What happened
On November 29, 2016, an AVRO 146-RJ85, registration CP 2933, was operating a non-scheduled commercial passenger charter flight from Viru Viru International Airport in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to José María Córdoba International Airport in Rionegran, Colombia. The flight, operated by LAMIA Corporation S.R.L., was carrying 73 passengers and 4 crew members.
During the descent phase while positioned in the holding pattern at the GEMLI waypoint, the aircraft's four engines sequentially shut down due to fuel exhaustion. While attempting to intercept the localizer for runway 01 at Rionegro, the aircraft impacted the southern slope of a mountain in the municipality of La Unión, Antioquia. The impact resulted in the destruction of the aircraft and 71 fatalities.
The investigation
The investigation conducted by the GRIAA, with international participation from Bolivia, the UK, the USA, and Brazil, established that the aircraft was significantly underfueled for the intended mission. The investigation examined flight planning documents, fuel loading records, and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) transcripts.
Investigators found that the flight plan had been submitted with an estimated flight time and endurance that did not account for necessary reserves. Furthermore, the crew was aware of the critically low fuel levels but failed to declare an emergency or request priority handling in a timely manner. The investigation also noted that the aircraft had been configured for landing prematurely during the descent, which negatively impacted its gliding capability once engine power was lost.