Posted on 08/14/2005 5:57:11 AM PDT by Excuse_My_Bellicosity
Sunday, August 14, 2005 - Two Greek F-16s where scrambled from their base on Sunday, August 14th around 11:30am local to intercept a Helios Airways B737 in Greek airspace.
Helios Airways flight 522 was on its route from Larnaca (Cyprus) to Athens (Greece). Because they failed to contact the Athens Area Control Centre, the Greek F-16s were scrambled to intercept it.
As the F-16s approached, the pilots saw no sign of life in the cockpit, and the plane seemed to be on autopilot. One of the F-16 pilots reported he could not see the captain in the cockpit and that the co-pilot appeared to be slumped in his seat. The F-16s escorted the aircraft until it struck a mountain region near Varnava, which lies near the historic town of Marathon, about 50 km north of Athens. The first reports indicate there where no survivors due to the high speed of the aircraft upon impact. 115 passengers and 6 crew-members where on board the flight.
Following a preliminary report of the Cypriotic government the airco could have been the problem, it circulating poisonous gas in the cabin. First reports indicate that it wasn't a hijacking.
I don't even understand the last paragraph...what was the source of the "poison gas?"
Is this a babblefish translation?
More here
http://www.canada.com/news/world/story.html?id=b4e6ddaa-8742-4c38-a429-ec56385efd05
The cause of the crash was unclear, but first indications were that it was apparently due to some type of technical problem - possibly decompression - and not terrorism.
The only piece of the plane that remained intact was the tail section of the jet and debris was strewn in a chasm and surrounding hills. Bits of human flesh, clothing, and luggage were scattered around the wreckage, which also started brush fires around the area.
and Here
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,165656,00.html
Sotiris Voutas, the first cousin of a passenger on the plane, told Athens' Alpha television station that he received a text message from his relative on his mobile phone minutes before the crash.
"He told me the pilots were unconscious ... he said: 'Farewell, cousin, here we're frozen."
That does bring up a point for consideration.
Since cockpit doors have been reinforced on most airlines, thus negating the use of guns or similar weapons, would the release of a noxious gas circulate into the cockpit as well as the passenger area?
Box cutters were the weapon of choice on 9-11-01. No one ever imagined that.
Could the release of a poisonous gas be a new terrorist weapon? What quantity and types would be the most probable to be used?
F-16.net does have a lot of translated articles. It's weird that the idea of poison gas is just thrown out there in the last paragraph of the article with no further explanation.
Payne Stewart's business jet crashed due to decompression. But I don't know how the systems of large passenger jets compare to small business jets. (I would think that more passengers+commercial passengers=tighter regulations, but maybe I'm wrong.) It's also strange here that the pilots are unconsious, the passengers know it, and the passengers are still awake.
Payne Stewart's aircraft had a well established engineering design problem with its O2 system. The same cannot be said in a B737 which has at least 3 systems (main/passenger o2/pilot 02).
That's sad.
Reminds me of some Hollywood movie, but in the movies they always manage to find some novice to fly the plane.
If it was decompression, wouldn't that have affected the whole plane and not just the pilots?
And then we have the whole question of the nationality or religious affiliation of the pilots.
The stupid reporters and such meant to say "contaminated oxygen" not "poison gas."
Not nearly enough info to even start to guess, even wild guesses at this time would be inappropriate.
That phone message bothers me. How did he know the pilots were unconsious? The doors would have been secure, yes?? I'd check for another identity for this dude who said goodby. He was pretty cool about it. Wonder who else was on the plane? Could the steward/stewardess have given something to the pilots to drink?
All dead.
>If it was decompression, wouldn't that have affected the whole plane and not just the pilots?
Since Greece has no mountains over 10,000 feet, their altitude (on auto pilot) must have been less than that. Decompression should not be much of an issue at that altitude.
That's where I was questioning the story. Passengers know, and apparrently for quite some time, no one is flying the plane. How do they know this information? Have terrorists told them? Have the flight attendants told? There's plenty of time to send out the military to look over the situation. I can't believe not one flight attendant or passenger didn't get to the cockpit and try the radio for help and try taking over the controls. Sounds very fishy.
That's what they saw with Payne Stewart's plane. They couldn't really tell what was going on inside because the windows were frosted up. Seems like it would be the same situation here.
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