MEDELLIN, Colombia -- The pilot of the chartered plane carrying a Brazilian soccer team told air traffic controllers he had run out of fuel and desperately pleaded for permission to land before crashing into the Andes, according to a leaked recording of the final minutes of the doomed flight.In the sometimes chaotic exchange with the air traffic tower, the pilot of the British-built jet requests permission to land because of fuel problems without making a formal distress call. A female controller explained another plane that had been diverted with mechanical problems was already approaching the runway and had priority, instructing the pilot to wait seven minutes.As the jetliner circled in a holding pattern, the pilot grew more desperate. Complete electrical failure, without fuel, he said in the tense final moments before the plane set off on a four-minute death spiral that ended with it slamming into a mountainside Monday night.By then the controller had gauged the seriousness of the situation and told the other plane to abandon its approach to make way for the charter jet. It was too late. Just before going silent, the pilot said he was flying at an altitude of 9,000 feet and made a final plea to land: Vectors, senorita. Landing vectors.The recording, obtained Wednesday by Colombian media, appeared to confirm the accounts of a surviving flight attendant and a pilot flying nearby who overheard the frantic exchange. These, along with the lack of an explosion upon impact, point to a rare case of fuel running out as a cause of the crash of the jetliner, which experts said was flying at its maximum range.For now, authorities are avoiding singling out any one cause of the crash, which killed all but six of the 77 people on board, including members of Brazils Chapecoense soccer team traveling to Medellin for the Copa Sudamericana finals -- the culmination of a fairy tale season that had electrified soccer-crazed Brazil.A full investigation is expected to take months and will review everything from the 17-year-old aircrafts flight and maintenance history to the voice and instruments data in the black boxes recovered Tuesday at the crash site on a muddy hillside. The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board was taking part in the investigation because the planes engines were made by an American manufacturer.As the probe continued, mourning soccer fans in Medellin and the southern Brazilian town of Chapeco, where the team is from, held simultaneous stadium tributes to the victims. The six survivors were recovering in hospitals, with three in critical but stable condition, while forensic specialists worked to identify the victims so they could be transferred to a waiting cargo plane sent by the Brazilian air force to repatriate the bodies.Alfredo Bocanegra, head of Colombias aviation agency, said that while evidence initially pointed to an electrical problem, the possibility the crash was caused by lack of fuel has not been ruled out. Planes need to have enough extra fuel on board to fly at least 30 to 45 minutes to another airport in the case of an emergency, and rarely fly in a straight line because of turbulence or other reasons.Before being taken offline, the website of LaMia, the Bolivian-based charter company, said the British Aerospace 146 Avro RJ85 jetliners maximum range was 2,965 kilometers (1,600 nautical miles) -- just under the distance between Medellin and Santa Cruz, Bolivia, where the flight originated carrying close to its full passenger capacity.If this is confirmed by the investigators it would be very painful because it stems from negligence, Bocanegra told Caracol Radio on Wednesday when asked whether the plane should not have attempted such a long haul.One key piece to unlocking the mystery could come from Ximena Sanchez, a Bolivian flight attendant who survived the crash and told rescuers the plane had run out of fuel moments before the crash. Investigators were expected to interview her Wednesday at the clinic near Medellin where she is recovering.We ran out of fuel. The airplane turned off, rescuer Arquimedes Mejia quoted Sanchez as saying as he pulled her from the wreckage. That was the only thing she told me, he told The Associated Press.Investigators also want to speak to Juan Sebastian Upegui, the co-pilot of an Avianca commercial flight who was in contact with air traffic controllers near Medellins Jose Maria Cordova airport at the time the chartered plane went down.In a four-minute recording circulated on social media, Upegui described how he heard the flights pilot request priority to land because he was out of fuel. Growing ever more desperate, the pilot eventually declared a total electrical failure, Upegui said, before the plane quickly began to lose speed and altitude.I remember I was pulling really hard for them, saying `Make it, make it, make it, make it, Upeqgui says in the recording. Then it stopped. ... The controllers voice starts to break up and she sounds really sad. Were in the plane and start to cry.No traces of fuel have been found at the crash site and the plane did not explode on impact, one of the reasons there were six survivors.However, there could be other explanations for that: The pilot may have intentionally dumped fuel in the hopes of reducing the risk of a fireball in a crash, or the aircraft could have suffered a fuel leak or other unexplained reason for losing fuel.John Cox, a retired airline pilot and CEO of Florida-based Safety Operating Systems, said the aircrafts amount of fuel deserves a careful look.The airplane was being flight-planned right to its maximum. Right there it says that even if everything goes well they are not going to have a large amount of fuel when they arrive, said Cox. I dont understand how they could do the flight nonstop with the fuel requirements that the regulations stipulate.--Goodman reported from Bogota. Associated Press writers Alba Tobella in Bogota, Ben Fox in Miami, Peter Prengaman in Rio de Janeiro and Dave Koenig in Dallas contributed to this report---Joshua Goodman is on Twitter at
https://twitter.com/apjoshgoodman . His work can be found at
http://bigstory.ap.org/journalist/joshua-goodman .
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Adidas Evgeni Malkin Jersey . Supported by three-run homers from Jayson Werth and Wilson Ramos, the young right-hander went seven strong innings in the Washington Nationals 8-4 victory over the Arizona Diamondbacks on Friday night. SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- After falling behind early, Syracuse was trying to rally in the third quarter against No. 13 Louisville and the Carrier Dome crowd was alive as the Cardinals faced a third-and-18.Lamar Jackson then did what he does best.The Cardinals elusive sophomore quarterback ripped off a 33-yard run to again stun the Orange on a night of big plays. Louisville didnt extend its lead, but in the end it didnt matter.Jackson ran for four touchdowns and threw for another, and the Cardinals routed Syracuse 62-28 on Friday night in the Atlantic Coast Conference opener for both teams.He had a great game, Louisville coach Bobby Petrino said. What I was most pleased with was how well he prepared for the game. He worked extremely hard all week. He did a great job executing. He threw the ball around and ran real well. He did a great job of everything we asked him to do.Jackson, the national offensive player of the week for his performance in the opener against Charlotte, a 70-14 victory, picked up right where he left off. He hit a wide-open James Quick for a 72-yard score on the games first play from scrimmage to put the Orange defense on its heels, and it stayed there during a first-quarter blitz by Jackson and company.The elusive Jackson followed with a dazzling 72-yard touchdown run and also hit Jaylen Smith for 61 yards and Jamari Staples for 55 in the opening spree.Im not sure anybody could catch him, Syracuse coach Dino Babers said. You get mad because they couldnt catch the guy. Hes the fastest guy on the football field. He got into space. I saw him outrun contain with three guys who were exactly where they were supposed to be. He should have got tackled for a 2-yard loss and he runs all the way to the other sideline and steps out of bounds.Jackson, who was rarely pressured by a Syracuse defense that was content to lay back, also scored on runs of seven, 72 and 13 yards to give Louisville a 28-7 lead after one quarter. He had 108 yards rushing and 207 yards passing as the Cardinals (2-0) outgained the Orange 352-98 in the period, then tacked on a 9-yard scoring run in the second for a 35-7 lead. That was one for the highlight reels, with Jackson displaying hurdler-like ability with a leap over a Syracuse defender at the goal line.I had to take flight, score and get into the end zone, Jackson said. I think I did something like that in high school. I feel like I can score (on any play). I feel I can get my team in the end zone on any play.Jackson finished with 199 yards ruushing on 21 carries and was 20 for 39 for 411 yards with one interception as the Cardinals set a school record and came within 13 yards of the ACC record with 845 yards offensively.dddddddddddd It was the most ever allowed by Syracuse, eclipsing the mark of 654 by West Virginia in 1993.Eric Dungey was 25 for 51 yards for 255 yards passing and scored on a 1-yard run late in the third quarter for the Orange.Syracuse (1-1) tried to claw its way back into it with a pair of scores late in the second, both by wideout Amba Etta-Tawo in the final three minutes of the period.In the opener against Charlotte, Jackson accounted for eight touchdowns and 405 yards in the first half, then sat the second. No breather on this hot night inside the Carrier Dome.The Cardinals moved up six spots in the AP poll after their lopsided victory over Charlotte. Jackson accounted for a stunning 405 yards and eight touchdowns, six passing in the first half of that game. Another jump is on the way next week.THE TAKEAWAYLOUISVILLE: The Cardinals proved the opening week was no fluke. Theyre for real, and as long as Jackson stays healthy the Atlantic Division of the ACC promises to be more interesting. Jacksons only concern on offense might be his receivers, who had six drops in the first half and more in the second.STAT LINE: Louisville averaged 10.4 yards per play.HE SAID IT: I did good, I guess, but I still have some improvement. I threw a lot of bad balls. Lot of bad reads, but I think I did all right. -- Louisville quarterback Jackson.SYRACUSE: The defense wasnt tested in the opener against FCS Colgate. It was by the Cardinals, early and often. The Orange has a lot of work ahead on both sides of the ball, but showed some grit by not caving under the early barrage. The up-tempo offense of Babers gained 426 yards and ran 93 plays and the Orange have found a go-to guy in Etta-Tawo, who has 19 catches for 314 yards in two games. The Orange also could use some semblance of a run game after gaining just 104 yards on 39 carries, it second straight subpar performance.UP NEXTLOUISVILLE: The Cardinals get their first true test of the young season when they host No. 3 Florida State on Sept. 17.SYRACUSE: The Orange host South Florida on Sept. 17, their third straight home game.---AP College Football Website:
www.collegefootball.org---Follow Kekis on Twitter:
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