[Peetwo]

Update 05/12/16: The knock on effect of poor NAA oversight.

Via Yahoo7 courtesy the AP:

Bolivia minister: country could face US aviation downgrade

Associated Press
By PAOLA FLORES and JOSHUA GOODMAN | Associated Press – Sun, Dec 4, 2016 5:27 AM AEDT

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A black bow hangs outside the office of LaMia airline in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Friday, Dec. 2, 2016. Victims of this week's tragic air crash in the Andes were flown home Friday as Bolivia's president called for "drastic measures" against aviation officials who signed off on a LaMia flight plan that experts and even one of the charter airline's executives said should never have been attempted because of a possible fuel shortage. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)



Coffins carrying LaMia flight crew members who died in a plane crash are carried by soldiers to a hearse at the Viru Viru airport in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, Friday, Dec. 2, 2016. Victims of this week's tragic air crash in the Andes were flown home Friday as Bolivia's president called for "drastic measures" against aviation officials who signed off on a flight plan that experts and even one of the charter airline's executives said should never have been attempted because of a possible fuel shortage. (AP Photo/Juan Karita)

LA PAZ, Bolivia (AP) — The U.S. could downgrade the country's aviation safety rating because of irregularities that may have contributed to this week's crash of a chartered plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team, Bolivia's Defense Minister said Saturday.

As investigators probe what caused the crash that killed all but six of the 77 people on board, a string of human mistakes and irregularities have emerged, leading experts to conclude that one of the worst disasters in sports history could have been prevented.

Attention has focused on why the British-built regional jet was allowed to attempt the flight between Santa Cruz, Bolivia and the Colombian city of Medellin with barely enough fuel to cover the route. According to a flight plan obtained by Bolivian media, the total flying time was set at 4 hours and 22 minutes — the same amount of time of fuel the aircraft had on board.

"I've never seen a flight plan like this. The fuel on board should never, never match the estimated flight time," said John Cox, a retired airline pilot and CEO of Florida-based Safety Operating Systems, who reviewed the internationally standardized flight plan. "In a lot of countries this flight plan would not have been accepted."

Questions have also been raised about how the charter airline LaMia, which was licensed earlier this year, was able to quickly amass an impressive list of clients from South America's top soccer clubs as well as the national teams of Argentina and Brazil.

One of the airline's owners died in the crash while another, Gustavo Vargas, is a retired air force general who once served as Bolivian President Evo Morales' pilot. On Friday authorities revealed that Vargas' son headed the office responsible for aircraft registration at the civil aviation authority. He was immediately suspended along with several other aviation officials as authorities look into whether LaMia received favorable treatment.

Defense Minister Reymi Ferreri said it was possible Bolivia could be sanctioned with a downgrade by U.S. aviation authorities.

"All the information points to the airplane having crashed because of a lack of fuel, no mechanical errors," Ferreri told journalists from Santa Cruz, where he was on hand to receive the bodies of four members of the aircraft's all-Bolivian crew. "One of the dangers from the investigations are sanctions for civil aviation."

Bolivia in 2001 regained a category 1 rating from the Federal Aviation Administration after having lost the top status in 1994. If the category is downgraded, the South American country would join only a handful of nations including Bangladesh and Thailand deemed as not meeting international aviation standards. Such a move could limit the ability of state-run carrier Boliviana de Aviacion to expand its service to the U.S. The airline currently operates a single flight between Santa Cruz and Miami.

The FAA declined to comment except to say that Bolivia's status had not been changed.
Investigators were being helped in their probe by the six survivors' accounts of what happened. The first of those survivors to be released after the accident, crew member Erwin Tumiri, arrived Saturday in his hometown of Cochabamba in central Bolivia, where an ambulance took him to a local hospital.

Speaking from a stretcher and immobilized by a neck brace, he briefly thanked the many people who prayed for his recovery.

"I'm very happy to have arrived," he said.
___
Goodman reported from Bogota, Colombia.

Update 08/12/16: Criminal negligence investigation heats up -

Via Fox News Latino:

Bolivia arrests Lamia Airlines chief after lack of fuel caused crash that killed 71 people
Published December 06, 2016







La Paz –  Prosecutors who on Tuesday raided the headquarters of Bolivia's Lamia Airlines in the city of Santa Cruz arrested the firm's general director, Gustavo Vargas Gamboa, after confiscating documents and computers in keeping with their investigation to determine the firm's responsibility in the air crash that took 71 lives in Colombia.

Authorities arrested Vargas at the office and transported him to the district attorney's office in the city, EFE learned.

Vargas is a former member of the Bolivian air force who was the pilot for several of the country's presidents between 2001-2007, including current President Evo Morales.

Also arrested in the raid were one of the company's secretaries and a technical staffer.

Vargas is the father of Gustavo Vargas Villegas, one of the top officials within the Civil Aeronautics General Directorate until he was suspended last week in the investigation into the airline's operations.

Prosecutors ordered the arrests after spending several hours reviewing the firm's documents and computers, which had been confiscated and hauled off in two trucks to the DA's office.

The arrests came on the eve of a meeting in Santa Cruz among Bolivian, Brazilian and Colombian prosecutors investigating the crash, in which almost the entire Chapecoense soccer team from Brazil were killed when their charted Lamia plane crashed near Medellin, Colombia, on Nov. 28.

Bolivian Attorney General Ramiro Guerrero said Tuesday that the crash investigation in his country "certainly could get to murder charges" against anyone found to have responsibility for the tragedy.

A few hours before the arrests, Bolivian prosecutors also raided the offices of the AASANA air navigation and airports administration at Santa Cruz's Viru Viru international airport.

Specifically, authorities searched the office of Celia Castedo, who had questioned the Lamia aircraft's flight plan prior to the accident mainly because she noticed that the scheduled flight time was the same as the amount of fuel the plane was to carry, apparently leaving no cushion for emergencies.

The AG's Office on Friday denounced Castedo for not reporting her observations regarding the flight plan in a more timely way.

On Monday, Castedo had traveled to the Brazilian city of Corumba and spent all day speaking with her attorney and officials with that country's General Prosecutors Office, after which they took her to request asylum from the Brazilian Federal Police.

Bolivian Interior Minister Carlos Romero said Tuesday that Castedo had left the country illegally and her presence in Brazil was also illegal, being "a clear act designed to elude justice."

MTF...P2