Professionalism, Final Blog Post

For this final blog post of the Fall of 2016 semester, I would like to readdress the topic of professionalism in the aviation industry. Professionalism has shown an improvement in the United States in the years following the Flying Cheap documentary. This could be due to increased pilot wages, or could even be due to improved flight and duty restrictions. We are fortunate to have all of these measures in place as it is improving quality of life, and more importantly saving lives. A recent event has brought to light that other countries are not fortunate enough to have the same or similar measures in place. A British-made Avro RJ85, chartered by the Bolivian Charter company, LaMia, crashed in the Andes Mountains just miles away from the airport in Medellín, Columbia. After researching, a number of aspects surrounding the accident reflect a complete lack in professionalism. All we have been hearing on the news, is the aircraft ran out of fuel. This may or may not have been the direct issue, but the complete disregard for safety, and lack of professionalism in an industry that demands it, extends far beyond what we see right on the surface.

The investigation is still under way regarding the RJ85, but based upon examining the wreckage, experts in aviation can make a well formulated opinion as to how the aircraft may have crashed. All signs so far point to either an electrical issue, fuel starvation, or even both. When the pilot spoke to ATC, he first requested priority to land based upon stating the aircraft had complete electrical failure. The pilot quickly followed with stating that the aircraft was out of fuel. All of these statements are based upon a recording that, “A spokesman from Colombia’s aviation agency said it could not confirm the authenticity of the recording.” (Casey, MacKenna, 2016) Due to the lack of authenticity, “Authorities have avoided naming a specific cause for the crash yet. But the lack of explosion suggested the plane ran out of fuel.” (Jansen, 2016) All of this demonstrates a lack of professionalism. There is never an excuse to run out of fuel. That is the entire reason that when flight plans are filed, they are filed with 45 minutes of reserve fuel. This leads us right into the next, and blatant example of no professionalism at all. There is no chance that there was 45 minutes of reserve fuel calculated into the fuel burn for the trip. “The Avro RJ85 jet has a range of about 1,600 nautical miles, close to the distance of the flight from Santa Cruz, Bolivia, to Medellín, Colombia.” (Casey, MacKenna, 2016) This leaves no extra fuel for holding, or any diversions due to weather. The flight did have an alternate (Bogota) filed which happened to be along the route of flight. “If the pilot had any concerns about fuel, he knew to land in Bogota about 250 miles south of Medellin.” (Li, 2016) No matter what the ultimate cause of the accident was, there is no doubt that the absence of professionalism has created a clear line of faulty decisions leading up to the accident.

The other example I have that demonstrates the nonexistence of professionalism is how the company, La Mia, reacted following the accident. It is fair to assume that all of their lines of communication, following the accident would be getting blown up by anyone and everyone.  There was no immediate response to an email to LaMia. In an article from the NY Times, the author states, “The company’s website had been taken down, and its telephone had been disconnected.” (Casey, MacKenna, 2016) This, in my opinion demonstrates that the company is not willing to cooperate with news outlets which, whether accurate or not, can lead someone to think the company may be at fault.

This current event in aviation demonstrates to us the absence of professionalism, just as many aviation accidents and incidents preceding it do. What I find the most beneficial with looking deeper into this accident, is that it is never just one person’s fault. With that said though, there hasn’t been a definitive cause of accident listed by the authorities investigating. The cause of accident very well could have been an electrical issue, but whether it was or not, it doesn’t change the fact that there were indeed examples of poor performance within the charter company. As aviation professionals, the best thing we can do, is look at and learn from this accident, just as we have with the Flying Cheap documentary.

References

Casey, N. & MacKenna, E., (2016, November 30) Doomed jet carrying brazilian team reportedly ran out of fuel. Retrieved from http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/30/world/americas/plane-crash-brazil-colombia-soccer-fuel.html?_r=0

Jansen, B. (2016, December 2) Pilot told Colombia controllers plane ran out of fuel before crash. Retrieved from http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/11/30/pilot-told-colombia-controllers-no-fuel-before-crash/94677866/

Li, David K. (2016, November 30) Plane carrying Brazilian soccer team might have run out of fuel. Retrieved from http://nypost.com/2016/11/30/plane-carrying-brazilian-soccer-team-might-have-run-out-of-fuel/