Some updates and articles on the Plane crash:
Chapecoense team members who for the first time in the history of the football club had qualified to play in the international Copa Sudamericana competition were heading to Colombia to the final against Atletico Nacional when their plane went down in northwestern Colombia.
Brazilian Heroic Footballers' Fairy Tale Dreams End in Tragedy
https://sputniknews.com/latam/201611291047982177-brazil-footballers-tragedy/
The football team was travelling to Columbia to take part in the match that was supposed to be the greatest success in its history, a game that will never take place.
"It was a shock," Gustavo Ribeiro, an award-winning Brazilian journalist from Plus-Fifty-Five information platform, told Radio Sputnik. "The Chapecoense was a club that people from all over the country grew fond of."
Chapecoense is a classical example of a "Cinderella story," Ribeiro said. The football club, founded in 1973, had long remained in the shadow of other Brazilian football teams. In 2009, the club played at in the fourth league, but after several wins experienced a rapid rise to the country's top league in 2014.
The team made its first debut at the international level last year, making it to the Copa Sudamericana quarterfinals. Five days ago, the club celebrated its success having reached the finals of this tournament, on the way to which they beat prominent football teams including San Lorenzo and Independiente from Argentina.
However, the fairy tale dreams of Brazilian football players ended in tragedy. Heartbreaking details about the private lives are now emerging from Brazil. For instance, it became known that one of the dead players, 22-year Thiaguinho, discovered he was going to be a father for the first time just several days before the tragedy, Brazilian sports Globo Esporte reported. The family of the young man has released the video in which he is seen to be celebrating the good news with his friends.
Another heartbreaking story is the one of the team's goalkeeper Marcos Danilo who made the last phone call to his wife just moments before he died. Danilo was one of the seven people who was found alive after the catastrophe and was rushed to a hospital for treatment. The 31-year-old called his wife lying in a hospital bed just a few moments before he was claimed to have died from multiple injuries. At the same time, some media, like ESP, say that Danilo could still be alive, citing the words of his mother.
Following the crash, Colombian football club Atletico Nacional requested to award the Copa Sudamericana winner's title to the Chapecoense.
The incident with airplane occurred while the aircraft was en route from Santa Cruz in Bolivia to the Colombian city of Medellín. While some media are saying the crash was caused by fuel shortage, other reports suggest there was an electrical failure. The flight, operated by Bolivian charter airline — Lamia — had nine crew members and 72 passengers aboard, including the Brazilian football. "Almost the entire team was on board of the plane," Ribeiro said. According to preliminary data, five people survived in the crash, while 76 died. So far, there are two crash survivors among Chapecoense players — Alan Ruschel and Jakson Folman.
A chartered plane with a Brazilian first division football team crashed on its approach to the Colombian city of Medellin while on its way to the finals of a regional tournament. Sputnik takes a look at the possible reasons behind this civil aviation disaster.
Possible Reasons for Colombia Plane Crash
https://sputniknews.com/latam/201611291047983333-colombia-plane-possible-reasons/
The British Aerospace 146 short-haul plane, operated by a charter airline named LaMia, declared an emergency and lost radar contact because of an electrical failure, aviation authorities said.
The plane known as Avro RJ85 (Regional Jet 85) was a medium-range passenger aircraft. The crashed airliner made its debut flight in 1999. There were 387 aircraft of this series that were made. The slightly modified Avro RJ85 can accommodate from 85 to 112 passengers. The Avro RJ is designed for smaller airports located in the city, so it needs little distance in order to take off and land. Amount of Fuel Brazilian aviation safety expert and former civil and military aircraft pilot Milian Heymann spoke to Sputnik Brazil about the possible causes of the crash saying that the RJ-85 is a reliable aircraft for such types of flights over mountainous terrain.
What draws attention is the fact that the plane did not burst into flames after the crash. This is a possible sign that there was a small amount of fuel, it was just enough to arrive at the destination. A lack of fuel may explain possible problems with electricity,” Heymann said.
He further said that without the necessary amount of fuel, the four engines aircraft could have stopped, which could have led to a loss of control by the pilot and eventually the crash of the aircraft. He stressed that this is just his personal opinion.
Crash Site and Mountainous Terrain - Honored Pilot of the USSR, Chairman of the Civil Aviation Board of Public Transport Supervision, Oleg Smirnov, in conversation with RT said that it was “a good plane, it had been in service for a long time and it has shown to be safe and comfortable for passengers.”
The wreckage of the aircraft, bodies of the passengers and a few survivors were found by Colombian rescue services in mountainous terrain. It is possible that the pilot was looking for a landing site. “If the pilot knows that he doesn’t have enough fuel to fly till the landing strip he starts looking for more or less flat area for emergency landing,” distinguished test pilot Magomed Tolboev told RT. According to him if a pilot flies through mountains, he marks some plateaus on the map where in the case of emergency, the plane can land.
Technical Malfunction Fligtradar24 portal reported that on approaching the Medellin airport the plane started to fly in circles. This is usually done by the pilots in order to get rid of excess fuel so that the plane doesn’t explode on landing.
However, Tolboev noted that when the pilot does that, he loses a lot of fuel and it is very important to remember not to overdo it as the fuel might finish before the plane manages to actually land.
So far, the voice recordings of the pilot with the dispatcher have not yet been made available so no conclusions can be made based on the technical characteristics of the aircraft. That leads to the biggest question.
Long Distance of Flight According to the documentation, the practical range of Avro RJ85 with 85 people onboard is 2963 km. However, the distance between the point of departure of the plane and destination in Medellin was 2975 km.
“The plane was flying for more than four hours. It has four jet engines with a high consumption of kerosene and this distance in fact was the limit, as it usually flies for shorter distances,” Oleg Smirnov said. The long distance of the flight and possible required maneuvers due to poor weather could have led to the plane running out of fuel, according to Smirnov. The expert added that the fact that there are survivors from the plane indicates that it did not completely breakdown and did not catch fire. This gives hope that the flight recorders will be intact. Their decoding will give a better picture of what actually went wrong. According to the expert it is possible that the decryption of the data will take place very quickly.
A total of 21 Brazilian journalists died as a result of the plane crash in central Colombia, the National Federation of Journalists said on Tuesday in a statement.
Over 20 Brazilian Journalists Killed in Plane Crash in Colombia
https://sputniknews.com/latam/201611291047982165-journalists-brazil-colombia-crash/
The passengers of the aircraft that crashed after disappearing in Colombian airspace included members of the Brazilian Chapecoense Real football team.
“Most journalists were from Rio de Janeiro, Santa Catarina and Sao Paulo, professionals in the sphere of sport journalism from newspapers, radio and TV, who must have covered the football match, died,” the statement said.
The National Federation of Journalists and trade unions expressed their condolences following the plane crash.
According to the Jose Maria Cordova International Airport, the plane crashed at 10 p.m. local time Monday (03:00 GMT Tuesday). The plane was operated by the Lamia Corporation airline. The crew reported an emergency situation during the flight citing power problems between the municipality of La Ceja and Union in the Antioquia department. The Chapecoense Real football team was on the way to participate in the South American Cup final against Atletico Nacional in a game set for Wednesday. The game was suspended due to the incident.
Marco Antonio Cumsille, an executive producer of Chilean sports channel, Deportes 13 spoke to Sputnik Mundo in an interview about the tragic plane crash in Colombia.
Colombia Plane Crash Reminiscent 'With Peruvian, Chilean Team Disasters'
https://sputniknews.com/latam/201611291047975187-colombia-plane-crash-disaster/
“The death of most of the Chapecoense football players is tragic news for several reasons. This club is not only a part of the first division in Brazil; it was able to reach the finals of the South American Cup,” Cumsille said.
He further said that unfortunately, such incidents have taken place in the region before. In 1987, a plane crashed a few kilometers from Lima, with members of the Peruvian Alianza Lima football team on board. Everyone was killed. Cumsille added that a “similar disaster occurred in Chile in the middle of the last century.” Coming back to death of Chapecoense club players, the producer said that it is an occasion for mourning throughout the Latin America. On November 30, the first match [of the two] of the South American Cup final between Chapecoense and the Colombian club Atlético Nacional was due to take place.
“Given these tragic circumstances, it is difficult to say how the winner of the Cup will be determined now,” Cumsille told Sputnik.
However, he said that there is a similar historical precedent. At the end of 2001 in Argentina, in connection with the protests, the government of President Fernando de la Rua fell so it was impossible to hold the final match of the South American Cup, in which Argentines had to play against Brazilians.
The game was held but in March of the following year. According to Cumsille, “I think in this case the game will also have to be rescheduled. Although for obvious reasons the two situations are not entirely identical.” Talking about the plane crash and the airline itself, the executive producer said that he had never heard any negative reviews about the Bolivian airline Lamia, whose plane met its tragic end. “The airline often organized charter flights for the football team and was known in the sports world across whole of Latin America,” he said. According to the executive producer, the aircraft and airlines in Latin America today are reliable and quite safe. There are virtually no air crashes and flying conditions are also quite good.
The main challenge for the pilots in Latin America is landing, as airports are often located in the mountains and one must have the skill to pilot in such circumstances,” Cumsille concluded.
A plane carrying 81 people, including Brazilian football team, crashed on its approach to the city of Medellin in Colombia. The chartered aircraft, flying from Brazil via Bolivia, was carrying members of the Chapecoense team.
A total of 13 people survived a crash of an airplane carrying 72 passengers and nine crew members in northwestern Colombia, 360 Radio Colombia broadcaster reported on Tuesday citing the emergency team operating at the scene of the crash.
At Least 13 Survivors in Colombia Plane Crash - Emergency Team PMU
https://sputniknews.com/latam/201611291047950517-colombia-plane-crash-survivors/
The passengers of the aircraft that crashed after disappearing in Colombian airspace included members of the Brazilian Chapecoense Real football team.
The crash took place at 10 p.m. local time Monday (03:00 GMT Tuesday), the Jose Maria Cordova International Airport in Rionegro said in a statement on Tuesday. The plane was operated by the Lamia Corporation airline.
According to the statement, the crew reported an emergency situation during the flight citing power problems between the municipality of La Ceja and Union in the Antioquia department. The passengers of the aircraft that crashed after disappearing in Colombian airspace included members of the Brazilian Chapecoense Real football team.
According to media reports, the football team was on the way to participate in the South American Cup final against Atletico Nacional in a game set for Wednesday. The game was suspended due to the accident.
Local BluRadio Colombia broadcaster reported that Brazilian football player Alan Ruschel survived in the crash and was hospitalized in the nearby La Ceja town.
