Travel Forum

Copyright (C) 2005   Cyprus Weekly

12/11/08

Verified facts of the Helios flight ZU522

Sequence of events:

Before Flight ZU522
1. The particular plane had ventilation problems on the previous night’s
inbound flight. (Comment from experts: Ventilation problems are not a rare
occurrence).
2. Ground engineers serviced the system and OKed it before Flight ZU522.

Flight ZU522
1. 09.07 Helios Flight ZU522 takes off from Larnaca airport.
2. 09.12 Captain starts communication with ground Engineer (GE) to report
“possible air conditioning problem with plane’s avionics”. He says the
indicator light of the system is ON. Probably there was a malfunction with
the avionics cooling system (or this was the default setting of the
indicator lamp). He asks for the location of the manual switches of the
plane’s air-conditioning and he is told “high up behind the captain’s seat”.
3. 09.14+ Communication ends.
4. During this communication the plane is between 10.000 and 14.000 ft. The
captain is not suffering from hypoxemia. He sounds perfectly all right.
5. Seconds later, at 09.15, the alarm goes off and Oxygen masks drop. (Black
box recording).
6. Plane continues to ascend. This is the fatal error that caused the crash.
7. Why did the captain not follow standard procedure to descend to 10.000 ft
and return to the airport? Most probably, he thought that he corrected the
problem by switching the system manually ON. However, he switched the whole
system OFF instead, making the problem terminally worse or causing a problem
where there was none. (This is exactly when the alarm went off and the
Oxygen masks dropped). Remember that he did not even know where the switches
were at first. Therefore, he was not familiar with them.
8. 09.24 Plane reaches cruising altitude of 34.000 ft.
9. 09.27 Captain communicates with GE again. Unintelligible, most probably
due to hypoxemia. GE asks him to put the Cypriot co-pilot on line.
Communication is terminated.
10. 09.37 Plane enters Greek airspace.
11. 10.07 Air Traffic Control is unable to communicate with aircraft.
12. 10.30 Greek ATC issues “Renegade alert”.
13. 10.55 Two F16 fighter aircraft scramble.
14. 11.20 F16s intercept aircraft (almost 2 hours after plane reaches 34.000
ft).
15. Observation 1: Plane’s windows clear.
16. Observation 2: Masks dangling in front of sitting (not slumped)
passengers. (Probably there was no decompression of the cabin at this time,
after the captain corrected his mistake with the manual switches, and the
passengers were alive and breathing normally).
17. Observation 3: Captain is not in his seat.
18. Observation 4: Co-pilot slumped on controls.
19. Observation 5: Two other people moving in cockpit trying to control the
plane.
20. Observation 6: One of these two people waves to the F16 pilots.
21. 12.05 Airplane crashes at Grammatikos (45 minutes after the F16
interception). This means that the cockpit door was open at least 45 minutes
before the crash and not after the engines ran out of fuel. Probably the
steward used the code to open the door or the captain managed to open it,
after he corrected his mistake with the manual switches and restarted the
cabin ventilation system, before he passed out. (The captain and the
co-pilot had 45% and 65% heart deficiency respectively, as recorded on their
health certificates. They probably suffered heart failure due to stress
caused by hypoxemia, with the co-pilot collapsing first. The ventilation
problem was more acute in the confined space of the cockpit than in the
cabin and further, thinking that the problem was corrected, they did not use
their Oxygen masks.)
22. Total length of flight almost 3 hours.
23. A small fire breaks out.
24. One young boy is seen alive and moving by first local visitors to the
crash scene.
25. A second bigger fire breaks out.
26. Six (6) corpses from various locations of the crash were autopsied. All
had soot in their bronchi from the fire that followed the crash. (According
to the doctors, this sample was enough to infer the condition of most of the
victims, if not ALL). Most paseengers were alive and breathing after the
crash, even if unconscious. Some, like the young boy, may have been
conscious

Choosing to ignore some of the facts, encouraged by Tsolakis’ biased report,
the relatives are raging with fury and hatred against what they call the
‘cold blooded murderers’, demanding from both God and mundane Authorities
revenge-justice for their misfortune on the ‘criminals’ that caused it.

Consequently they also fill the hearts of small children relatives with
hatred against the ‘cold blooded murderers’ that deprived them of their
loved ones. These children will never be normal again. God knows what
adverse effects this hatred will have on their whole life and their social
behaviour.

The protagonist in this collateral tragedy is Akrivos Tsolakis, who, moved
by inflated ego and emotionalism, took it upon himself to act as a
‘compassionate little god’ for the relatives of the victims and biased his
report accordingly. His main divine concern was to damp down the relatives’
grief by convincing them that their loved ones did not suffer excessively
but died peacefully as if in their sleep, long before the crash. Further, by
blaming the Helios Company for the accident, the relatives would stand to
benefit more in compensation money, for which they would be thankful to him.

The crash was an ACCIDENT, caused by human error on behalf of the captain.
Ventilation problems occur every day in Civil Aviation and they do not end
up in crashes. There is a standard protocol procedure to handle these
situations safely.

I am not related in any way to the Helios Company but as a friend to three
of the victims.

Jesus D Zeus