On October 17, an Airbus A320 of the Colombian airline Viva Air landed at Montería airport with 200 kilograms of fuel remaining after having deviated from its original destination and the alternate destination scheduled in its flight plan.
According to several reports, flight VH 8332 took off from Cali with destination Riohacha but had to cancel the approach due to weather conditions and began a holding pattern for approximately 30 minutes.
Having ruled out landing in Riohacha, the aircraft proceeded to its alternate airport: Rio Negro, in Medellin. There it also encountered adverse weather and performed another 20-minute holding pattern.
Both holding circuits were performed at approximately 18,000 feet, an altitude where fuel consumption is significantly higher than the 33-36,000 feet cruise at which the aircraft normally flies.
Having exhausted all attempts to land at Rio Negro, the Airbus A320, registration HK-5378 headed for Monteria, where it landed safely at 2:09pm local time, approximately two hours after attempting to land at its scheduled destination and three and a half hours after taking off from Cali.
Based on an image allegedly taken by a passenger showing that in one of the plane’s displays tank 1 had 100 kilograms of fuel remaining and tank 2 showed 110 kilograms, 6780kg of the 7000kg that -according to what was entered in the aircraft’s systems- had been loaded would have been consumed in the flight. The veracity of the image could not be corroborated.
Some estimates indicate that the flight time that those 200 kilograms of fuel would have allowed is approximately 10 minutes, considering several factors.
Likewise, the remainder of the fuel consumed in the process of landing and arrival to position, so it is estimated that at the time of contact with the ground the total fuel was higher.
Viva Air informed through social networks that the official position in relation to what happened with flight 8332 is that «the crew and the control center took the measures established for this type of situation» and that «each flight has a special preparation and always carries fuel to go to the destination airport, alternate airports and a reserve time.» He further emphasizes that the flight had fuel for «more than double the time planned for its route.»
In the statement, the company said that «passenger safety is non-negotiable» and that in its ten years of operations «it has an impeccable safety record». It also indicated that it is in direct contact with the aeronautical authorities and maintains a position of collaboration for the investigation of the case.»
At the time of writing, there are no known statements from Aerocivil about its intervention in the investigation of the event. During October 17, the Colombian aeronautical authority had reported low visibility at Rio Negro airport, the scheduled alternate of flight 8332, but did not elaborate on this specific operation.
Información Importante Bogotá 171022 (1)
