have an accident? Well, see that the champion of this list of events and also accidents is the Seneca, despite being third in total air taxi aircraft flown regularly and fifth in total hours flown by air taxis annually.
Still exploring the “darling” of air taxis, see that the highest frequency of operational safety events with Caravans occur with incidents that are not very complex, such as tire blowouts, collisions with birds, system failures and then runway excursions.
The model becomes even more relevant for analysis (including in the study of operational safety), when we decide to look at the total number of aircraft flying regularly, by regular aviation. In this environment, there is the addition of planes operated by airlines such as Boeing 737-800, Airbus A320 and Embraer E195. Incredibly, Caravan appears in seventh position!
In Brazil, we have more Caravans flying on airlines than Airbus A321s or A319s, with emphasis on the largest operator of the model, Azul Conecta, with 25 operating regularly, and the smallest, with one model, TWO Táxi Aéreo Ltda. (that's exactly what you read, the almost extinct TWO). So yes, it is a safe aircraft, despite the number of operational safety events and the on-demand transport market also seems to be preferring the Caravan for air transport.
Finally, that TACA will always be the most dangerous! Starting with the way to make a profit, which is illegal. Next, private aviation is not under strict supervision by ANAC, like an air taxi, because its focus is not public transport.
In other words, private aviation exists to facilitate business for companies and investors, as well as increasing the quality of life of executives who work tirelessly to prosper in their businesses and create jobs across the country. Therefore, owners know and understand the risks of not properly maintaining their own planes or helicopters and never spare any effort to maintain the highest levels of operational safety. TACA always wants to have financial advantages, not only in the sale of clandestine services, but also in savings on maintenance. An example of this is the accident with journalist Ricardo Boechat in February 2019 which, according to the final report released by CENIPA in 2020, there was a series of maintenance failures caused by negligence on the part of the aircraft owner himself.
Finally, despite ANAC's efforts to mitigate crime, such as increasing the fine for clandestine air taxis by up to 10 times, there are still adventurers trying to earn money illegally and, therefore, intelligence is needed to identify them, before they the market is faced with yet another aeronautical accident.
It is even important that you always consult the Voe Seguro APP, developed by ANAC, before hiring an air taxi in order to confirm the authenticity of the information transmitted, before embarking on your next trip. See more information about the APP here.
Ultimately, what is the value of your life? Is it worth paying the price for the risks involved in a TACA?
