Rick of Rick & Renner Dies in Brazil Helicopter Crash

Brazil · Search and rescue

Updated 1 times · Latest: 2 October 2026

A helicopter carrying Rick, of the country duo Rick & Renner, lost contact over the mountains of southern Brazil on Monday. Firefighters found it around midday on Tuesday and said there were no survivors.

Rescuers found the helicopter carrying Brazilian country singer Rick on Tuesday 22 September 2026, and firefighters said nobody survived. Rick, one half of the duo Rick & Renner, was aboard when it lost contact on Monday.

The Bell 430 disappeared over the mountains of Santa Catarina. The southern state lies between Paraná and Rio Grande do Sul and borders Argentina.

Arcanjo 03, a Santa Catarina fire brigade helicopter, spotted the wreckage at about noon local time, SBT News and Jovem Pan reported. It lay in dense forest between Urubici and São Joaquim.

The Santa Catarina Military Fire Brigade confirmed five deaths, CNN Brasil reported. Scientific Police experts are due to examine the site, according to Jovem Pan.

Before the find, firefighters had searched on the ground through the night in rain and strong wind. About 40 firefighters, two search dogs and thermal drones took part, SBT News reported.

Five people aboard a borrowed aircraft

The singer’s press office first said four people were on board: Rick, businessman Bruno Avelar, Avelar’s videomaker Paulo Soares and a pilot.

A note on Avelar’s social media spoke of five people aboard. Outlets including ND+ later listed a pilot and a co-pilot, whose names have not been released.

The helicopter, registration PP-MGR, belongs to JTA Empreendimentos e Urbanismo, a property developer in the coastal town of Porto Belo. The company said it had lent it to Avelar and Rick, “close friends of the owner”.

Brazil’s civil aviation agency, ANAC, lists the aircraft as built in 2001, with seats for a pilot and seven passengers. Its registration is regular and its operating certificate runs until 11 August 2027. The news site G1 cited these agency records.

A lunch that never took place

The singer Rick and his group were flying from Porto Belo to São Joaquim, a town in the Santa Catarina highlands. Rick and Avelar were due to lunch there with the mayor, José Teodoro de Sena Amaral.

The meeting was set for about noon local time at the Vinícola Leone di Venezia winery. Its manager, Katary Paim, said the group left at about 11 a.m. local time.

By about 1 p.m., she said in a written statement, there was “no communication with the helicopter and its crew”.

The fire brigade received a call about a possible crash near Urubici at about 4 p.m. local time. Urubici is a mountain town some 59 km from São Joaquim.

Two search points, 30 km apart

On Monday, firefighters first went to Vacas Gordas, a rural area near Urubici flagged as the likely point of impact. They found nothing there at the time.

“A team has already reached the site and nothing was found,” said Lieutenant Colonel Heloísa, commander of the 5th Military Firefighter Battalion. Teams then moved toward the last mobile-phone signal from one of the occupants.

The two areas lie about 30 km apart, according to the fire brigade. Around 20 firefighters worked the ground with four-wheel-drive vehicles and on foot.

Overnight, firefighters used a thermal drone in rural Urubici, G1 reported. That is where the aircraft’s transponder, the device that reports its position, last sent a signal.

Reinforcements from the 2nd and 5th Firefighter Battalions and a search dog were due from 6 a.m. local time on Tuesday. The state Military Police and Civil Defence also took part.

Air Force sends rescue aircraft

The Brazilian Air Force, known as the FAB, said it was called in on Monday afternoon. Its rescue coordination centre in Curitiba, known as Salvaero, coordinated the search and rescue effort.

The FAB committed two aircraft specialised in search and rescue: a Black Hawk (H-60) helicopter and an SC-105 Amazonas plane. Because of the bad weather, the aircraft were expected to take off only on Tuesday, CNN Brasil reported.

Its priority, the FAB said in a statement, is “to locate the aircraft and its occupants in the shortest possible time”.

The federal weather agency, the National Institute of Meteorology, issued a red alert for the region on Monday. It warned of storms and heavy rain.

Search teams met submerged bridges and fallen trees and had to find other routes, CNN Brasil reported.

Overnight on Monday, some outlets reported prematurely that the helicopter had been found. Urubici’s mayor, Leandro de Souza Corrêa, denied this to the celebrity news site Portal LeoDias and said teams were still searching.

He also said that any aircraft or drone flight over the search locations was prohibited, according to CNN Brasil.

Who Rick and Bruno Avelar are

Rick, whose real name is Geraldo Antônio de Carvalho, is 59 and was born in the state of Tocantins. He moved to Brasília as a child and formed the duo with Renner there in the 1980s.

Sertanejo is a Brazilian country music style with roots in the rural interior. The duo’s biggest hit, “Ela é Demais”, came out on the 1998 album “Mil Vezes Cantarei”.

Bruno Avelar, 41, is a businessman and speaker from Belo Horizonte who runs a networking project called “O Poder do Network”. He is also an adviser to the presidential campaign of Augusto Cury, a candidate for the Avante party.

G1 reports that Avelar is close to the family of football star Neymar. In 2025 he took part in the talks that made Neymar a partner in the IronBerg gym business, according to G1.

Families ask for calm

Renner, the singer Rick’s duo partner, asked for prayers on social media, writing of “this moment of anguish and uncertainty”. “Let us keep faith and hope,” he added.

Avelar’s team asked the public not to spread speculation or unconfirmed information. JTA said the same on Monday, stressing that there was then no confirmation of an accident.

Investigation opens, family buries Rick

The cause of the crash has not been officially stated. Cenipa, the Brazilian Air Force body that investigates aircraft accidents, mobilised investigators on 22 September. It said it would finish its work “in the shortest possible time”, depending on how complex the findings are.

The Santa Catarina civil police have opened a separate inquiry, run from the Urubici station. It will test whether anyone’s intentional or negligent conduct played a part. That is a standard step after a fatal accident and does not suggest wrongdoing.

Weather is one question for the investigators. Luiz Fernando Nachtigall, a MetSul meteorologist, described conditions on the day as terrible: heavy rain, lightning and very low visibility as a cold front passed. He did not say the weather caused the crash.

Rick was buried on Thursday 24 September in Sorocaba, in São Paulo state. The ceremony was limited to family and close friends. The family brought the burial forward by an hour, to 4 p.m.

What happens next: Cenipa has no fixed deadline, and reports on air accidents can take many months. Until it publishes findings, any explanation is speculation.

More: Brazil coverage, every day from The Rio Times.

Has the helicopter carrying singer Rick been found?

Yes. A Santa Catarina fire brigade helicopter found the wreckage at about noon local time on Tuesday 22 September 2026, between Urubici and São Joaquim. The fire brigade said none of the five people aboard survived.

Who was on the helicopter?

Five people: Rick of Rick & Renner, businessman Bruno Avelar, videomaker Paulo Soares, a pilot and a co-pilot, according to Brazilian media. The crew’s names have not been released. The singer’s press office had first said four were aboard.

Where was the helicopter found?

In forested hills of the Santa Catarina highlands, between the town of Urubici and São Joaquim, the flight’s destination. The helicopter had taken off from Porto Belo on the coast on Monday morning.

What caused the helicopter crash?

The cause has not been officially stated. Cenipa, the Brazilian Air Force body that investigates aircraft accidents, is investigating, and the Santa Catarina civil police have opened a separate inquiry. Cenipa has no fixed deadline for its report.

Who owns the aircraft?

The Bell 430, registration PP-MGR, belongs to JTA Empreendimentos e Urbanismo, a property developer based in Porto Belo. The company said it had lent the helicopter to Avelar and Rick, whom it described as close friends of its owner. On Monday it said there was no confirmation of an accident.

Sources: G1 on the thermal-drone search, G1 on what is known, G1 on the fire brigade’s two search points, G1 on the planned lunch in São Joaquim, G1 on the owner’s statement, G1 on Bruno Avelar, CNN Brasil on the overnight search, CNN Brasil with the Air Force statement, BBC News Brasil on the occupants, SBT News on the find, CNN Brasil on the five deaths, Jovem Pan on what is known, ND+ on the crew, O Tempo on the Urubici mayor DC Mais on Cenipa; MetSul; TVS Mais on the burial, 24 Sep 2026.

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