The pilot of the plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team that crashed in Colombia, killing 71 people aboard, had skipped a refueling stop and radioed a frantic “Mayday!” that he needed to make an emergency landing because he was running out of fuel, according to reports.
Avianca First Officer Juan Sebastian Upegui said in a chat message with friends that the pilot of the ill-fated LaMia airliner told the control tower in Medellin that he was in trouble, Reuters reported.
Capt. Miguel Alejandro Quiroga then reported electrical difficulties — but landing priority had already been given to a VivaColombia airliner that had reported instrument problems, Upegui said.
“Mayday! Mayday! … Help us get to the runway … Help! Help!” Upegui described the frantic captain as saying before the radio went silent.
“Then it ended … We all started to cry,” Upegui said.
The Avro RJ85 short-haul jet then slammed into a mountainside at an altitude of almost 11,000 feet, killing everyone but six people — three players, two crew members and a journalist.
It emerged Wednesday that Flight 2933 had skipped a scheduled refueling stop between Santa Cruz de la Sierra in Bolivia, where it took off, and the destination in Medellin, airline official Gustavo Vargas told Bolivian newspaper Pagina Siete.
“The plane should have refueled in Bogota,” but instead bypassed the Colombian capital and flew straight to Medellin, he said, Agence France-Presse reported.
“The pilot was the one who took the decision not to enter (into Bogota for refueling), because he thought the fuel would last,” he added.
If the pilot had any concerns about fuel, he knew to land in Bogota, about 250 miles south of Medellin, to fuel up, Vargas said.
“Bogota Airport, according to the flight plan, was the alternative in any case,” he said.
Colombian broadcaster W Radio also aired a recording of the transmissions between Quiroga and the female traffic controller.
“Flight LaMia CP-2933 on approach. We ask for priority for the approach, we have a fuel problem,” the pilot said, according to a translation by the El Tiempo newspaper.
“OK. I will give you vectors to the approach. In about seven minutes I will start the confirmation,” she answered, referring to course directions for the runway.
The pilot then urgently said he needed directions, but she advised him that a VivaColombia airliner below him had priority because of an emergency on board.
Quiroga insisted that he could not delay his final approach because of his emergency.
“LaMia 933 is in total failure — total electrical failure, without fuel,” he said.
She then said the runway was clear and to expect a wet surface.
“Firemen alerted,” she added before telling him that his radar signal was lost.
“We are heading 3-6-0, heading 3-6-0,” he tells her, referring to north.
“Turn left 0-1-0 proceed to the locator of the Ríonegro border one mile ahead of the Bora (…) I confirm to the left with a 3-5-0 course,” she said. The Medellin airport is located in Rionegro, a city 15 miles away.
Quiroga then pleaded again for the vectors, saying he was at a mere 1,000 feet.
Flight data shows the short-haul jet circled a few times after the pilot declared an electrical failure.
Aviation experts say that failure could have been caused by fuel starvation, and that the pilots — who were circling to try to fix the electrical problem — realized their predicament too late.
A surviving flight attendant told officials that the plane ran out of fuel minutes before it was scheduled to land at Jose Maria Cordova Airport.
“It is very suspicious that despite the impact there was no explosion,” an investigatory source told AFP. “That reinforces the theory of the lack of fuel.”
A CNN source said the jet might have come down because of “fuel starvation,” meaning gas didn’t reach engines, causing them to shut down. A leak, internal icing, malfunctioning pumps or pilot error all could be tied to the loss of power.
“We do know there was no fire when the plane impacted the ground, which may be one of the reasons why there are survivors from this terrible tragedy,” Airlineratings.com editor-in-chief Geoffrey Thomas told CNN.
Brazilian investigators joined their Colombian counterparts to check the plane’s two black boxes, which appeared to be in good shape. The United Kingdom also sent officials to the scene.
Meanwhile, some of the miracle survivors spoke about the terror on board as their plane tumbled from the sky.
“The plane went out completely and had a sharp decline, followed by a big impact,” flight attendant Ximena Suarez told El Colombiano newspaper. She said the cabin lights went out a minute before impact.
Other survivors included three players and a journalist traveling with the team.
Alan Ruschel, a 27-year-old defender, was reported in the most serious condition, facing surgery for a spinal fracture.
Doctors were forced to amputate backup goalie Jackson Follmann’s right leg.
Teammate Helio Neto suffered severe trauma to his skull, thorax and lungs, Reuters reported.
“The chances of surviving an airplane crash are practically zero. That my son is one of the survivors is a miracle of God,” Paulo Follman told the Associated Press.
Suarez, crew member Erwin Tumiri and journalist Rafael Henzel were in stable condition.
The squad’s first-string goalkeeper, 31-year-old Marcos Danilo Padilha, was pulled from the wreckage but died on the way to the hospital.
LaMia’s website said the company operated three of the Avro jets made by British Aerospace, with a maximum range of about 1,600 nautical miles — about the distance from Santa Cruz to Medellin.
US aviation adviser Hans Weber said the range should be investigated closely — noting that air distance between cities is usually calculated at the shortest route, but planes frequently alter and lengthen their course for various reasons.
“I would be concerned that the pilots may have been cutting it too close,” Weber said.
Chapecoense had been having a dream season, going to Medellin to play the first of a two-leg final in the continent’s Copa Sudamericana tournament.
Chapecoense plays its home matches in a small, one-deck stadium with a capacity of just 22,000.
It was only promoted to Brazil’s top league in 2014 — and as recently as 2009, Chapecoense was toiling in the podunk fourth division of that nation’s soccer hierarchy.
Its magical run to Copa Sudamericana final should have been the club’s all-time highlight.
“The pain is terrible. Just as we had made it, I will not say to the top, but to have national prominence, a tragedy like this happens,” club VP Ivan Tozzo told Globo SporTV. “It is very difficult, a very great tragedy.”
The club is planning an open wake at its stadium Saturday, the city’s planning secretary Nemesio da Silva told reporters.