A20N, en-route, northwest Colombia, 2022

A20N, en-route, northwest Colombia, 2022

Summary

On 17 October 2022, an Airbus A320neo was unable to make an approach at either its intended destination of Riohacha or its designated alternate after those airports were both closed because of convective weather which developed over a significant part of Northern Columbia. A MAYDAY was declared due to low fuel and only 282 kg remained after the eventual landing at Santa Marta. Decision-making by both the aircraft operator and the flight crew and a lack of reliable communication between them was deemed contributory to what came very close to becoming a hull loss accident.

Description

On 17 October 2022, an Airbus A320neo (HK5378) operated by Viva Air Colombia on a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Cali to Riohacha as VVC 8332 declared a MAYDAY FUEL after being unable to land at either its intended destination Riohacha, its designated alternate, or, subsequently at Rionegro due to a wide and expanding area of convective weather. The flight crew then determined that their best solution, given uncertainty in the unpredictable availability of airport weather closures in the area, was to head north to Santa Marta where better weather was more likely. They landed there with a recorded fuel remaining of only 282kg after being airborne for a total of 3 hours 40 minutes and burning 6,718 kg of fuel. The extended flight was completed in daylight.

A20N-NWColombia-2022-flight-track
The flight track as flown: 1 Cali - 2 Riohacha - 3 Rionegro - 4 Santa Marta. [Reproduced from the Official Report]

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