The Boeing 707 flying this route ran out of fuel after a failed attempt to land at John F. Kennedy International Airport (JFK), causing the aircraft to crash onto a hillside in the small village of Cove Neck, New York, on the north shore of Long Island.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the crash occurred due to the flight crew failing to properly declare a fuel emergency, failure to use an airline operational control dispatch system, inadequate traffic flow management by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), and the lack of standardized understandable terminology for pilots and controllers for minimum and emergency fuel states.

Due to the air traffic controllers giving ultimately untrue delay estimations, the flight became critically low on fuel.

[2]: 22  Additionally, maintenance crews had noted recurring issues with the aircraft's autopilot, including the altitude hold function.

[f] The flight was cleared to fly Atlantic route 7 to the DIXON navigational aid[g] and jet airway 174 to Norfolk, Virginia.

At 20:46:47, the NY ARTCC radar controller cleared the flight to proceed to JFK at 11,000 feet (3,400 m) and to slow to 180 knots (210 mph; 330 km/h).

At 21:00, JFK was experiencing light drizzle and fog with 1⁄4 mile visibility, an indefinite ceiling with 200 feet (61 m) obscured, and a wind of 21 knots (24 mph; 39 km/h) at 190°.

[2]: 7  At 21:11:07, the NY TRACON final vector controller informed the flight that they were 15 miles from the outer marker and instructed them to maintain an altitude of 2,000 feet (610 m) "until established on the localizer".

[2]: 235  Klotz briefly thought the clearance was directed at Avianca and began to tell Captain Caviedes to change course before the controller corrected him.

At 21:33:04, the controller informed the flight that they were 15 miles (24 km) from the outer marker and cleared them for an ILS approach on runway 22L.

[2]: 13  The aircraft descended without power, clipped several trees and posts, and crashed onto a hill with a 24° slope in Cove Neck, New York.

[15] Passenger Astrid Lopez was initially believed to be dead due to her severe injuries, and officials placed her body in the morgue.

[25][26] The surviving flight attendant testified that no communication was made from the cockpit as to the unfolding situation, thus no warning came in the end to assume brace positions.

The NTSB report held that, had passengers been warned ahead of time to brace for impact, the severity of some injuries might have been avoided.

As the impact progressed, the seats, now separated, flung passengers forward into each other and into other wreckage, causing head injuries and lacerations.

[2] Because it involved a Colombian airline, Colombia's Departamento Administrativo de Aeronáutica Civil (DAAC) also conducted an investigation into the accident.

[2]: 59  In 1989, the FAA began requiring domestic carriers to change to digital FDRs to minimize the errors that foil models produced.

The NTSB recommended in the Avianca report that the FAA take an "active role in ensuring upgraded international standards" for flight recorders.

The NTSB also stated that the flight crew should have been more aware of these problems and cited these deficiencies as evidence of inadequacies in the dispatch of the airplane.

This confusion may have been the reason that the flight continued to hold, burning up its reserve fuel to the point where it could no longer divert to Boston.

"[2]: 56 [o] The report references the 360° turn that the flight was ordered to make at 20:54 as evidence that the crew should have known that they were being treated routinely and not given any emergency priority.

[2]: 60  None of the controllers involved considered the word "priority" or the assertions by the flight crew that they were running out of fuel to be indicative of an emergency.

The report provided various examples of the flight crew failing to convey the danger of their situation, even moments before the engines flamed out.

Although the investigators felt that the communications from the ATC personnel were "proper," the NTSB voiced concern over the controllers not placing significance on the word "priority.

"[2]: 63  As a result of this linguistic confusion, the NTSB recommended that the FAA work with the International Civil Aviation Organization to develop a standard glossary of clearly defined terms, as well as notify foreign carriers that they must be knowledgeable of ATC rules and procedures.

For evidence, the NTSB pointed to nine instances where the captain asked the copilot to repeat the ATC instructions or to confirm the aircraft configuration.

[2]: 68  The CFCF, in communication with NY TRACON, established an airport acceptance rate of 28 aircraft landings per hour that morning.

[2]: 283 Two male passengers were arrested at North Shore Hospital after a nurse informed police that 46-year-old Antonio Zuluaga had swallowed containers filled with cocaine.

[26][30] A month after the crash, an orderly caravan of around 1,000 vehicles drove to JFK while some demonstrators laid wreaths in the international terminal lobby to protest the handling of the flight.

[35] Confusion arose as to what the pilot meant, but controllers declared an emergency pre-emptively and cleared the plane to land immediately.