Probe finds jetliner ran out of fuel before crash

Bogota, Colombia — A series of human errors caused an airliner to run out of fuel and crash in Colombia last month, killing 71 people including most of a Brazilian soccer team, aviation authorities said Monday.

Colombia’s Civil Aeronautics agency concluded that the plan for the flight operated by Bolivia-based company LaMia did not meet international standards. Among the errors it cited were the decisions to let the plane take off without enough fuel to make the flight safely and then to not stop midway to refuel.

Neither the charter company nor Bolivian authorities should have allowed the plane to take off with the flight plan submitted, said Freddy Bonilla, safety secretary for Colombia’s aviation authority. He said the agency’s conclusions were based on the plane’s black boxes and other evidence.

Experts had earlier suggested that fuel exhaustion was a likely cause of the Nov. 28 crash that wiped out all but a few members of the Chapecoense soccer team, as well as team officials and journalists accompanying them to a championship playoff match in Medellín, Colombia.

The BAE 146 Avro RJ85 has a top range of 1,600 nautical miles — just under the distance between Medellín and Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where the plane had taken off at almost full capacity.

Investigators found that crew members of the LaMia flight were aware of the lack of fuel but only reported an emergency when it was too late.