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Cypriot Pilot Cried 'Mayday!' Two Seconds Before Crash
FOX News/AP ^ | August 22, 2005

Posted on 08/22/2005 4:45:33 PM PDT by nuconvert

Cypriot Pilot Cried 'Mayday!' Two Seconds Before Crash

Monday, August 22, 2005

ATHENS, Greece — The last man conscious in the cockpit of a doomed Cypriot airliner (search) made a desperate call for help — "Mayday! Mayday!" — two seconds before the plane carrying 121 people smashed into a mountain near Athens.

The man, apparently a flight attendant with pilot training, twice issued distress calls in the final 10 minutes of Helios Airways Flight 522 (search), chief investigator Akrivos Tsolakis told The Associated Press on Monday.

"The second time was a couple of seconds before the crash," Tsolakis said, adding the man had "a very weak tone of voice."

Earlier Monday, Tsolakis issued a preliminary report on the Aug. 14 crash, which killed all 115 passengers and six crew, that said the Boeing 737-300 lost cabin pressure and eventually ran out of fuel.

The report was the most comprehensive statement the government has released on the investigation since the crash. It came after pressure from the media and the airline industry for Greece and Cyprus to start answering questions about what caused the accident.

Still, it remained unclear what caused the loss of cabin pressure. Greek investigators, aided by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, are continuing to probe the crash, the deadliest airline disaster for Greece and Cyprus and considered one of the most baffling in aviation history.

Tsolakis presented his initial findings following analysis of flight recorders and autopsies on all 118 bodies — many still unidentified — recovered from the site. Three bodies have not been found, including that of the plane's pilot, a German.

"The crash is like an explosion and the pilot's body may not necessarily have ended up close to the cockpit," Tsolakis told state-run NET television. "He may be one of the [recovered]

(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: aviation; crash; cypriot; cyprus; greece; heliosairways; larnaca; pilot; plane
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1 posted on 08/22/2005 4:45:36 PM PDT by nuconvert
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To: nuconvert

I heard the black box tape was missing. True?


2 posted on 08/22/2005 4:46:40 PM PDT by martin_fierro (< |:)~)
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To: martin_fierro

Don't know


3 posted on 08/22/2005 4:47:15 PM PDT by nuconvert (No More Axis of Evil by Christmas ! TLR) [there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
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To: martin_fierro

They said the black box was in bad shape, maybe useless.


4 posted on 08/22/2005 4:49:37 PM PDT by RightWhale (Withdraw from the 1967 UN Outer Space Treaty and open the Land Office)
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To: nuconvert

There is so much wrong with all of this.


5 posted on 08/22/2005 4:49:37 PM PDT by satchmodog9 (Murder and weather are our only news)
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"The plane crashed in Greece after circling for more than an hour in a holding pattern above the Aegean Sea island of Kea (search), southeast of Athens International Airport.

"There are indications of technical problems in the pressurization system... There is proof that the engines of the plane stopped working because the fuel supply was exhausted, and that this was the final cause of the crash," the two-page report said.


6 posted on 08/22/2005 4:51:14 PM PDT by nuconvert (No More Axis of Evil by Christmas ! TLR) [there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
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To: satchmodog9

I still smell the stink of IslamoPukes.


7 posted on 08/22/2005 4:52:05 PM PDT by ncountylee (Dead terrorists smell like victory)
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"Cypriot Passengers All Died on Impact"

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,166345,00.html


8 posted on 08/22/2005 4:53:34 PM PDT by nuconvert (No More Axis of Evil by Christmas ! TLR) [there's a lot of bad people in the pistachio business])
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To: nuconvert

Aegean Sea island of Kea...

Hey that rhymes!


9 posted on 08/22/2005 5:12:01 PM PDT by Wally_Kalbacken (Seldom right, but never in doubt.)
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To: ncountylee

In the News/Activism forum, on a thread titled Cypriot Pilot Cried 'Mayday!' Two Seconds Before Crash, ncountylee wrote:

"I still smell the stink of IslamoPukes."

But if they did it, why aren't they claiming responsibility and bragging about it? There's no point in doing terrorism and then keeping it a secret! (Heck, I'm surprised no group has claimed this one anyway.)


10 posted on 08/22/2005 5:15:37 PM PDT by Trimegistus
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To: nuconvert

asking Greece and Cyprus to agree on something......welll


11 posted on 08/22/2005 5:32:02 PM PDT by ken5050 (Ann Coulter needs to have children ASAP to pass on her gene pool....any volunteers?)
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To: nuconvert

12 posted on 08/22/2005 5:43:45 PM PDT by Atlas Sneezed (Your FRiendly FReeper Patent Attorney)
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To: nuconvert
I haven't believed the first word yet that I've heard about this crash.
13 posted on 08/22/2005 5:45:06 PM PDT by billorites (freepo ergo sum)
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To: martin_fierro

I heard that the black box was recovered but that the cockpit voice recorder was damaged beyond the capability of getting any info off of it. With this sound bite it makes me wonder what really was or wasn't damaged.


14 posted on 08/22/2005 5:45:23 PM PDT by taxesareforever (Government is running amuck)
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To: martin_fierro

all bodies except for three have been recoverd, one of the three is the head pilot who is of german origin, as of sunday afternoon


15 posted on 08/22/2005 5:48:06 PM PDT by JohnLongIsland
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To: ncountylee

"Nothing to see here, move along.."


16 posted on 08/22/2005 5:58:27 PM PDT by sheik yerbouty ( Make America and the world a jihad free zone!)
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To: nuconvert
Frozen men don't talk....

Cyprus crash victims 'frozen solid'
Mon Aug 15, 2005 9:56 AM BST

ATHENS (Reuters) - Most bodies recovered from a crashed Cyprus airliner were "frozen solid", including some whose skin was charred by the plane's fiery crash, a top Greek Defence Ministry source said on Monday.

On Sunday, a Helios Airways Boeing 737 flying from Larnaca to Athens crashed into a mountain in Greece, killing all 121 aboard. Preliminary investigations suggested the disaster was caused by a catastrophic loss of cabin pressure and oxygen supply.

"Autopsy on passengers so far shows the bodies were frozen solid, including some whose skin was charred by flames from the crash," the source, who has access to the investigation, told Reuters.

etc.............

17 posted on 08/22/2005 6:01:48 PM PDT by Dashing Dasher (Why do they keep PINGING me to these weird threads? I have no idea!!!)
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To: Trimegistus

Noone claimed responsibility for 911 if I remember correctly.


18 posted on 08/22/2005 7:14:27 PM PDT by satchmodog9 (Murder and weather are our only news)
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To: sheik yerbouty; Jeremiah Jr
Still, it remained unclear what caused the loss of cabin pressure.

Time to pop in the Goldfinger DVD.

19 posted on 08/22/2005 7:24:30 PM PDT by Thinkin' Gal (Wisely investing in quality tin foil wardrobe basics since 1998)
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To: nuconvert; Aeronaut

it was the Air attendent not the pilot


20 posted on 08/22/2005 7:57:37 PM PDT by F14 Pilot (Democracy is a process not a product)
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