Originally Posted by
chuks
Nothing quite like waiting to see what happens next, is there? Perhaps we shall get an honest report out of all this mess. Who knows for certain?
Let's wait and see, shall we?
Totally agree in principle BUT I guess that in a place like Bolivia, without the extra pressure on the authorities from the media, there might have been less motivation to do a thorough investigation?
When I say "media", I'm referring to the South American press being able to use data from sites such as Flight24, avHerald and yes, even discussion forums such as this, in order to jump on the story and press some difficult questions from the outset.
And whilst the Anglo-speaking media has been abysmal on the basic facts & details, that extra international attention has surely been beneficial in providing extra momentum. ( That's what they are saying in the S. Am. press at any rate and let's face it Bolivia doesn't want to be downgraded again by FAA.)
For example, within 24 hrs those journalists had the info. on the aircraft endurance and within a few days were attempting to analyse it's previous flight history.
Estadão Data has analyzed all the flights of Avro RJ85 since January 31 of this year, date from which there are registrations in the site Flightradar24.com. In those 303 days, the plane left the ground on 201 occasions. In 83% of the cases where the time of the route was recorded by Flightradar24.com (151 times), the trips lasted less than two hours and a half.
Avião que caiu na Colômbia fez outras quatro viagens no limite do combustível | Futebol | Gazeta do Povo
In the interviews with the surviving owners/shareholders, it was noticeable that in the immediate aftermath, (on the 29th, they hadn't yet appreciated that the cat was out of the bag across various "rumour mills". *
This meant both the surviving owners, employees, even the son of the pilot, were all making initial statements wtte : the aircraft had the endurance to fly that distance direct. (After closing ranks, it moved to - it's all just pilot Quiroga's fault. See final link at end which claims Quiroga actually had no managerial input in the company.)
* A few examples from LaMia employees :
29.11 M. Pacheco (company spokesman) was claiming the aircraft had a "4-5 hour flight range" ! and adds that “ there were devices( dispositivi) to increase the endurance, according to the flight plan” and "The representative, however, pointed out that, depending on the level of the flight, capacity could vary. It depends a lot on the flight levels that the aircraft uses."
Mario Pacheco, portavoz de aerolínea en donde viajaba Chapecoense: nuestros aviones tienen entre 10 y 15 años de fabricación - LA F.m.
Voo poderia parar e reabastecer mas plano B complicou, diz diretor da Lamia - Tribuna Hoje - O portal de notícias que mais cresce em Alagoas Tribuna Hoje - O portal de notícias que mais cresce em Alagoas
30.11.owner Vargas "We have never experienced any incident before and had already made a direct flight from Santa Cruz to Medellin before,"
Lamia, la pequeña aerolínea operada en Bolivia que protagonizó el trágico accidente del club de fútbol Chapecoense cerca de Medellín - BBC Mundo
Only FA X.Suarez was upfront, after rescue - she says she had crewed the same aircraft when she worked for SAM and knew what RJ stood for and that with Lamia "the operation of the aircraft was stretched to its limit in an improper manner."
Anyway, after seeing the brief footage of the investigation team's meeting yesterday, am slightly more optimistic that this won't be a totally limited investigation. ( Att.Generals of all three nations met yesterday and their "white-board" with their flow-chart of initial questions was displayed.) At the link below, the points they say they are investigating include
- (under the sub-heading of manslaughter)Ministry of Public Works as well as Aasana, DGAC, M.Quiroga & LaMia.
- "administrative corruption"
- "relationship with ConMebol"
Jornal Nacional - Promotores de Bolívia, Colômbia e Brasil investigam acidente da LaMia
However, I very much doubt the investigation will go as far as this next Bolivian journalist. Corruscating and depressing. ( He's also currently in exile, in Brazil, due to reporting on Bolivian "irregularities.")
Sol de Pando. Quintana, el padrino de LaMia - eju.tv