It will be interesting to learn the age of the aircraft. Boeing 737's have been in production longer than any other A/C model. They are still in production and are a very good aircraft. Old/high time ones are subject to aging aircrft inspection and repairs. Remember Aloha Airlines, the top blew off in flight. Why would the cockpit crew suffer the effects of what was happening befor the passengers did? There is a pressure bulkhead (F.S 178) just forward of the flight crews feet that must be replaced at a certain time/cycle due to fatigue cracking. If it failed it could account for this loss
Helios Airways currently operates a fleet of Boeing B737 aircraft.
Two B737-800 Next Generation 'Veni' and 'Zela', were delivered brand-new from Boeing in May 2001. These state-of-the-art aircraft are furnished with 189 leather seats and an inflight entertainment system.
A third B737-300 series aircraft 'Olympia' was delivered in April 2004, featuring 142 spacious leather seats.
A fourth aircraft has recently been delivered in order to cover our increased fleet requirements, featuring 140 seats.
I think the BBC article I linked to up-thread mentioned that they only had 4 aircraft. Am I correct in assuming from the above that only the 737-300 was an older model?
"It will be interesting to learn the age of the aircraft. Boeing 737's have been in production longer than any other A/C model."
The 737-300/400/500 series have been flying since 1984, but this particular aircraft (so I read elsewhere) was actually relatively recent, having been built in 1997. I also read that apparently this aircraft had a history of decompression problems. If I can get my hands on the link, I'll post it - I believe it was at www.airliners.net though.