Posted on 08/29/2005 6:20:21 AM PDT by lowbuck
Investigator tells Flight International that student pilot tried to fly aircraft to Athens with flightcrew unconscious
The Helios Airways Boeing 737-300 that crashed in Greece on 14 August ran out of fuel as a student private pilot attempted to fly the aircraft towards Athens airport because the flightcrew was unconscious, the head of the Greek Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board (AAIASB) Capt Akrivos Tsolakis has told Flight International. The aircraft, with six crew and 115 passengers on board, had been airborne for 2h 59min on a flight from Larnaca, Cyprus to Athens that was scheduled to take about 1h 20min.
The engines flamed out due to lack of fuel as the aircraft descended through 7,000ft (2,130m) passing over the island of Evvoia, said Tsolakis, speaking exclusively to Flight International.
No-one survived the impact when the aircraft crashed just after midday local time in hills near Grammatikos, 30km (16nm) north east of Athens airport. Late last week the AAIASB had not released a probable cause for the Helios flight ZU 522 accident, but Tsolakis said the flightcrew were unconscious and that the 737’s cabin altitude alert in the cockpit became active as the aircraft climbed through 14,000ft within 7min of take-off from Larnaca.
The investigators had still not found the mechanism of the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) – just its casing – so the cabin altitude alert status came from the digital flight data recorder (FDR), which Tsolakis said was in “exceptional” condition. The crew would normally have cancelled the alert sound – the same intrusive “horn” alert as for the landing gear – but did not. The last communication between the pilots and air traffic control (ATC) came 11min after take-off as the aircraft climbed through 22,000ft, said Tsolakis.
The aircraft continued its flight coupled to autopilot/flight management system (FMS) as programmed by the pilots, levelling as planned at flight level (FL) 340 about 19min after take-off. It was then observed by the Athens ATC centre to continue its flight-planned route to the VOR navigation beacon on Kea island, where it entered the holding pattern, still on autopilot/FMS.
Greek air force Lockheed Martin F-16 pilots that intercepted the aircraft reported the co-pilot was in his seat but unconscious, and observed two other people on the flightdeck, but not the captain. One has since been confirmed to be one of the male cabin crew, said Tsolakis, probably sustained by using one of the portable oxygen units from the cabin. This air steward, a new student pilot who has “a few hours on Cessnas” according to Tsolakis, hesitated for some time before deciding that he had no choice but to try to fly the aircraft himself.
Also reported by the F-16 pilots was the fact that the passenger oxygen masks were deployed and there appeared to be no activity in the cabin.
At 11:50:45, just over 13min before the crash, the steward decided he had to act and pushed the aircraft into a descent, possibly resulting in the autopilot disconnect. Tsolakis said the 737’s airspeed increased and the aircraft turned right, descending over the sea, then left over the island of Evvoia heading toward Athens. Passing 7,000ft the engines flamed out, and the aircraft crashed in hills near Grammatikos, north east of Athens. Contrary to many reports, Tsolakis said that an order to shoot the aircraft down was never given.
Tsolakis said he is concerned at what he has found in the 737’s engineering records. The air conditioning system of the aircraft (5B-DBY) had needed rectification five times in last two months, and there had been internal questions among Helios engineers about the aircraft’s fitness to fly, he said.
Helios confirms the aircraft had suffered a decompression incident in December 2004 on a Warsaw-Larnaca flight, but says the fault had been rectified.
Cypriot police have collected the engineering records for the aircraft and the airline for examination by the Cyprus judiciary and the Greek AAIASB.
/LONDON
FYI
Doh!
I would have expected he would have first tried to revive the copilot?
"He who hesitates," unfortunately...I wonder if he would have been able to land it if the fuel hadn't given out.
Most probably they did try, but we will never know. They knew that landing a B737 is impossible task for someone who has never done this before.
What is funny is story is getting more ridiculous with eacg iteration.
Last time, steward was a student pilot with 30+hours experience in B737 simulator. Now, he is a trainee with "a few hours on Cessnas”
Next time, he will be someone with "a few hours on Microsoft Flight Simulator."
We have an idea what the F16s were doing. But what two Greek AF Mirages were doing around B737 at the time of crash is not publicly disclosed.
And, why not put it down on the first convenient flat surface instead of trying to cowboy it to its destination.
Um -- I have a few hours behind Cessna controls. For me, it would have been a futile attempt. Landing is a tremendous challenge. Oxygen wouldn't have helped, nor taking the controls earlier. And then, a 737 instead of a Cessna. I think the student pilot was valiant to try.
The last waypoint entered into automatic pilot was Athens. Once reached, B737 continued to circle around the island of Kea near Athens for more than 45 minutes. The only flat surface was the sea below and densely populated area on the shore.
See the pic:
Oh my, what a blast from the past!!! LOL
Too bad he didn't try to use the radio first. Depending on the model of auto pilot someone from the ground might have been able to give him instructions. Between autothrottles, a coupled approach, and autobrakes the only thing he would have to do is drop the landing gear and flaps.
ping
Wait a minute... the flight recorder reports the alarm at 7min out and there alarm is never cleared but the 11min the crew talks to(ATC) so are still conscience and do not report any thing wrong...this alarm is a loud horn...did the cabin altitude senor trip getting recored on the data tape but the physical indicator a loud horn and or light never go off...all you need is an open circuit to the physical indicator (it could have been open for months as it only from this rare event)... the plane never pressurizes as it climes but the crew in unaware because alarm indicator in the cockpit is not connected...they just go to sleep
Lowbuck, the devil is in the details. Do you happen to know, when AC with autopilot switched on reaches the last entered waypoint and begin circling around it, does it makes clockwise or counterclockwise turns?
It is the right turn, isn't it?
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