Small plane crashes into apartment building, killing three in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

Small plane crashes into apartment building, killing three in Belo Horizonte, Brazil.

NEWS:

A small plane struck a residential building in Belo Horizonte, Brazil, minutes after taking off from Pampulha Airport on May 4, 2026, killing three of the five people aboard and seriously injuring the other two.

Aerial footage recorded from a television helicopter captured the Neiva EMB-721C flying at low altitude over the Silveira neighborhood before it banked and hit the upper section of the building. Parts of the aircraft then fell toward the building's parking area. The video directly records the collision, but it does not show what caused the airplane to lose altitude or fail to continue climbing.

Crash recorded minutes after takeoff

The aircraft, registration PT-EYT, left Pampulha Airport at approximately 00:12:16 p.m. for Campo de Marte Airport in São Paulo. Air navigation information released after the crash said the pilot reported difficulty maintaining the climb and declared an emergency. Firefighters were called at about 00:12:21 p.m., placing the impact roughly five minutes after departure.

The airplane had started its trip in Teófilo Otoni, in eastern Minas Gerais, and stopped in Belo Horizonte before the final leg to São Paulo. Five people were aboard when it departed Pampulha.

The helicopter footage shows the aircraft moving over a densely built urban area with its wings visibly banking as it approaches the residential property. It strikes the building near the stairwell area, and wreckage drops into the parking section below. The images do not establish whether the turn was deliberate, whether the pilot was attempting to avoid another structure or whether a mechanical problem had occurred.

No residents or people on the ground were reported injured. The building was evacuated while emergency teams searched the wreckage, removed aircraft parts and assessed the structure. The point of impact was outside the occupied apartment interiors, although the collision damaged the building and opened a large breach near the stairwell.

Aircraft wreckage was removed from the property during the following day. After emergency and structural inspections were completed, residents were allowed to return roughly 30 hours after the impact.

Three deaths and two survivors

Pilot Wellington de Oliveira Pereira, 34, and Fernando Moreira Souto, 36, died at the scene. Fernando was seated in the right-front seat commonly used by a copilot, but the available official information reviewed for the case did not establish that he was serving as a flight crew member.

Leonardo Berganholi Martins, 50, was removed alive and taken to João XXIII Hospital. He died from his injuries later that day, raising the death toll to three.

Arthur Schaper Berganholi, 25, and Hemerson Cleiton Almeida Souza, 53, survived and were hospitalized with serious injuries. Arthur suffered a fracture to his left leg. A hospital photograph published on May 13 showed him awake during his recovery. Hemerson had been extubated by May 12 and was described at that time as conscious and stable.

Aircraft was registered for private use

PT-EYT was a 1979 Neiva EMB-721C, a single-engine airplane with seating for a pilot and up to five passengers. Civil aviation registration records classified it for private operation.

The aircraft was not authorized to provide air taxi service under the regulations governing paid passenger transportation. That restriction is relevant to its operating category, but it does not by itself prove that the May 4 flight was commercial or that anyone paid for transportation. No official finding reviewed for this article established that the trip was an illegal air taxi flight.

At the time of the accident, the aircraft's airworthiness documentation had been reported as valid through April 1, 2027. Its registration status was later suspended because the airplane was substantially damaged in the crash, an administrative consequence of the accident rather than evidence that its certificate had been suspended before takeoff.

Weight examined as one investigative hypothesis

The Minas Gerais Civil Police opened an inquiry and began gathering witness statements, forensic findings and video evidence. Investigators also coordinated with Brazil's aviation accident investigation authority, which is responsible for determining safety factors rather than assigning criminal liability.

Possible excess takeoff weight was identified as one line of inquiry. It was not announced as the cause of the crash, and the available material did not establish the aircraft's actual takeoff weight or fuel load at departure.

By May 13, police investigators had begun interviewing witnesses and reviewing the recorded images. No final aviation accident report for PT-EYT had appeared in the public CENIPA report database as of July 12, 2026. The confirmed sequence remains limited: the airplane departed Pampulha, the pilot reported difficulty maintaining the climb, an emergency was declared, and the aircraft struck the residential building within minutes.

News story written by DarkGore.