Fuel shortages and negligence caused a plane crash that killed 71 people in 2016, including most members of Brazilian football team Chapecoense, Colombian authorities have concluded.

The plane crashed on November 28 2016, on a mountain in Colombia just a few miles from Medellin.

Officials say crew members ignored a low-fuel warning when the plane was about 40 minutes from its intended destination.

Instead of making an emergency landing at a nearby airport, they headed on towards Medellin and the British Aerospace Avro RJ85 ran out of fuel. </s> The 2016 plane crash that wiped out a Brazilian football team was caused by a lack of fuel, Colombia's aviation authority said Friday following an extensive investigation into the disaster.

The probe was launched after the November 28 crash which claimed the lives of 71 people, including all but a handful of players from Brazil's Chapecoense Real football club.

The accident "was caused by the plane's empty fuel tank as a result of inappropriate risk management by LaMia (Airlines)," said Miguel Camacho, who heads the authority's accident investigation branch.

LaMia Airlines is a Bolivian-registered charter company that specializes in flying Latin American football clubs.

Investigators from Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia had been looking into what caused the crash, with Friday's report confirming what had been one of the leading theories after a recording emerged in which the pilot radioed the control tower to report a fuel emergency.

Following a preliminary investigation a month after the crash, the Colombian aviation authority said it believed the airline had disregarded international rules on fuel reserves.

In its report Friday, the aviation authority said it had found sufficient "evidential and technical support" to corroborate that theory.

Chapecoense had been enjoying a fairy tale season and were en route to the biggest match in their history, which they were tipped to win, when the plane went down, crashing into the Colombian mountains not far from the city of Medellin.

Of the 77 people onboard, only six people survived, three of them Chapecoense players.

Also killed were 20 Brazilian journalists who were traveling with the team to cover the match. </s> Fuel shortages and negligence caused a plane crash that killed 71 people in 2016, including most members of the Brazilian football team Chapecoense, Colombian authorities have concluded.

The team was on its way to Medellin in Colombia to play a South American cup final.

Friday’s report from Colombia’s Civil Aviation Authority capped a 17-month inquiry into the November 28 2016 crash on a mountain just a few miles from Medellin.

Officials said crew members ignored a low-fuel warning when the plane was about 40 minutes from its intended destination.

Instead of making an emergency landing at a nearby airport, they headed on towards Medellin and the British Aerospace Avro RJ85 ran out of fuel.

The flight that took the Brazilian football players to Medellin was operated by LaMia, a charter airline registered in Bolivia whose general manager was charged with manslaughter following the accident. </s> Fuel shortages and negligence caused a plane crash that killed 71 people in 2016, including most members of Brazilian football team Chapecoense, Colombian authorities have concluded.

The plane crashed on Nov. 28, 2016, on a mountain in Colombia just a few miles from Medellin. On Friday, Colombia’s Civil Aviation Authority presented the findings of a 15-month inquiry.

Officials say crew members ignored a low-fuel warning when the plane was about 40 minutes from its intended destination.

Instead of making an emergency landing at a nearby airport, they headed on towards Medellin and the British Aerospace Avro RJ85 ran out of fuel.

The plane has alarms and lights that turn on that tell the crew to do something when fuel is low,” chief investigator Miguel Camacho told reporters on Friday.

The report said the plane – operated by charter company LaMia, departed Santa Cruz de La Sierra in Bolivia with insufficient fuel for the 2,972km journey.

“The crew insisted on carrying out their original flight plan, even when they realized they had a very limited amount of fuel,” the report said. “But there was no communication with air traffic control.”

The report followed a 15-month inquiry into the incident by the Colombian authorities, which worked in conjunction with counterparts in Bolivia and Brazil.

LaMia’s general manager Gustavo Vargas Gamboa was charged with manslaughter following the incident.

Criminal charges have also been brought against LaMia co-owner Marco Antonio Rocha, whose whereabouts are unknown.

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This post was syndicated from 360Nobs.com. Click here to read the full text on the original website. </s> The 2016 plane crash that nearly wiped out an entire Brazilian football team was caused by a lack of fuel, Colombia’s civil aviation authority said Friday, following an extensive investigation into the disaster.

It blamed the shortage of fuel on mismanagement by LaMia Airlines, a now-defunct Bolivian charter firm that specialized in flying Latin American football clubs.

The probe was launched after the tragic crash in the Colombian mountains in November 2016, which claimed the lives of 71 people, including all but a handful of players from the Chapecoense team, from southern Brazil.

The tragedy cut short the club’s fairy tale rise from obscurity to the finals of the regional Copa Sudamericana tournament, in which they were to face Atletico Nacional of Medellin.

The accident “was caused by the plane’s empty fuel tank as a result of inappropriate risk management by LaMia,” said Miguel Camacho, who heads the authority’s accident investigation branch.

Investigators from Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia had been probing the cause of the crash, with Friday’s report confirming what had been a leading theory after a recording emerged in which the pilot radioed the control tower to report a fuel emergency.

Following a preliminary investigation a month after the crash, the Colombian aviation authority said it believed the airline had disregarded international rules on fuel reserves.

In its report Friday, the aviation authority said it had found sufficient “evidential and technical support” to corroborate that theory.

“The aircraft was carrying 9,073 kilograms of fuel, which was insufficient to fly” between Santa Cruz, Bolivia and its final destination, the international airport in Rionegro outside Medellin.

“It did not meet the minimum fuel standard for an international flight,” he said.

The probe, which also involved investigators from Brazil, Bolivia, Britain and the United States, said the airline was in “a precarious financial situation” and that it was also not the first time it had allowed planes to fly “with critically low supplies of fuel.”

It also suggested that the pilots were aware of the fuel emergency for some time before contacting air traffic controllers in Colombia, who were exonerated of any responsibility for the crash.

Forty minutes before the accident, “there was an indication in the cabin about the low fuel level and from that moment, the plane was already in an emergency,” Camacho said.

However, “the crew did not inform air traffic control about this emergency to request priority” landing, he said, without suggesting why.

As well as lacking fuel, the plane was also overweight by about 500 kilograms (1,100 pounds).

“In light of the factors which contributed to causing this tragic accident, there were latent shortcomings on the part of LaMia relating to a failure to comply with fuel policies, a lack of supervision and operational control,” the civil aviation authority said in a statement.

Shortly after the crash, Bolivia suspended LaMia’s permit to operate, effectively shutting it down. </s> The 2016 plane crash that wiped out a Brazilian football team Chapecoense was caused by a lack of fuel, Colombia’s aviation authority said Friday following an extensive investigation into the disaster.

The probe was launched after the November 28 crash which claimed the lives of 71 people, including all but a handful of players from Brazil’s Chapecoense Real football club.

The accident “was caused by the plane’s empty fuel tank as a result of inappropriate risk management by LaMia (Airlines),” said Miguel Camacho, who heads the authority’s accident investigation branch.

LaMia Airlines is a Bolivian-registered charter company that specializes in flying Latin American football clubs.

Investigators from Bolivia, Brazil and Colombia had been looking into what caused the crash, with Friday’s report confirming what had been one of the leading theories after a recording emerged in which the pilot radioed the control tower to report a fuel emergency.

Following a preliminary investigation a month after the crash, the Colombian aviation authority said it believed the airline had disregarded international rules on fuel reserves.

In its report Friday, the aviation authority said it had found sufficient “evidential and technical support” to corroborate that theory.

Chapecoense had been enjoying a fairy tale season and were en route to the biggest match in their history, which they were tipped to win, when the plane went down, crashing into the Colombian mountains not far from the city of Medellin.

Of the 77 people onboard, only six people survived, three of them Chapecoense players.

Also killed were 20 Brazilian journalists who were traveling with the team to cover the match.

The post Lack of fuel caused 2016 Brazil football team Chapecoense plane crash appeared first on Vanguard News.

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This post was syndicated from Vanguard News. Click here to read the full text on the original website. </s> An investigation into the plane crash in Colombia that killed all but six of the 77 people on board in 2016 has confirmed that a lack of fuel was responsible.

Forty minutes before the impact, the low fuel warning light came on "in the cabin (...), from then on, the aircraft was already in an emergency", the head of the Colombian investigation, Colonel Miguel Camacho, stated.

On board were the Brazilians football team Chapecoense and twenty journalists all headed for the Copa Sudamericana.

The small Brazilian club Chapecoense had defied all odds by qualifying for the final of the tournament.

The crew flying the LaMia airlines plane ignored the flight plan which included a refuelling stop in Bolivia.

It crashed into a hillside near Medellin on November 26th 2016. </s> Fuel shortages and negligence caused a plane crash that killed 71 people in 2016, including most members of the Brazilian football team Chapecoense, Colombian authorities have concluded.

The team was on its way to Medellin in Colombia to play a South American cup final.

Friday's report from Colombia's Civil Aviation Authority capped a 17-month inquiry into the November 28 2016 crash on a mountain just a few miles from Medellin.

Officials said crew members ignored a low-fuel warning when the plane was about 40 minutes from its intended destination.

Instead of making an emergency landing at a nearby airport, they headed on towards Medellin and the British Aerospace Avro RJ85 ran out of fuel.

The flight that took the Brazilian football players to Medellin was operated by LaMia, a charter airline registered in Bolivia whose general manager was charged with manslaughter following the accident.

The airline's sole surviving owner, Marco Antonio Rocha, is also wanted for manslaughter, but is currently at large and has refused to return to Bolivia, claiming that he will not receive a fair trial.

Forensic experts had long said that the lack of an explosion at the crash site indicated the plane had run out of fuel.

On Friday, Colombian officials provided further details on the flight's last minutes, saying crew members failed to tell controllers that their plane was low on fuel.

"The plane has alarms and lights that turn on that tell the crew to do something when fuel is low," said Miguel Camacho, the chief investigator for Colombia's Civil Aviation Authority.

"But there was no communication with air traffic control.
• Chapecoense plane crash: Who are the six survivors?

Officials said the plane's crew could have requested an emergency landing at two airports that were located closer than Medellin's airport, but that would have forced the airline to pay landing fees and fines.

"The crew insisted on carrying out their original flight plan, even when they realised they had a very limited amount of fuel," the report said.

Officials said that the crew of the 90-seat passenger jet attempted to make a four-hour flight from Santa Cruz in Bolivia to Medellin with 9,300 kilograms of fuel.

Regulations stipulate that the plane would have needed to carry 11,600 kilograms of fuel to fly that distance. </s> Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption The recording captures the final moments of the plane before it crashed

Bolivia's aviation authority has suspended the operating licence of LaMia, the charter airline whose plane crashed on Monday killing 71 people.

It was LaMia's only operational plane, and had been part-owned by the pilot.

The aircraft carrying Brazil's Chapecoense football team went down near Medellin, Colombia. There were only six survivors.

Colombian authorities say evidence is growing that the plane crashed because it ran out of fuel as it tried to land.

LaMia was only set up last year, and has three aircraft - two of which are being repaired.

The British-made BAE 146 Avro RJ85 aircraft had no fuel when it plunged into a mountainside near Medellin, Colombian aviation chief Alfredo Bocanegra said, corroborating audio of the pilot asking to land because of a fuel shortage and electric failure.

"Having been able to do an inspection of all of the remains and parts of the plane, we can affirm clearly that the aircraft did not have fuel at the moment of impact," Mr Bocanegra said.

'Total electric failure'

Freddy Bonilla, another aviation official, said regulations stipulated that aircraft must have 30 minutes of fuel in reserve to reach an alternative airport in an emergency, but "in this case the plane did not have" it.

"The engines are the electrical source... but without fuel, obviously the electrical source would have been completely lost," he added.

In a leaked tape, the pilot, Miguel Quiroga, can be heard warning of a "total electric failure" and "lack of fuel". Just before the tape ends, he says he is flying at an altitude of 9,000ft (2,745m).

The plane was carrying Chapecoense, who had been due to play a football cup final against Atletico Nacional in Medellin on Wednesday.

Image copyright Reuters Image caption Many Chapecoense fans were in tears at their stadium in Chapeco, Brazil

The team flew from Sao Paulo to Santa Cruz on a commercial flight, then switched to the chartered aircraft.

Brazil's O Globo reported that because of a delayed departure, a refuelling stop in Cobija - on the border between Brazil and Bolivia - was abandoned because the airport did not operate at night.

The pilot had the option to refuel in Bogota, but headed straight to Medellin.

Media playback is unsupported on your device Media caption Richard Westcott reports from a 'black box' investigation centre in the UK

"The pilot was the one who took the decision," Gustavo Vargas, a representative of Lamia, was quoted as saying in Bolivian newspaper Pagina Siete. "He thought the fuel would last."

Approaching Medellin, the pilot asked for permission to land because of fuel problems, without making a formal distress call.

But another plane from airline VivaColombia had priority because it had already suffered a fuel leak, the co-pilot of another plane in the air at the time said.

The pilot of the crashed plane is heard asking urgently for directions to the airport before the audio recording ends.

Unconfirmed media reports say that a Bolivian official at Santa Cruz airport checked the paperwork for the LaMia plane and pointed out to the company that the amount of fuel they had was not enough.

Officials say the plane's "black boxes", which record flight details, will be sent to the UK to be opened by investigators. A full investigation into the crash is expected to take months.

Image copyright AP

Unanswered questions - by Richard Westcott, BBC's transport correspondent

There are some critical questions investigators need to answer.

If the plane did indeed run out of fuel, why didn't the crew fill up en route, as was reportedly planned?

And why wasn't it carrying the required 30-minute fuel reserve? Or maybe it was, and there was a fuel leak somewhere.

Also, why was the aircraft told to circle while another flight with a problem was given priority to land? Did the crew make it clear to the ground that they had a crisis on their hands?

Looking at the radar track, it appears to circle for around 13 minutes. Yet it was only around three or four minutes flying time from the airport.

Accidents normally come down to a series of problems and decisions that add up to catastrophe. There are often moments, with hindsight, where a tragedy could have been averted.

We still don't have an official explanation yet. So, there may be facts or problems yet to come out that put a totally different complexion on what happened.

On Wednesday night, when the match had been due to take place, tens of thousands of fans gathered at the Medellin stadium - and at Chapecoense's home ground in Chapeco - to pay tearful tributes.

Many wore white and carried candles as a mark of respect. Chapecoense lost 19 players in the crash. Twenty journalists were also killed.

Of the survivors, Chapecoense said two players remained in a critical but stable condition, while the club's goalkeeper had had one leg amputated and might still lose his other foot.

An injured journalist also remained in critical condition, the club said.
Colombian investigators release their final report on the 2016 disaster, which killed 71 including most of the Associação Chapecoense de Futebol team. The report blames mismanagement leading to fuel exhaustion, noting the aircraft departed without adequate fuel.