Bolivia Files a Criminal Complaint in Fatal Colombia Crash
Airport employee accused of ‘failing to carry out her duties as a public official’ for letting plane depart
By TAOS TURNER and SARA SCHAEFER MUÑOZ
Updated Dec. 4, 2016 9:52 p.m. ET
SANTA CRUZ, Bolivia—Bolivian authorities filed a criminal complaint against an airport official here for allowing a charter plane to depart for Colombia even though its flight plan was in violation of international aviation safety standards.
The LaMia airline plane, which was carrying a Brazilian soccer team, ran out of fuel hours later and crashed at about 10 p.m. near Medellín on Nov. 28, killing 71 people aboard.
Bolivia’s airport authority, Aasana, filed the complaint against Celia Castedo, an Aasana employee who reviewed the LaMia flight plan. That plan, as well as a written transcript that Ms. Castedo prepared after the crash recalling her conversation with the plane’s onboard dispatcher, Alex Quispe, appear to indicate that the flight’s pilot and co-owner, Miguel Quiroga, knowingly put the lives of those aboard at risk by flying directly to Medellín without stopping to refuel.
Investigators say it appears the flight departed from the Viru Viru International Airport without the necessary amount of fuel, violating international regulations. The regulations, based on standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, require commercial flights to have sufficient fuel for reaching their destination as well an additional amount for reaching an alternative airport and for a variety of other contingencies.
According to a transcript of events, Ms. Castedo said she initially objected to the LaMia flight plan. She allegedly urged Mr. Quispe to change it. The plane’s maximum flight range was about 41/2 hours—just barely enough to reach Medellín, the document said.
“That’s not OK. Go back and check. Change your flight plan,” Ms. Castedo told Mr. Quispe, according to her written version of events. But Mr. Quispe, who died in the crash, allegedly brushed off her concerns.
“Let it go,” Mr. Quispe allegedly told Ms. Castedo. “Don’t worry, Ms. Celia, that’s the range they gave me. We’ll do it in less time.”
Ms. Castedo said in the transcript that “too often flight dispatchers do not take our observations seriously.” Ultimately, though, she allowed the plane to depart.
Ms. Castedo, who couldn’t be reached for comment, faces up to four years in jail, accused of “failing to carry out her duties as a public official.”
The transcript was published by Bolivian daily El Deber, on Dec. 1 then reviewed and independently verified by The Wall Street Journal. A Bolivian prosecutor declined to comment on the transcript.
LaMia couldn’t be reached for comment and Aasana declined to comment.
An initial flight plan, drawn up the morning of the crash, included a refueling stop in the northern Bolivian city of Cobija, Freddy Bonilla, Colombia’s air safety secretary and crash investigator, said Sunday.
That plan was presented by the airline, LaMia, to the Bolivian authorities, who approved it along with other commercial paperwork required for international flights. LaMia then presented its approved paperwork to Colombian authorities who authorized the flight to enter Colombian air space, Mr. Bonilla said.
A different and final flight plan, however, was drawn up later that day, at about 4:30 p.m., by the LaMia crew at the Santa Cruz airport in Bolivia, Mr. Bonilla said. This one didn’t include a stop in Cobija, which aviation officials have said lacks lighting after dark. The direct-flight plan, which pushed the aircraft nearly to the limit of its fuel range, was approved by Aasana, the airport authority, over the apparent initital objections of Ms. Castedo, investigators said.
LaMia has flown from Santa Cruz to Medellin in the past, officials said, but as far as they have learned, such flights always included a refueling stop in Cobija. They are trying to determine why the doomed plane’s final flight plan didn’t include that stop, and have said it may have been because of the late hour.
Mr. Bonilla said investigators are looking into whether the ill-fated Avro RJ85 could have had a fuel leak that might have contributed to the crash.
Jorge Cabrera, head of the Aasana employees union, said the labor group stands by Ms. Castedo. The union will present its view of the accident on Monday, he said.
Roberto Curilovic, head of International programming at Corporación America, an Argentine conglomerate that operates 53 airports around the world, said “there’s no way that flight plan should have been approved.”
“Accidents don’t just happen. There was bad intent there,” Mr. Curilovic said, referring to the decision to make the flight despite the risks.
Bolivia’s defense minister, Reymi Ferreira, said Friday that the country itself could face aviation sanctions, potentially making it more difficult for airlines to operate here.
Bolivian President Evo Morales has called for an aggressive investigation into the crash, and the government has laid off several officials, including the son of one of the charter plan’s directors who was supposed to oversee its operations.
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This Google translated from a Bolivian newspaper reads "Cobija receives his pilot as a hero and Santa Cruz grief seizes Viru Viru"
Cobija recibe a su piloto como héroe y en Santa Cruz la congoja se apodera de Viru Viru | Diario Correo del Sur: Noticias de Sucre, Bolivia y el Mundo