the jet silently falls through the clouds, slamming into a wooded hill, killing 73 people on board. there are no mechanical failures, no structural problem of any kind. it turns out, but how can such a fatal blunder happen? january 25th, 1990, when avi a. in. ca flight leaves medellin, colombia, the tanks have more than enough fuel for the trip to new york. they had approximately 81,000 pounds of jet fuel on the airport when they departed. they had done the calculations for the flight plan, the amount of fuel they would burn going to new york, a reserve, some holding fuel, and then also enough fuel to go to boston and land.