Posted on 08/15/2005 8:47:22 AM PDT by devane617
ATHENS, Greece (CNN) -- Investigators were working to determine why a Cypriot plane apparently suffered a catastrophic loss of cabin pressure and slammed into a Greek mountain -- possibly with all 121 people on board already dead. All but two of the bodies have been recovered, a Greek government spokesman said Monday, and officials hope autopsies and cockpit recorders will hold clues to Sunday's crash of Helios Airways Flight 522. The autopsies were ordered to determine if the 115 passengers and six crew were already dead or oxygen-starved before the crash, the spokesman said. A Greek Defense Ministry source with access to the investigation told Reuters that most of the bodies recovered were "frozen solid."
(Excerpt) Read more at cnn.com ...
I saw it in "The X-Men" and in "The Day After Tomorrow" (the "science" in the latter was labeled "solid" by "President" Al Gore, so you know it's the schizzle.)
"Bush probably made the airline hire low wage illegals to fly the plane:)"
Nope, we only let them load luggage and maintain American planes.
Not for the pilots they would have had advanced warning of any depresurrisation not matter how subtle via alarms in the cockpit. Also in the event of catastrophic failures the pilots are trained to recognize the advanced effects of oxygen deprivation. they have better and more advanced breathing equipment in their cockpit, so why did they die at their controls? Some theories in Europe at the moment point to faulty AC which could have being pumping toxic gases through the plane.
> Bodies frozen solid! How can this happen.
Based on the shortness of the flight (1 hr), I don't think
it can.
The report may be incorrect, or this may just be a
military spokesperson mistaking cold bodies in rigor
mortis for "frozen".
Even rigor is iffy, as that takes some time, too.
Let's not rule out intentional misinformation just yet.
? Why,.....why was this plane at 30,000 feet at all?
.....Gas-Compressed-Ice-System?
...brilliant sabatage?
...or,....just,....first,....'special-fumes'...in the cockpit cabin
Condolence,......in Jesus' Precious Name......
It was a Boeing 737-300.
And yeah, up there at 35,000 feet, it's about -40 to -50 degrees. The cold isn't what would kill them, though, the air up there is too thin to breathe. They'd pass out in less than a minute, and eventually suffocate. If they had oxygen, maybe they'd last long enough for hypothermia to kill them instead...although I don't think the emergency oxygen system on an airliner is designed to last more than a few minutes? They don't use bottled oxygen, they use chemical generators that give off O2 from a chemical reaction. Those generators were what caused that Valujet DC-9 to crash into the Everglades several years back; they were carrying a bunch as cargo, some of the generators activated, and the heat they gave off caused a cargo fire.
If they were up there for an hour and a half, and then descended suddenly...yeah, maybe they could be frozen, I guess. That still doesn't explain why the flight crew couldn't get the plane down to a safe altitude, though.
}:-)4
No. The adiabatic lapse rate is approx. three degrees per thousand feet. 3x30=90 degrees colder than on the ground. Summer in Greece runs about 90 degrees F. That would mean about 0 degrees F at 30,000 feet, which is not even close to the temp required to freeze a human body solid in less than 18 hours. The flight was only into its second or third hour when the decompression happened. I don't believe it's possible that the bodies were "frozen solid."
Someone from Gitmo must have adjusted the thermostat.
Does anyone else find irony in people on a Helios Arways flight freezing to death?
I was wondering if the text message that a passenger sent to his cousin was translated incorrectly.
I guess not. He said something about "...We are frozen." It was literally true.
Oh those poor people! How awful!
That is the cruising altitude for this model aircraft, well within it's operating ceiling.
A couple of quick questions ...
The plane was on auto pilot cruising at 10,000' or so it was reported initially. No super cold - no lack of oxygen at 10,000 - none of the interior windows were fogged/iced over
A cell phone call MINUTES before the crash has been "re-interpreted" from "I am frozen" (as in fear or other) to be "we are all freezing to death" - interesting change of wording to fit the required circumstance.
most of the reports by searchers were that only small pieces" of human flesh" wer found scatterred around rthe area --- now all bodies were frozen solid?
We will NEVER be told the truth on this "occurence"
We should also not forget the capture of alqaueda terrorist in Turkey (very near) that they were going to be taking over airliners and crashing them --- this has been interetingly suppressed. no?
As for incapacitation after decompression, the useful time after such at 30,000 feet varies between 20 and 60 seconds, depending upon the individual. Surely enough time for the pilots to don their O2 masks. That they didn't suggests a slow decompression no one detected and that somehow failed to alert the pilots before they passed out. Hypoxia sets in with a feeling of warmth and euphoria for most.
Solid, like a turd.
Yes how very awful words fail me
Yes, but unless there is a VERY sudden decompression, pilots would respond to a dangerous decrease in cabin air temperature by moving quickly to a much lower altitude and immediately requesting emergency landing clearance at the nearest airport that can handle the type of plane in question. In this case, the only reported indication of a problem was the pilot reporting "an air conditioning problem". This is really bizarre, but I have to think there was some sort of explosion or other sudden major structural problem. When a commercial jet pilot's fingers start turning blue, s/he wouldn't wait to pass out and freeze solid before trying to take corrective action.
....maybe, it is to be better interpreted as,...."...We've been 'Iced'...",.....murdered?
and the f16 pilots said they SAW other persons in the cockpit apparently trying to right the plane, with the pilots down. it's all very strange.
Impossible so called "creeping" alerts are part of the pressurization fail safe, alarms would have indicated this situation to the pilots long before the situation required breathing apparatus to remain conscious
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