The missed [soccer] match

[IAHM-COL]

Chapecoense's Team Air Accident

I wake up today to shocking news.

My favorite sport (for watching and as a fan) is Football. The real one -- Soccer.
I don't follow much teams worldwide, but since I am 3 years old I am a die-hard fan of the most relevant Colombia's Soccer Team: Atletico Nacional.

2016 had been the most memorable year of its very glorious history. After taking all possible cups at Nacional (in Colombia) stage, my team moved to "Glory" by championing the most important South American Club Cup: The Toyota Copa Libertadores de America.
Which grant us the possibility of competing for the highest Glory of a Football Club's team Worldwide in the FIFA's World Cup this December.

And recently, "Atletico Nacional" advanced to the Final Match for the second largest South American Club Tournament, with a draw against Paraguay's Cerro Porte~o. The Final match scheduled to be played against Brazilian revelation team, the Chapecoense. A team that moved to first division in the Football of that country maybe just a decade ago. The final match was scheduled first in Medellin, Colombia (My Home Town) and the Final game back in Brazil.

To complete the first leg of this Final match in Colombia, the Chapecoense Team (all players and managerial) were travelling yesterday to My home town in Medellin, Colombia. An aereal accident had occurred, taken the lifes of most passengers. This is terrible news. A missed match that we've lost the honor of playing.

My sincere condolences to the Chapecoense's Fans, and Families.

http://www.fifa.com/governance/news/y=2 ... 56157.html

http://www.espnfc.us/chapecoense-af/sto ... n-colombia

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-38140981

[SHM]

RIP

http://www.mensxp.com/sports/football/3 ... aking.html

[IAHM-COL]

How much of an honor it would have been for my team to play these excel sportsmen from Santa Catarina State, South of Brazil.

[jwocky]

Sometimes, there are no words...

[J Maverick 16]

That's very sad.
RIP.
Regards, Mav

[HJ1an]

That is terrible. May they Rest in Peace.

[IAHM-COL]

Memorial in the Stadium Atanasio Girardot (Medellin)

Tonight, the sportsmen of the Chapecoense Soccer Club from Brazil were schedule to play a Final match for the SouthAmerican Cup against Colombia's Atletico Nacional in the Stadium "Atanasio Girardot" of the City of Medellin.

For the air tragedy occurred Monday Night, where most of the players of the Brazilian Club lost their lifes, the South American Soccer Authority (Conmebol) cancelled all sports activities in the continent till new order.




Atletico Nacional, The Colombia's Soccer Club requested the Conmebol the posthumous title of the cup be conceded to the Brazilian team Chapecoense. The Conmebol is to declare a decision at this respect.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2016/11/29/atletico-nacional-asks-chapecoense-awarded-copa-sudamericana/
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/29/sports/soccer/chapecoense-atletico-nacional-crash-copa-sudamericana-title.html?_r=0

Tonight, at the time and place of the Scheduled match, the City of Medellin has invited the community to attend a memorial to all the victims of the Air Accident, and to the deceased players of the Chapecoense #ForzaChape.

[Link in Spanish Language]
http://www.deportesrcn.com/futbol/copa- ... o-girardot

[KL-666]

The news reaching me is looking grim. There is evidence of fuel starvation and the pilot did not immediately want to declare an emergency. Only when the electrics failed, probably due to no engine power, he declared the emergency. The not declaring the emergency immediately is being attributed to the possibility that the pilot knowingly flew a too long leg (no reserves for an alternate) and wanted to avoid the problems he would get by declaring an emergency.

For the families i hope so much that this is all wrong and some mechanical failure like a fuel leak will be found. As if the tragedy of loosing a whole club of friends/coworkers from their community is not enough already. They do not need to find out on top of that, that this may have been an avoidable case of gross negligence by the pilots/airline. I wish the families lots of strength to cope with this tremendous loss.

Kind regards, Vincent

[IAHM-COL]

Yes. I read about that.

I also read that
1) the black boxes are recovered. Studying of it contents being performed
2) the communication records with SKRG controls suggest the plane requested emergency landing at FL210. Then a second aircraft from another company (Viva Colombia or Avianca?) at the same time had requested priority landing due to some fuel leakage. This second aircraft was covering the route SKBO-SKSP; not scheduled to stop at SKRG. This second plane also coming much lower in altitude.
3) The control Tower rejected the Avro RJ85 emergency call and send them to a VOR holding, and gave the only RWY to the lower aircraft that issued not emergency but priority call.
4) The Avro RJ85 completed 2 whole VOR holdings, alledgely with fuel exhausting descending to 10000 ft.
(why was the AVRO so high? why did it have fuel exhaustion? was it properly refueled in Bolivia's Viru Viru? Why did nt the pilot make a total distress call ["may day may day"] if he knew he was with no fuel to hold patterns?)
5) The Avro RJ85 had been cleared to final approach, but at that time the pilot had no fuel, the engines were off. The electrical failed. The plane lost altitude beyond MSA (at 9000ft in that region is a no-way!!) and called distressed for help for direct vectors to airport (about 10 nm off RWY),.
Those were to my understanding last transmissions, as the plane was probably already doomed.

I think the fact that 2 airplanes declared emergency at the same time, and the only relief airport had only 1 rwy, and given the pilot of the Chapecoense team failed to convey the critical of the situation are both rather unfortunated chained events.

___-
*footnote -- disclaimer: I am not certain of the full accuracy of my narrative above. It is just my current understanding.

[edit]
Found this reference in English:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... tated.html

[jwocky]

Lets slow it down here, there is so much in this reporting that I can't bring together at this point. I spent a lot of time with studying Jumbolinos, it's one of my favorite planes as you know.

1.) An RJ85 (which is basically the Avro-version of the BAe-146-200) has with full standard tanks and MTOW a range of aboutish 1550nm. That makes somewhat 1800mi. So, 77 passengers, 4 crew, even with full tanks, this one was not at full MTOW, I think, but not that far from it, With the usual FAA reserves, she could have made the 1900miles, but two or three additional circles would have made it narrow even then.

2.) All reports say, the plane was at 21,000ft. That is so typical for a Jumbolino. It is a good fuel effenctive altitude and since the Jumbolino is build for steep take-offs and landings, they descend normally late and fast. The downside is, it has less than impressive gliding abilities.

So up till here, we have already some head-scratching because to plan a flight knowingly without fuel reserves in case of a weather change or the need to go for an alternative airport is fishy.

3.) Why didn't the pilot call a formal emergency? Almost without fuel he would have known the situation was critical, he had to go down? I mean, okay, there was this other plane calling also for a fuel emergency and got priority, but than one was lower already (how much, nobody seems to say, but given, it is not exaclty flat land there, 12,000 ft lower would have brought it already on approach altitude). So, even with that other plane and the Jumbolino still at 21,000ft, with butterfly butt and flaps out, the Jumbolino would have come in slow, that is what they do. That plane would have needed five minutes alone to get to the approach altitude. So therewas actually not so much need for circles unless there were other planes in line between the priority one and the RJ85. I sw in the article, the RJ was not #2 in the line but #3 or #4, that means, there were other regular landings, the ATCs brought down while having the Jumbolino out of fuel circling. That makes no sense.

4.) RJ85s don't lose the complete electrical systems when the engines shut down. They can run essential stuff on batteries and a air-driven emergency turbine for 15 minutes. That includes the hydraulics, GPS and avionics. So even with the limited gliding abilities of a Jumbolino, there was a chance, given the altitude of 21,000 ft. Instead, the call of "no fuel" and "electrics out" came together ... via a radio that also would have been fed from those very same batteries? Huh?

5.) Now, there is a little dirty trick, but I am not sure, a civilian pilot ever used it. The tanker pilots used it sometimes. See, at 21,000 feet and if you don't need to be fast, you can run the inner engines on 75% thrust and the outer ones just on 50%. That saves some fuel and at or about 21,000ft, the Jumbolino has a nicely balanced situation between lift and speed. The tanker guys used it to service slower turboprops in test flights because with that configuration and flaps 1 they can be slow as molassis. So, if you need to save fuel, there is an additional option and if you do it over an hour or so, it gives you quickly also a 100nm more range ... but there is a downside. At this configuration, or so it is said by military and test pilots, the plane produces less electricity. The generators are at the outboard engines. She bleeds slowly battery power if a lot is on. Not so critical for a tanker or military transport, but maybe for a civilian plane with entertainment system and cell phone charging and whatnot, that adds up.
So, what makes me scratch my head more is, was this, where those 15 minutes battery power went? The batteries weren't entirely dry or the pilot couldn't have made his last call, but a radio doesn't need that much, compared to a GPS or hydraulic pumps. That could explain why there wasn't even an attempt to glide her down.

So, I know, I will be accused of speculation again, but I think, a lot in those early reports is either incomplete and misunderstood (journalists not always do their homework) or there is another part to the story, nobody has touched yet. I mean, two planes come in, both in fuel trouble, that doesn't look for Colombian aviation habits, does it? No offense, Israel, but is there habit to save money by giving the planes just enough to hopefully reach the destination or have all planes to Medellin additional load on board?