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Cypriot \"HELIOS\" airliner crash in Greece

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EHM-1366 Themis:
A B737 of "HELIOS" airlines crashed at Grammatiko, near Tanagra AB (LGTG).
For the last 45 mins (20 mins after t/o) they had lost contact with either Leycosia or Athens Control.
Two F16s intercepted and escorted the "ghost" airliner. The pilots reported that they saw the captain lying on the panel and no co-pilot onboard. They also reported some oxygen masks hanging inside. However no signs of decompression, there were no frozen windows nor any structural damage!

The 737 had destination Prague with a stop at El. Venizelos. After reaching over LGAV the plane started making circles until it burned all fuel and crashed.

A passenger of the flight had managed before the plane crashes to send an sms to a relative telling that the pilots had gone blue and the passengers are freezing!

EHM-1366 Themis:
Despite to what the media are saying here, it is my opinion that there mustn't have been any decompression or air-condition failure. These are situations where the pilots have time to react and even report the situation.

Whatever happened upthere should have happened rapidly, before the pilots became aware of it. The blue color of the pilots shows that they could not breathe adequately, a possible lack of oxygen in the captain's cabin!?!?!

EHM-0005 Maarten:
From a F16 it is practically impossible to detect a decompression of an aircraft flying near by.

At this moment, everything points towards a (rapid) decompressions. The incapication of both pilots could be the result of 2 possible situations:

1. They didn't don their mask fast enough and exceeded the Time of Useful Concisiousnes (TUC). At an altitude of 30000 ft the TUC is approx. 30 seconds for a healthy person.

2. A malfunction in the oxygen system. The 737 has two oxygen systems. One for the crew and one for the passengers. The first signs show that the passengers did have oxygen (because a passenger sent a text message), but the pilots not (co-pilot lumping over the flight controls). At an altitude of more than 10000 ft, the health of passengers could be affected because the pax oxygen system is not under pressure.


At this moment, I have no idea how high the aircraft flew. At the moment that a text message was sent, the aircraft could not be on an altitude of more than 6000 ft (approx. max. range of GSM poles).

EHM-0005 Maarten:
Decompression
A decompression will result in hypoxia. One sign of hypoxia is that the finger nails turn blue. A change in color of the skin is also visible after some time (eventually blue). Finally, hypoxia results in unconsciousness and death.

If the pilots didn't react quickly enough and the symptoms already started then they are not capable enough anymore to detect their own decrease in performance. This is called "euphoria" and it gives the pilot the feeling that he is capable enough to handle the situation.

EHM-1366 Themis:

--- Quote ---
From a F16 it is practically impossible to detect a decompression of an aircraft flying near by.

--- End quote ---

I'm wondering that if there was a decompression, then the windows should had frozen. Instead they were clear enough for the fighter pilots to see through...



--- Quote ---
1. They didn't don their mask fast enough and exceeded the Time of Useful Concisiousnes (TUC). At an altitude of 30000 ft the TUC is approx. 30 seconds for a healthy person.

--- End quote ---

What can make these pilots not to wear their maks then? 30 seconds are enough time for a trained pilot to start a descend and wear the mask. Because they were certainly informed about a possible malfunction from the annunciator panel...
Why they didn't even put 7500 7600????????? No communication at all!


--- Quote ---
At this moment, I have no idea how high the aircraft flew. At the moment that a text message was sent, the aircraft could not be on an altitude of more than 6000 ft (approx. max. range of GSM poles).

--- End quote ---

Correct. In addition until then, there is no mention about panic, anyone faint out or anything else, apart from the freezing temperature. The passengers shouldn't be aware of the situation until that time.

I'm really sceptical about the causes of this accident. Some things don't fit together.

The most instinctive response to a decompression situation is to push the sticks forward and begin descend. But it seems that the pilots didn't have time to respond at all.

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