Bolivian airline suspended after crash of 146 Avro RJ85 kills 71

MEDELLIN, Colombia – Bolivia’s Civil Aviation Authority on Thursday indefinitely suspended operations of the airline behind this week’s air tragedy in Colombia, as relatives of the victims spoke out in anger, many saying the crash was avoidable.

The Bolivian agency said it was stopping all flights operated by LaMia airlines, amid reports its charter aircraft ran out of fuel moments before slamming into the Andes mountains on Monday, killing all but six of the 77 people on board.

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.

Grieving relatives of the dead spoke out in disbelief and anger on Thursday 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.

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

“Profit brings greed,” Machado said. “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. “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.”

Meanwhile, British aviation authorities said the flight data and cockpit voice recorders recovered from the accident site were being brought to Britain for study.

A recording of the exchange between the pilot and air traffic controllers, leaked to Colombian media on Wednesday, 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 in the tense final moments 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. Just before going silent, the pilot said he was flying at an altitude of 9,000 feet and made a final plea to land: “Vectors, Senorita. Landing vectors.”

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 airplane was being flight-planned right to its maximum. Right there it says that even if everything goes well they are not going to have a large amount of fuel when they arrive,” said John Cox, a retired airline pilot and CEO of Florida-based Safety Operating Systems. “I don’t understand how they could do the flight nonstop with the fuel requirements that the regulations stipulate.”

At a vigil late Wednesday, thousands of soccer fans jammed the stands of the 40,000-seat stadium where Brazil’s Chapecoense team had been scheduled to play Medellin’s Atletico Nacional in the Copa Sudamericana finals. With the words “Eternal Champions” blazing on a big screen, the Atletico fans paid tribute to the rival team, which they have urged be named the champion.

The names of the 71 victims were read aloud as a military band played taps and Black Hawk helicopters that helped in the rescue of the six survivors flew overhead. In the stands, mourners stood for a minute of silence holding candles and signs reading “We’re all Chapeconese” and “Soccer has no borders.”

The emotional high point of the tribute was an address by Brazilian Foreign Minister Jose Serra, who travelled to the city along with a military cargo plane to help repatriate the bodies of the mostly Brazilian victims. He noted that both teams shared the same green and white jersey colours, calling it a sign of unity amid tragedy.

“We Brazilians will never forget the way Colombians lived as their own this terrible, terrible disaster that disrupted Chapecoense’s dream,” Serra said, wiping away tears. “You offer us enormous comfort _ a light in the darkness when all of us are trying to understand the unexplainable.”

In Brazil, the mood was even more sombre as residents of the small agricultural town of Chapeco gathered in the team’s stadium for a Roman Catholic Mass with relatives of the victims and the players who didn’t travel with the team to Medellin.

At a time when they had expected to be watching their team on TV, more than 22,000 Chapecoense fans tearfully watched videos of tributes that poured in from around the world.

Chape, as the team is called locally, reached the top of South American soccer without any superstars or players from Brazil’s celebrated national team. Its run to the finals of the Copa Sudamericana impressed fans across the continent as it knocked out some of South America’s legendary teams.

“We are the champions because we deserved this title,” said goalkeeper Nivaldo, who did not travel to Medellin so he could prepare for his 300th game with the club Sunday in the last game of the Brazilian league season. “We needed to be here with this crowd as much as they needed us here.”

 

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.