january 25, 1990, when avianca flight 52 leaves medell medellin, colombia, they have enough fuel for their trip to new york. they had approximately 81,000 pounds of fuel on the plane when they departed. they had done the calculations for the flight plan, the amount of fuel they would burn going to new york. a reserved some holding fuel and then also enough fuel to go to boston and land. with more than enough fuel, that shouldn t be a problem, but it soon becomes one. in new york, the weather was bad so as they came up the east coast they began to begin issuing holding instructions and they held for three different times. the delays totaled 77