This is the complete audio of the conversation with the control tower.
- Pilot (P): "LaMia flight CP-2933 in approach. We asked for priority for the approach we had a fuel problem," says Quiroga to the control tower.
- Control tower (TC): "I understand. It requests priority for landing equally because of fuel problem, correct?".
P: "Affirmative".
TC: Okay. Careful. I will give you vectors to proceed to the locator and make the approach. In about seven minutes I will start the confirmation.
Then, the operator asks the LaMia pilot to notify the course and keep the course for the descent. The pilot answers and tells him that he is attentive, but minutes later insists that he needs the vectors for the landing
However, the operator notifies him that there is an aircraft below it and that the ground is being checked for possible loss of fuel from another airplane - apparently from Viva Colombia.
Q: "How much time do you have to stay in your approach?" Asks the operator.
TC: "With a fuel emergency, miss. That is why we have established a final course once," Quiroga says.
Then the operator asks for some maneuvers because there are aircraft nearby, but the pilot says he can not do it and that by his emergency he asks to join the locator immediately.
The aircraft actually began the descent and was notified to the control tower. The operator warned him of the wetness of the runway floor and told him they would be grounded. For them, two aircraft had to make turns and give space to LaMia flight to be able to land.
"Flight CP-2933 reported that it has a total electrical fault and is without fuel," Miguel Quiroga later said.
The control tower notifies you that you lost it from the radar and notifies you of the course. At that moment, the pilot Quiroga answers him and tells him his location.
"(We are) 10,000 feet. Vectors, vectors, miss, vectors to the track, "indicates Quiroga, in what would be his last communication.
Among the audios is also one of the pilot of the Avianca airplane on flight 9356, flying near the plane crashed, and which records some of the indications that the air carrier gave the LaMia flight.
"(It is in) the VOR locator of Rionegro, one mile ahead of the VOR, at the moment you are, I confirm you, on the left with a 3-5-0 course," the operator says.
In response, Quiroga says, "There at 350, Miss?", To what the control tower says: "Yes, correct. You are within 0.1 mile of the VOR of Rionegro."
Subsequently, the operator indicates that the aircraft does not yet have "altitude" for the descent, so the pilot responds with the request of the vectors for the runway.
"We are at 9,000 feet Vectors Vectors," Quiroga finally says.
The vectors are an indicator of heading and height that gives the operator of the tower to the pilots and guide him towards the track, according to what she sees in the screen. When a pilot has complications with navigation, he asks the tower to give him vectors, that is, heading, speed and height to get to the area where he sees the track. The end of the approach is visual and this speeds up the whole procedure.