Posted on 08/14/2005 4:49:17 AM PDT by Gorons
Athens - A Cypriot Boeing 737 airliner with 121 people on board from Larnaca, Cyprus, crashed apparently pilotless on Sunday near Athens, a traffic controller at Athens international airport told AFP.
Just before the crash, airforce crew observed the airline's pilots doubled up in the cabin, the controller said.
A spokesperson for the Greek army chief-of-staff said hijacking "could not be ruled out".
"An act of piracy is likely," said the spokesperson, Gerassimos Kalpoyannakis. The pilots of the two F16 fighters that were sent up to escort the airliner before the crash "saw a situation that was not normal in the pilots' cabin."
Kalpoyannakis said the plane crashed at Varnava, an uninhabited area about 40 kilometres northeast of Athens and not on the Euboea peninsula as previously reported by the Athens control tower.
He said teams of rescue workers, fire-fighters and ambulances were on their way to the scene and that all the hospitals in the region had been placed on emergency status.
There was no immediate word on casualties.
"The plane has crashed," said Iannis Pantazatos, who was in charge of the Athens airport control tower. "The information was given to us by the air force, which sent two fighters to escort the aircraft."
Shortly before the plane crashed, Pantazatos told AFP: "The airport lost all contact with the plane, which should have landed in the late morning, and two air force planes sent up in reconnaissance found it flying above the Euboea peninsula, but they saw the pilots doubled up in the cabin."
"We do not know how the plane is flying. It is being escorted by the military planes and the airport is in a state of emergency." he said.
The Helios airways plane was reported to be carrying 115 passengers and six crew.
Helios, established in 1999, is the first private airline in Cyprus. It had a fleet of four Boeing 737 jets and operated flights to London, Athens, Sofia, Dublin and Strasbourg in France.
Well, as a point of fact, your reckoning does not serve you well. Your "reckoning" may tell you clouds are made out of cotton candy, and you may even choose to believe that, but that doesn't make it so. I "choose" to believe in facts when they are available, and one fact is that only about 5% of airline accidents are caused by acts of sabotage (including terrorism). That means 95% are not. Therefore, a VAST majority of airline accidents are not caused by Islamonut terrorists. Frankly, they just aren't that smart or effective to turn the numbers in their favor. If you choose to believe that they are, then at least as far as your reckoning is concerned, the terrorists are winning.
If he was frozen, how was he texting?
If this plane crash REALLY was caused by a mechanical failure that wasn't Islamic-induced, it would be a TINY EXCEPTION to a VASTLY SUPERIOR RULE.
Really? How many of these 'Islamic-induced' crashes are there? I realize the three in 2001 but I just don't know about the dozens upon dozens that aren't a 'tiny exception to a vastly superior rule'. You know, I bet a few years ago some Islamic group put a piece of tire out on the runway for the Concorde to run into too huh? That's just like them 'sneaky Islamics'....And the plane in Toronto? Slid off the runway? I bet the Islamics went out there and pulled oil on the runway to make the airliner skid off...
Really, some of you need to quit looking for 'Islamics' behind every door. Airplane accidents happen. Some years it's bad, some it's better. But the first thing I think about when a plane crashes is not how the 'rabid Islamic lunatics' could be behind it
From Flight International.com:
"Numerous pilots who have commented on the accident confess to being perplexed over the possible on-board sequence.
The fact that the passengers oxygen masks deployed an automatic process appears to imply that the pilots should have received aural and visual warnings that there was a problem with the cabin altitude.
The pilots drill would call for them to don immediately their own oxygen equipment which is entirely separate from the cabin system before attempting to diagnose the problem and descending to around 10,000ft where the air would be breathable again.
The absence of the captain from the cockpit, allied to the content of the passengers text message, has led to speculation that the captain entered the cabin to investigate what was happening and then lost consciousness. If the first officer had not put on his own mask then he too would have fallen unconscious.
But it remains unclear what fault or faults would have caused the lack of pressurisation in the first place. The fighter pilots are not reported to have mentioned any physical damage to the aircraft that would cause a loss of cabin air.
To: nuconvert; Boundless; mewzilla
MEANWHILE......MEANWHILE.......MEANWHILE........MEANWHILE........MEANWHILE.....
Meanwhile, police in northern Greece arrested a man Monday who had claimed to have received a telephone text message from a passenger on board a Cypriot airliner which crashed north of Athens, killing 121 people. Police identified the man as Nektarios-Sotirios Voutas, 32. He had told Greek television stations after the Helios Airways crash Sunday that his cousin on board the plane sent him a cell-phone text message minutes before the crash saying: "Farewell, cousin, here we're frozen." Authorities said Monday they had determined he was lying, and his cousin's name was not on the Cypriot government's official list of victims.
4 posted on 08/15/2005 12:29:29 PM PDT by maestro
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1463056/posts?page=204#204
oops... wrong link.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1463838/posts
I'll assume you drive a car. Have you ever seen or read about a car accident which caused you to scratch your head and wonder how in the world that could have happened. Now imagine a car that is many many times more complex than anything you've ever driven, operating in an environment that is far more dynamic than any road. Do you really think it is that hard to understand why "numerous pilots confess to being perplexed over the possible on-board sequence"? And do you really believe the fact that they are "perplexed" implies there was something sinister that happened on that flight? If so, then you must logically believe that a lot of unexplained automobile accidents are caused by intentional sabotage. Just a suggestion, but go with your previous thought, which is to wait until the accident investigation is published.
Ping for later.
Comparing apples and oranges with your analogy.
Actually travel by air is far safer than automobile transportation.
For these pilots to be "perplexed" means that there are serious unanswered questions...so terrorist/criminal causes cannot be ruled out until a full report is done.
Even if the text message was a hoax, how did he know that is exactly what had happened unless he called the media after the knowledge was already known.
I heard a news update where they said passengers on other flights had said there was problems with the air conditioning.
Just trying to put things into a perspective you might understand since you clearly are not familiar the commercial aviation environment. Maybe it would help if you considered the recent accident in Toronto. Pilots were "perplexed" about the sequence of events there too. Nothing earth shattering about that, and it certainly doesn't imply there was anything sinister involved in that accident. The simple fact is, there are always "serious unanswered questions" at the start of an accident investigation. This latest mishap in Greece is no different. Therefore.....as we both agree, it is better not to draw any conclusions until a full report is done.
Adding my thanks to COEXERJ145 as well.
You two guys are a hoot!
Thanks for the laughs.
>>But the first thing I think about when a plane crashes is not how the 'rabid Islamic lunatics' could be behind it<<
First thing I think and ask about is survivors.
BTW: excellent post.
I'm in the middle of some incredibly boring computer based training right now. Fortunately, I've discovered I can have the training program running while I surf the net. I just completed a 45 minute lesson on the dangers of taking illegal narcotics and flying. I'm not completely unconvinced that computer based training isn't more harmful to your mental condition than illegal narcotics. I'll just stay away from both and avoid the resulting mind rot. FreeRepublic is far more beneficial to your health.
Please see post 219.
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