Colombia air crash: Doomed aircraft ran out of fuel

Details of the doomed aircraft’s last harrowing minutes emerged on Wednesday as fans mourned the loss of all but six people on the flight, including most of the Cinderella-story Chapecoense Real football team. An audio tape aired by the Colombian media showed that the pilot of the LAMIA airlines BAe146 radioed the control tower on Monday night seeking priority to land because of a fuel problem. The operator acknowledges the request but tells pilot Miguel Quiroga he will have to wait seven minutes to land. “I have a plane below you making its approach ... How much time can you remain in your approach, Lima-Mike-India?” “We have a fuel emergency, ma’am, that’s why I am asking you for it at once, full stop.” Moments later: “I request an immediate descent Lima-Mike-India.”

The timeline was not immediately clear but shortly thereafter the pilot radioed: “Ma’am, Lima-Mike-India 2933 is in total failure, total electrical failure, without fuel.” The operator responded: “Runway clear and expect rain on the runway Lima-Mike-India 2933. Firefighters alerted.” The pilot is heard asking: “Vectors, ma’am, vectors to the runway.” Vectors is the term for the navigation service provided to planes by air traffic control.

The operator is heard giving him directions, and asking his altitude. “Nine thousand feet, ma’am. Vectors! Vectors!” Those were Quiroga’s last words to the control tower. Colombia’s Civil Aeronautics agency said the time sequence of the tape was “inexact,” and had no comment on the content of the tape. But the agency’s air safety chief, Freddy Bonilla, confirmed at a news conference that the plane was out of fuel at the moment of impact. Bonilla said international rules require aircraft to maintain fuel in reserve when flying between airports, and the LAMIA plane had failed to do so.

The aircraft’s “black box” has been recovered intact and in “perfect condition,” said Civil Aviation director Alfredo Bocanegra, who added however that it would take investigators at least six months to reach a conclusion about the cause of the crash. The crash killed most of Chapecoense’s squad and 20 journalists traveling with them to the finals of South America’s second-largest club tournament. The unsung Brazilian club was on the way to crowning a fairytale year in the Copa Sudamericana against Medellin side Atletico Nacional.

The plane was scheduled to make a refuelling stop in Bogota, but skipped the Colombian capital and headed straight for Medellin, reported Bolivian newspaper Pagina Siete, citing a representative of the airline. “The pilot was the one who made the decision,” Gustavo Vargas of Bolivian charter company LAMIA told the newspaper. “He thought the fuel would last.” Bolivian civil aviation chief Cesar Varela told reporters “the crew had their licenses in order. Everything was in order.” British and Brazilian investigators headed to Colombia to help with the probe, authorities said.

CHAPECOENSE VOWS TO COMPETE
Six players, a handful of support staff, and deep sorrow are all that remain of Brazil’s Chapecoense soccer club. They will still try to play again. Because they know that’s what their 19 teammates who died on Monday would want them to do. “In the memory of those who died and to honor their families, we will rebuild this club from scratch so it is even stronger,’’ club director and local businessman Cecilio Hans said. “We had material assets and human assets. Now we’ve lost nearly all of our human assets.’’

Other clubs in Brazil’s top league are offering to loan players to Chapecoense, with a proposal that the modest club in deep southern Brazil is guaranteed to stay in the top division for the next three years. “The club will rebuild, I am sure,’’ said Walter Feldman, secretary general of the Brazilian Football Confederation. “Eight clubs have already called me to offer concrete, material solidarity. We are studying ways to best help.’’