Colombia air tragedy: Grief turns to anger amid reports of lack of fuel in crash

[webfact]

Grief turns to anger amid reports of lack of fuel in crash

By FERNANDO VERGARA and JOSHUA GOODMAN

 

MEDELLIN, Colombia (AP) — Authorities prepared Thursday to transport the bodies of dozens of victims of this week's air tragedy in Colombia as grief turned to anger amid indications the airliner ran out of fuel before slamming into the Andes. Bolivian aviation officials announced they were indefinitely suspending the charter company that operated the flight.

 

Many of the victims were players and coaches from a small-town Brazilian soccer team that was headed to the finals of one of South America's most prestigious tournaments after a fairy-tale season that had captivated their soccer-crazed nation.

 

On Thursday, row upon row of caskets, many covered with white sheets printed with the logo of the Chapocoense soccer team, filled a Medellin funeral home in preparation for being flown home, as family members of some victims gathered there to say their final good-byes.

 

Grieving relatives of the dead spoke out in disbelief after a recording of conversations between a pilot of the doomed flight and air traffic controllers, as well as the account of a surviving flight attendant, indicated the plane ran out of fuel before crashing late Monday, killing all but six of the 77 people on board.

 

Osmar Machado, whose son, Filipe, a defender on the Chapecoense team, died on his father's 66th birthday, questioned why the plane, which was flying at its maximum range on the flight from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, was transporting the team.

 

"Profit brings greed," Machado said, speaking in the Brazilian team's hometown of Chapeco. "This plane ended (the lives of) 71 people."

 

Williams Brasiliano, uncle of midfielder Arthur Maia, said the crash was avoidable if the team had chosen a commercial airline to travel to Colombia — not a charter.

 

"Look how complicated that flight was going to be even if it had arrived," Brasiliano said tearfully of the team's itinerary, which included a flight from Sao Paulo to Bolivia on a commercial airliner before the ill-fated flight to Medellin.

 

"Even if they had arrived, it is clear that they would be tired from the trip to play a final. This can't be right. I doubt that a bigger club would have done the same," he said.

 

Chapecoense spokesman Andrei Copetti defended the team's decision, saying that more than 30 clubs had used the Bolivia-based company, LaMia airlines, including Argentina and Bolivia, and that the team itself had flown on its flights before.

 

"They had a good service then. It was the airline that got in touch with us because they have experience in doing these long flights in South America," he said.

 

A recording of the flight's final minutes showed the pilot repeatedly requested permission to land because of "fuel problems," although he never made a formal distress call. He was told another plane had been diverted with mechanical problems and had priority, and was instructed to wait seven minutes.

 

As the jetliner circled in a holding pattern, the pilot grew more desperate. "Complete electrical failure, without fuel," he said before the plane set off on a four-minute death spiral.

 

By then the controller had gauged the seriousness of the situation and told the other plane to abandon its approach to make way for the charter jet. But it was too late.

 

The recording appeared to confirm the accounts of a surviving flight attendant and a pilot flying nearby who overheard the frantic exchange. These, along with the lack of an explosion upon impact, pointed to a rare case of fuel burnout as a cause of the crash of the British Aerospace 146 Avro RJ85, which experts said was flying at its maximum range.

 

The Bolivian Civil Aviation Authority announced Thursday it was indefinitely suspending all flights operated by LaMia. British aviation authorities said the flight data and cockpit voice recorders recovered from the accident site were being brought to Britain for study.

 

Meanwhile, authorities prepared to repatriate the victims' remains, most of which had been identified by Thursday. Relatives of some of the victims gathered at a Medellin funeral home, and a Brazilian air force transport plane was on stand-by to take the bodies home Friday. The remains of the Bolivian crew members were also expected to be flown home Friday.

___

Associated Press photographer Fernando Vergara reported this story in Medellin and AP writer Joshua Goodman reported from Bogota. AP writers Mauricio Savarese in Chapeco, Brazil, Cesar Garcia in Bogota and Ben Fox in Miami contributed to this report.

 

-- © Associated Press 2016-12-02

[OMGImInPattaya]

Whoops.

[ezzra]

 

One minute you read that the pilot was circling around to get rid of fuel

the next, that he ran out of fuel begging to land while the control tower

somehow ignores his screams and pleas to urgently land...

 

Either this was the worst example of miscommunications, or unbelievable

bad luck and stupidly on someone's part... either way, it's a tragedy....

[bandito]

Happened to me as a passenger, lack of fuel, with Thai Airways on a flight from Amsterdam to Bangkok on the 5th of november 1976. The plane had the fly in a holding pattern at Don Muang but ran out of fuel. Luckily U-Tapao was near by and the plane made an emercency landing there at 0900hrs in the morning. We had to wait until 1700 hrs before an other plane picked us up and brought us to BKK. U-Tapao was a militair airfield only and we had to sit all day in a large shed on the ground.

[Briggsy]

1 hour ago, ezzra said:

 

One minute you read that the pilot was circling around to get rid of fuel

the next, that he ran out of fuel begging to land while the control tower

somehow ignores his screams and pleas to urgently land...

 

Either this was the worst example of miscommunications, or unbelievable

bad luck and stupidly on someone's part... either way, it's a tragedy....

If you reread the articles, it appears the pilot was attempting to minimise his own errors when communicating with the tower and did not beg to land. The pleas to urgently land where made when it was too late.

The pilot errors appear to be

1. Deciding to fly beyond maximum range.

2. Abandoning a fuel stop en route due to being late.

3. Failure to communicate the seriousness of the situation to the tower.

4. Perhaps loss of perception of orientation due to panic.

[lostinisaan]

A recording of the flight's final minutes showed the pilot repeatedly requested permission to land because of "fuel problems," although he never made a formal distress call. He was told another plane had been diverted with mechanical problems and had priority, and was instructed to wait seven minutes.

 

As the jetliner circled in a holding pattern, the pilot grew more desperate. "Complete electrical failure, without fuel," he said before the plane set off on a four-minute death spiral.

 

By then the controller had gauged the seriousness of the situation and told the other plane to abandon its approach to make way for the charter jet. But it was too late.

 

   Insanity at it's best. A misunderstanding? Fuel problems and out of fuel is a little bit different. "Instructed to wait seven minutes" while flying on the last drops should never happen.

 

   "The pilot grew more desperate" after a complete electrical failure without fuel is a strange wording for a pilot who knows he's going to die. Including all passengers.

 

  RIP.

[mercman24]

and where did it read "pilot was circling to use up fuel,"  please show me. the plane was on a hold pattern to give priority to another plane with a more desparate need at that time, those 7 minutes cost these passengers their lives.