Helios Airways Flight 522

Helios Airways aircraft 5B-DBY at London Luton Airport in 2004.

Helios Airways Flight 522 (HCY 522) was a Helios Airways Boeing 737-31S flight that crashed on August 14, 2005 at 12:04 EEST into a mountain north of Marathon and Varnavas, Greece. Rescue teams located wreckage near the community of Grammatiko 40 kilometres (25 miles) from Athens. All 121 people on board were killed. No one on the ground was hurt.

Flight and crash

The flight, which left Larnaca, Cyprus at 09:07 local time, was en route to Athens, and was scheduled to continue to Prague. After the plane failed to contact traffic control at Eleftherios Venizelos Airport (ATH) upon entering Greek air space, two F-16 fighter planes from the Hellenic Air Force 111th Combat Wing were scrambled from Nea Anchialos Air Base to establish visual contact. They noted that the plane appeared to be on autopilot. In accord with the rules for handling "renegade" plane incidents (where the aircraft is not under the pilots' control), one fighter approached to within 300 feet of the ill-fated plane [1]. The fighter pilot saw that the first officer was slumped motionless on the controls, and that the pilot was not in the cockpit. Oxygen masks were seen dangling in the cabin.

Somewhat later, the F-16 pilots saw one person in the cockpit, seemingly trying to regain control of the plane, perhaps with the help of the co-pilot, during the last moments before the aircraft crashed into a hill.

The plane carried 115 passengers and a crew of 6. The passengers included 67 due to disembark at Athens, with the rest heading to Prague. The bodies of 118 individuals have been recovered [2]. The passenger list included 93 adults and 22 people under the age of 18. Cypriot nationals comprised 103 of the passengers (mostly of Greek descent and some of Armenian) and Greek nationals comprised the remaining 12[3].

Background

The aircraft involved in this incident was first flown on December 29, 1997 and had been operated by dba until it was aquired by Helios Airways on April 16, 2004 and nicknamed "Olympia", with registration 5B-DBY. On December 16, 2004 during a flight from Warsaw the ill-fated plane had suffered a loss of cabin pressure and three passengers were rushed to hospital when the plane landed in Larnaca. The mother of the pilot killed in the crash of Flight 522 claimed that her son had repeatedly complained to Helios about the plane getting cold.[4] Passengers have also reported problems with air conditioning on Helios flights.

Aside from the downed plane, the Helios fleet consists of two leased Boeing 737-800s and an Airbus A319-111 delivered May 14 2005.

With 121 dead, this is 2005's worst plane crash to date, and the second accident of the year that caused more than 100 fatalities, the other being Kam Air Flight 904 with 104 deaths. It is the 69th crash of a Boeing 737 (the most numerous passenger aircraft in the world) since it was brought into service in 1968.

The emergency oxygen supply in the passenger cabin of commercial airplanes is fed by chemical generators that provide enough oxygen to sustain consciousness for about 15 minutes, normally sufficient for the plane to descend to 10,000 feet, where most people can function, albeit uncomfortably, in the ambient atmospheric pressure. Supplemental oxygen for the flight deck comes from a dedicated tank of gas. If decompression is rapid at a cruising altitude of 34,000 feet, air rushes painfully out of a person's lungs and middle ear chamber, temperature drops to about −50 celsius and a confusing, thick fog fills the cabin. Unable to "hold their breath," passengers can maintain useful consciousness and fumble for their masks for only 15–30 seconds under such conditions. A flight attendant may be more adept at donning a mask. On the flight deck of a Boeing 737 oxygen masks can be difficult to reach, and it may not be immediately obvious if the valve for the oxygen tank is in the closed position [5].

Investigation

Suspicions that the plane had been hijacked were swiftly ruled out by Greece's foreign ministry. Initial claims that the plane was shot down by the fighter jets are refuted by eyewitnesses and the government.

Sudden loss of cabin pressure and consequent pilot unconsciousness is the leading theory explaining the accident. This would account for why oxygen masks were released. Weighing against this are the facts that 1) the pilots should have been able to bring the plane down to a safe altitude after donning oxygen masks, 2) none of the bodies on the ground were wearing oxygen masks, 3) the F-16 pilots did not observe window misting, which usually occurs upon abrupt decompression.

The flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder have been recovered, but the latter was heavily damaged. The "black boxes" were sent to a specialized investigatory center in France.

Authorities served a search warrant on Helios Airways headquarters in Larnaca, Cyprus and seized "documents or any other evidence which might be useful in the investigation of the possibility of penal offences."[6]

All of the bodies recovered were burned beyond visual identification by the fierce fires that raged for hours in the dry brush and grass covering the crash site. However, it was determined that a body found in the cockpit area was that of a female flight attendant(in Greek), suggesting that she was indeed trying to prevent a crash. Initial autopsies on 12 crash victims show that some were alive and maintained cardiac and respiratory function upon impact but it could not be determined whether they were conscious at the time. [7]

Passenger List

A complete list of passengers has been released (in Greek) 1 2

Passengers table
No	Code	Name	Age	Village/City	Occupation	Nationality
1	013	Paraskevas Dimitriou	30	Larnaka	Cyta employee	Cypriot
2	043	Maria Rikkou	27	Larnaka
3	067Ν	Adamos Evripidou	61	Archangelos, Lefkosia
4	067Ν	Niki Evripidou	52	Archangelos, Lefkosia
5	077Ν	Androulla Karkania	46	Trachoni
6	076Ν	Panayiotis Karkania	48	Trachoni
7	073Ν	Georgios Iakovou	54	Lefkosia
8	073Ν	Margarita Iakovou	46	Lefkosia
9	002	Anastasios Agathangelou	32	Kato Lakatamia,
10	004	Kyriakos Aliouris	31
11	061Ν	Andreas Christodoulou (Mavris)	44	Lakatamia,
12	062Ν	Kalypso Christodoulou	42	Lakatamia,
13	066Ν	Eleni Constantinou	39	Latsia, Lefkosia
14	066Ν	Theophanis Constantinou	42	Latsia, Lefkosia
15	074Ν	Dena Karacostas	43	Pallouriotissa, Lefkosia
16	075Ν	Nicos Karacostas	53	Pallouriotissa, Lefkosia
17	086Ν	Nicos Nicolaou	27	Zakaki
18	086Ν	Theti Nicolaou	4
19	083Ν	Noni Neocleous	30
20	009Ν	Costas Christodoulopoulos	45
21	010Ν	Photini Christodoulopoulos	18
22	006Ν	Anastasis Anastasiou	36
23	019Ν	Stephani Chasoula	18
24	021Ν	Maria Karacostas	43
25	0022Ν	Andreas Karacostas	46
26	023	Pambos Kazamias	59
27	024Ν	Panicos Kitromilidis	43
28	025Ν	Phani Kapetaniou Christodoulopoulos	42
29	038Ν	Marina Nicolaaou Christodoulopoulos	42
30	040	Eleni Onisiphorou	27
31	085Ν	Yiannoula Neophytou	55	Kokkinotrimithia,
32	084Ν	Michael Neophytou	28	Acropoli Lefkosia
33	082Ν	Elena Michael	29	Psimolofou,
34	080Ν	Andri Kyprianou	28	Paliometocho, Lefkosia
35	079Ν	Evgenia Kenta	32	Agios Dometios, Lefkosia
36	078Ν1	Sotiris Katseksou	60	Strovolos, Lefkosia
37	078Ν2	Maria Katseksou	54	Strovolos, Lefkosia
38	026Ν	Odysseas Koutsofta	28	Paralimni
39	027Ν	Cryssoulla Koutsofta	5	Paralimni
40	053Ν	Xenia Koutsofta Vraka	27	Paralimni
41	050	Georgios Theophani
42	050	Maria Theophani
43	050	Artemis Theophani
44	041	Maria Papayianni
45	003Ν	Ioannis Alexandris	37
46	001 Ν	Aris Adelaidis
47	042Ν	Ioannis Papaioannou
48	037Ν	Ephstathia Mousa
49	014	Theodoros Dounas	38	Egkomi, Lefkosia
50	014	Michael Douna	10	Egkomi, Lefkosia
51	014	Vasiliki Douna	8	Egkomi, Lefkosia
52	014	Tasos Dounas	5	Egkomi, Lefkosia
53	052	Christina Tsopani	34	Egkomi, Lefkosia
54	048 Ν	Christos Pirili	40	Paralimni
55	035 Ν	Antonia Manoli Pirili	36	Paralimni
56	046Ν	Eva Pirili	12	Paralimni
57	045 Ν	Xenios Pirili	10	Paralimni
58	047Ν	Markos Pirili	6	Paralimni
59	007Ν	Antonis Antoniou	39	Paralimni
60	007Ν	Maria Antoniou	35	Paralimni
61	007Ν	Christos Antoniou	9	Paralimni
62	008Ν	Christina Antoniou	6	Paralimni
63	072 Ν	Michael Yiorgalli	51	Geri, Lefkosia
64	072Ν	Anthoula Yiorgalli	47	Geri, Lefkosia
65	015	Agathi Evripidou	41	Kato Polemidia
66	016	Evripidis Evripidou	47	Kato Polemidia
67	017	Polina Evripidou	12	Kato Polemidia
68	018	Stephani Evripidou	17	Kato Polemidia
69	028	Kyriakos Kyprianou	48	Dali, Lefkosia
70	028	Anastasia Kyprianou	44	Dali, Lefkosia
71	030	Stella Kyprianou	16	Dali, Lefkosia
72	029	Christa Kyprianou	14	Dali, Lefkosia
73	029	Christodoulos Kyprianou	5	Dali, Lefkosia
74	097Ν	Toutounzian Ara	16	Strovolos, Lefkosia
75	098Ν	Toutounzian Bariet	12	Strovolos, Lefkosia
76	096 Ν	Toutounzian Hilda	45	Strovolos, Lefkosia
77	095 Ν	Toutounzian Hagop	51	Strovolos, Lefkosia
78	012 Ν	Sotiris Constantinou	10	Geri, Lefkosia
79	011 Ν	Irini Constantinou	36	Geri, Lefkosia
80	011 Ν	Michael Constantinou	39	Geri, Lefkosia
81	012 Ν	Petros Constantinou	13	Geri, Lefkosia
82	092	Polykseni Sophokleous	30	Macedonitissa, Lefkosia	Cyprus Airways
83	091	Christodoulos	34	Lefkosia
84	090 Ν	Maria Poyiatzi	23	Acropoli, Lefkosia
85	089 Ν	Ioannis Papachristodoulou	31		National Guard
86	071 Ν	Mary Georgiou	42	Mosfiloti,
87	065 Ν	Michael Constantinou	54	Pera Chorio,
88	065 Ν	Kalliopi Constantinou	49	Pera Chorio,
89	081 Ν	Lappa Christina	25	Geri, Lefkosia
90	020	Karapambas K.
91	031 Ν	Kyrilakitsis Anastasios
92	032N	Limbitsouni E.
93	036	Michaelidis K.
94	068 Ν	Gbrielidou E.	29	Zakaki
95	087 Ν	Nicolaou Kleopas	66	Kokkintrimithia
96	039	Ombashis Dimitrios	26	Lefkosia
97	069	Georgios G.	25	Kaïmakli,
98	088 Ν	Nicolaou Nicos	30	Psimolofou,
99	070 Ν	Georgiou Georgios	31	Geri, Lefkosia
100	046 Ν	Dina Constantinidi
101	063 Ν	Andriana Chrysanthou	63	Mosfiloti,
102	063Ν	Sotiris Chrysanthou	65	Mosfiloti,
103	060 Ν	Nicos Charalambous	34	Paliometocho, Lefkosia
104	059 Ν	Koula Charalambous	59	Paliometocho, Lefkosia
105	059 Ν	Constantina Charalambous	6	Paliometocho, Lefkosia
106	058 Ν	Panikos Anastasiou	38
107	057 Ν	Maria Eleni Yiasoumi	9	Lakatamia,
108	057 Ν	Sylvia Yiasoumi	46	Lakatamia,
109	057 Ν	Iasonas Yiasoumi	47	Aradippou,
110	055 Ν	Dimos Ksiouroupas	39	Aradippou,
111	054 Ν	Margarita Ksiouroupas	34	Aradippou,
112	056 Ν	Sophia Ksiouroupas	10	Aradippou,
113	056 Ν	Ioanna Ksiouroupas	9	Aradippou,
114	049 Ν	Vasilis Regko	31
115	044 Ν	Periklis Psaroudis	34	Kato Polemidia

Crew table
No	Name	Age	Village/City	Occupation	Nationality
1	Hans-Juergen Marten	50	Berlin	Pilot	German
2	Pambos Charalambous	51	Lefkosia	Co-pilot	Cypriot
3	Louiza Vouteri	32	Lefkosia	Crew Leader	Cypriot
4	Meropi Sofokleous	25	Latsia, Lefkosia	Flight Attendant	Cypriot
5	Andreas Prodromou	25	Latsia, Lefkosia	Flight Attendant	Cypriot
6	Haris Charalambous	25	Platy Aglantzias, Lefkosia	Flight Attendant	Cypriot

Hoax

News media widely reported that shortly before the crash a passenger sent a SMS transmission indicating that the pilot had become blue in the face, or roughly translated as "The pilot is dead. Farewell, my cousin, here we're frozen." [8]. Police later arrested Nektarios-Sotirios Voutas, a 32 year-old private employee from Thessaloniki who admitted that he had made up the story and given several interviews in order to get attention [9].

The hoax was significant because it seemed to contradict accepted knowledge of cabin-pressure emergencies, especially when combined with other early and erroneous reports.

Timeline

All times EEST (UTC + 3h)

09:00 Scheduled departure time.
09:07 Airplane takes off from Larnaka airport.
10:37 Aircraft enters Athens FIR, but fails to establish contact.
10:45 Scheduled arrival time in Athens.
10:55 The Hellenic Armed Forces Joint Chief of Staff, Admiral Panagiotis Chinofotis orders military planes to establish visual contact with the aircraft.
11:05 Two F-16 fighter planes take off from Nea Anchialos, Greece.
11:18 Fighter pilots see co-pilot slumped unconscious on the aircraft's instrument panel, oxygen masks deployed, but notes no indications of terrorism.
12:04 Aircraft crashes near Grammatiko.
13:10 Scheduled arrival time in Prague.

External links