Manufacturing Industry
Helios Airways pilots were confused before crash, unnamed sources claim
Airline Industry Information, Sept 8, 2005
AIRLINE INDUSTRY INFORMATION-(C)1997-2005 M2 COMMUNICATIONS LTD
The pilots of the Boeing 737 operated by Helios Airways that crashed in August were confused before the crash.
The German pilot and his co-pilot, from Cyprus, reportedly struggled to communicate in English and misinterpreted the alarms regarding problems with the pressurisation of the aircraft, the International Herald Tribune has reported. The newspaper quoted sources close to the investigation of the crash, saying that the pilots misinterpreted the alarms as indicating a problem with the controls. The aircraft crashed into a mountain north of Athens, Greece on 14 August. The crew and passengers, a total of 121 people, all died in the accident.
After the first alarm, a second alarm, dealing with air cooling, went off some minutes later and the captain lost consciousness from the lack of oxygen as he got up to turn it off, the sources said.
An official involved in the investigation declined to comment on the information, saying that it remains speculation until the official results of the investigation are released. The pilots of two fighter aircraft from Greece have however confirmed that the crew members were visibly unconscious and that the captain was not in his seats minutes before the crash. The two fighters accompanied the aircraft until it crashed when it ran out of fuel.
It was suggested that the problem with the cabin pressure was due to maintenance the day before, when a pressurisation rotary knob was left out of place, remaining unnoticed during the pre-flight checks on the day of the accident.
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