40 years Later Airplane crash in Medellin could have ended as Sta Cruz de Tenerife 1977 megaCrash.

The Peace of God to all that belong to the light,
Dear Readers,

There are many cultures around the world that understand that rushing is a really bad strategy to fix anything in life, unfortunately that is what caused the terrible tragedy of the Bolilvian Lamia Airline in Cerro Gordo, Antioquia, Colombia, that took the lives of almost all the members of the Brazilian Chapecoense soccer team.

The crew didn't get fuel for the airplane neither in Bolivia nor in Bogota, simply since they didn't want to spend time on that in order to arrive faster to their destination, and they crashed horribly in between Rio Negro and Medellin due to oil starvation plus electric malfunctioning.

Please check:
www.cnn.com...

Could be this tragedy that have taken at once 77 lives prevented if any automatic system aboard may have triggered an alarm or even put in hold the navigation systems when the jet was landed in Bolivia, to stop any possibility to continue the flight without having enough fuel to complete it successfully or just because it was a longer path than what those airplanes must travel safely?

At this moment the investigation of the causes of this terrible accident are still under progress, involving the air traffic authorities of three south American countries, but there is a first decision already taken by the Bolivian government that has removed to the Airline their license to operate under the pressure of the scandal, the reaction of the public opinion has been terrible either in their country and moreover in Brazil.

Please check:

www.efe.com...

www.bbc.com...

Nevertheless there is consensus among the analysts that there is indeed responsibility in the way this flight was planned, trying to follow a so much quick agenda to bring the team on time for a game in Medellin after an unexpected delay when the Brazilian authorities decided to deny them the permit to travel in their own charter.

The tragedy of this Lamia Charter jet that practically killed the Brazilian Chapecoense squad remember us other ones from the past occurred also for rushing a trip in an irresponsible way.

About 104 years ago when commercial aviation was not really existing the RMS Titanic Transatlantic sunk when it was dangerously navigating at so much speed in the North Atlantic ocean. To fly over the Andes without enough oil is as irresponsible as to be navigating in between icebergs without enough lifeboats.

Please check:
en.wikipedia.org...

Today also the flight controller that was that day working revealed that she has received phone calls with death threatening messages apparently from Brazilian fans of the team or friends or relatives of the victims.

Please check:
latino.foxnews.com...

The truth is that there is no guaranty that if the controller had allowed the airplane of Lamia to land as quickly as they wanted they would have made it successfully.

The great risk is that in doing that probably a major collision with another larger aircraft in the International airport Jose Maria Cordoba Airport could have occurred causing a look like Sta Cruz of Tenerife crash as the one of March 1977.

Please check:
www.youtube.com...

We still have in our memories the recall of the worst airplanes crash accident of History, occurred in Sta Cruz of Tenerife in March of 1977, also under the pressure of rushing flights that were unexpectedly arriving after to be deviated from other terminal, and with the presence of intense fog, an extremely dangerous meteorological phenomenon that also is very common in the Colombian Andes .

In the moment the Lamia Airplane became completely out of control, falling at terrible speed there was electrical failure, so there was no way to continue moving with instruments, the only safe way to fly on presence of fog reducing the visibility, so if this aircraft would be closer to the descending tracks of the airport it should have represented an almost unavoidable fireball for any other airplanes in its path.

Please check:
www.youtube.com...

Reports established that this monday nearby the Jose Maria Cordoba Airport in Antioquia, Colombia, there were probably other 3 airplanes in descending maneuvers on the same approximation path to the Jose Maria Cordoba terminal. Another aircraft had asked for landing priority because of its own on board problems.

The second aircraft was given permission to land while the jet carrying the Brazilian footballers was told to circle at 21,000ft.

Please check:

Flight ran out of fuel approaching one of the major International airports of the Andes

Bolivian, Peruvian, Equatorian and Columbian pilots are considered statistically among the best of the world, due to the so difficult conditions they must handle to flight in those countries with extremely high mountains dividing valleys and platos full of unpredictable air currents.

The BAE 146 Avro RJ85 jet's maximum range was 1,600 nautical miles. That is just under the distance between Medellin and Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where the plane took off at almost full capacity.

Read more:

The Lamia Charter British airplane was not really designed for such a long flight

The Thread is open to discuss the reliability of these British Charter airplanes to operate in the Andes and also what was done correctly and what could be improved in the way the Colombian Airport controllers handled this so risky event that seems could have ended in a several times worst situation with less luck.

Thanks for your attention,

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: The angel of light

The only way anything like Tenerife would have happened is if the controller was almost asleep, and the TCAS on the aircraft wasn't operating.

As for the fuel, they landed in Santa Cruz and fueled. The distance from there to Medellin is within the range of the aircraft, but just barely, and certainly not with the required reserves. They skipped the fuel stop in Bogota because at the time, they thought they had enough fuel, and they probably would have, if they hadn't put another flight ahead of them.

The original flight plan was for the aircraft to fly the team from Sao Paulo, Brazil to Medellin with a fuel stop in Cobija in northern Bolivia. ANAC, the Brazilian aviation authority refused this flight plan so the team flew on a regular commercial light to Santa Cruz, where the Avro picked them up. They could not refuel in Cobija because that airport is closed at night. The direct distance between Santa Cruz and Medellín is 2960 km. The RJ85 range with maximum fuel, 100 nautical mile diversion, minimum fuel reserve and allowances for engine start and taxi is 3772 km. What we don't know yet is whether they took off with a full fuel load. With the passenger load it had, that is somewhat doubtful.At maximum payload, range with reserves is only 1994 km.

a reply to: F4guy

Hi F4guy,

They didn't even try to stop at El Dorado International Airport of Sta Fe de Bogota?

Why, if it is just half an hour or 40 minutes closer coming from that path and a logical stage before to go to Medellin, a larger terminal with more descending tracks.

Every pilot knows that it is a protocol to hold all flights that are planning to land in Jose Maria Cordoba.

The valley of Aburra where this is located it is extremely narrow, a so deep canyon in between so much tall mountains, so with very limited number of tracks.

It is by far the worst airport in Colombia to have any kind of flying emergency.

Coming from Bolivia there are dozens of well equipped airports in the Colombian Amazonia, Guayana or Orinoquia in entirely flat topography where they could get fuel, Colombia is the country of the world with more airports per square mile.

Flying is the principal way of transportation in all the southeast of that country.

Thanks

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: The angel of light

They were scheduled to land at Bogota, according to the investigators, but chose not to because they decided they had enough fuel, so continued on to Medellin.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Hi,

That was their sad and fatal mistake, the responsability then was of the crew or whoever pressed them to make a so wrong decision.

The people at the control tower in Medellin did all what they could do, but again in that Airport no body lands immediately, it is always with terrible traffic congestion.

Aburra it is a really dangerous canyon to fly on, it is really narrow, nothing like the Colorado Great Canyon and several times deeper than it, but also the principal terminal of two million five hundred thousand people that live in that valley.

No pilot that knows such destination would expect to carry out that maneuver successfully there.

That airport has fame in the region that it is only for pilots with thousands of flight hours of experience already gained.

The Brazilian soccer team are not the only celebrities to have died there, the world famous Tango Star the Argentinean singer Carlos Gardel also died in an Aircraft accident there in 1940s.

Thanks

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: The angel of light

The controller was going to give them priority to land, as they told them they were low on fuel, but they didn't declare an emergency related to the fuel level. If they had, they would have been given priority to land, and would have been ahead of just about every other plane in the area.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I Think the level of competence of the pilot and copilot is questionable, the fact that they bypassed the opportunity to refuel at Bogota is negligence, considering that their reserves were so low.

Trade promptness for safety is not professional, it is incredible irresponsible attitude, even if they were rushed by demands of their own passengers.

The Bolivian Aeronautic authorities have done correctly in to cancel the license of the airlane, their standards of safety are miserable, they were transporting a profesional soccer team, so they were very well paid to offer a better service.

Thanks

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: The angel of light

The copilot was on her first flight as a copilot.

The pilot lied on his flight plan and claimed they took off 500 miles north of where they actually did. It also appears that the flight plan wasn't authorized because the flight time was exactly the same as the endurance of the aircraft.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Wow,

every time that the investigation digs more in the circumstances and decisions we find more and more grave irregularities, a lot of norms were violated, what did they have in mind? after all they were also flying in the same plane?

It is also suspicious to have two crew survivals among the five that made it, and also the report that the passengers were not sited down in the most safe position to face the impact but running in panic along the plane.

It is responsibility of the crew to keep the passengers in their seats well prepared, it seems there was no effective control inside the flight at all or the attendants were not doing their job.

A lot of pictures that were taken of the soccer players going in to the pilot compartment reveal lack of control from the flight attendants inside the machine, even before the emergency was declared.

Please check:
www.usatoday.com...

It is incredible the cynicism of the survival members of the crew of to try to splash responsibility of such a terrible event to the controllers of the Airport, when all the safeness protocols were violated, it is not just only that the plane suffered of fuel starvation.

The airplane crossed from one extreme to the other Bolivia and also regions of two other countries, Brazil and Peru, before to enter in to Colombia, how is possible that they couldn't find any place to land and refuel the airplane on such long path?

This promises to be a huge scandal, one that can even send that airline to bankruptcy, there is to much civil liability involved on those omissions.

Thanks,

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: The angel of light

He flew at least four flights that had the same length of flight as the plane had endurance and got away with it. He probably thought he could get away with it this time too. They were 20 minutes late taking off, because they were looking for a video game one of the players left in their bag. By the time they got to Bogota the airport was closed, so they continued.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Even if El Dorado was closed there are a lot of small airports around the Bogota Sabana, and other two major cities of Colombia closer than Medellin in that path around:

Ibague and Manizales

Ibague airport is about thirty minutes before to arrive to Jose Maria Cordoba and Manizales no less than twenty minutes closer.

One of the suspended officials, Marcelo Chavez, the regional director of the agency that controls air traffic in Bolivia, told The Associated Press that an inspector for the agency had pointed out irregularities in the airlines’ flight plan, including the fact that the aircraft’s fuel capacity was barely enough to fly directly to Medellin. Chavez said the airline decided to go ahead with the flight anyway and air traffic controllers had no authority to prevent them.

Please check:

www.cbsnews.com...

They put in risk not only their crew and passengers lives but also of a lot of more people flying around them in the same or intersecting and parallel paths, as well as people in land that were in any town or city in that path.

An airplane out of control falling in that way it is a formidable fireball that can destroy what ever is on their way down, it is basically a Kamikaze attack look like, not very different than New York or Washington DC at September 11th 2001.

Thanks,

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: The angel of light

Some airports won't let aircraft land after certain hours unless they have made prior arrangement. Not trying to excuse what he did, but it's possible they were either closed after a certain time, or required prior authorization to land.

As for the kamikaze aspect, it wouldn't have been as bad as other crashes, being that they were out of fuel. There wouldn't have been a fire, or explosion, or pieces launched. The engines were recovered with intact fan blades, indicating they weren't turning at impact. That means there would have been little to no shrapnel being thrown at high speed.

a reply to: Zaphod58

Well, Today the Bolivian government revealed that the pilot of the Airplane was in a trial accused by the Air force of deserter, and he was even already indicted in wait to be fully charged.

After two years in the Air force he decided to evade his responsibilities to continue working as his original contract establsished in a way to payback the training he had already received. In other words, he was illegally hired by the Lamia Airline, the news of course is devastating since it is pointed to the fact that he might be never piloting that airplane if the regulations had been enforced.

There was an order of arrest against him in the moment the accident took place, he was searched by the military authorities.

Please check:

es.noticias.yahoo.com...

Thanks,

The Angel of Ligthness

a reply to: The angel of light

I'd be willing to bet that he also had a record of recklessness. You don't fly for years, and suddenly start doing dangerous things like flying routes that are exactly as long as your aircraft endurance.

a reply to: Zaphod58

I am doubtful after this last funding of the legal problems of the pilot in Bolivia. This make me feel the strange sensation that we could be dealing with a kind of defection, that unfortunately ended fatally.

Please check:
latino.foxnews.com...

There is to much hurry in all this, it is not normal to act in such a way assuming so much high risks, it is possibly really a defection after all. Today also a Bolivian funtionary that warned about the unpracticable, unperformable aspect of the flight plan has requested assylum in Brazil, so the hypothesis of defection is very likely.

Please check:
www.thesun.co.uk...

We must not forget that Bolivia is under a very similar regime that Venezuela, a neocommunist one, strongly Marxist.

Please check:
www.today.ng...

Thanks

The Angel of Lightness

a reply to: The angel of light

The pilot involved was a part owner with a history of doing this. Based on the fact that the controller on duty at the time of the crash has received death threats, anyone involved in this in an official capacity is probably in fear of their life and ready to run.