Police Pilot Makes Sea Emergency Landing Off Barra da Tijuca, All Passengers Safe

Overview

• Adonis Lopes, a Polícia Civil pilot, guided a helicopter to a controlled landing in the surf off Rio’s Barra da Tijuca on Friday, and the two passengers left the aircraft unharmed.
• The flight was a private sightseeing trip that left from Pontal while Lopes was off duty, and reports say he steered the Robinson R44 toward calmer water and away from crowded sections of the beach.
• In a 2021 case he recounted, two armed men forced him to divert a chartered flight toward a prison complex, and he used coded alerts and defensive maneuvers over the 14th Military Police Battalion in Bangu until the assailants gave up and exited in Niterói.
• Lopes also flew in a 2012 joint operation that ended with trafficker Márcio “Matemático” Pereira dead, an action later reviewed by the Civil Police’s internal affairs for exposing residents to risk.
• Authorities have not released findings on the cause of Friday’s landing, and current coverage centers on the safe evacuation and the pilot’s high‑risk track record rather than a formal inquiry.