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The dicovery channel series on this crash claims that the flight attendant had '260-270' hours in airplanes. this is not a "novice private pilot" as the article previously claimed. To wit, this is enough for a commercial pilot certificate and even a flight instructor certificate (for small planes) in many areas and is a siginificant bit of flying. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.6.11.56 ( talk) 14:13, 29 September 2007 (UTC)
The Discovery channel documentary claims that on few days earlier there had been report of burning smell and that the wires to the cockpit indicator of the pressurization door are located such that if one goes out, there's a good chance that the backup goes out too, making it possible that everything could look normal while the door was still open and thus there was no pressurization. And on this flight the maintenance person remembers setting pressurization to manual for reason not expained.
It's Cyprus not Cypres, not very important but still.
@unsigned commenter: Looks like this misspelling has been removed. Ken K. Smith (a.k.a. User:Thin Smek) ( talk) 10:35, 8 February 2019 (UTC)
I apologise if people have been having trouble editing this page due to me changing its title every 5 minutes. I think its current name, "Helios Airways Flight 522", matches the naming convention used for other air incident articles. - Mark 10:40, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
The BBC is reporting that the Greek defense minister is saying there is "no indication of hijack", and that Larnaca airport said the crash was "likely due to cabin pressure". A passenger reportedly texted someone to say he'd gone to the cockpit and "one pilot was blue", another text said "goodbye, we are all freezing". -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:04, August 14, 2005 (UTC)
Phileleftheros, the leading newspaper in Cyprus is reporting the flight number as HCY 522, not ZU 522. Changed on wikinews also. It is also being reported as a Boeing 737/800 not 300.
More likely a 300 but wait for confirmation Andypasto 12:38, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
SKY News reports that the English translation of the text message would be: "The captain has turned blue in his face. Farewell, cousin, we are freezing." Which is the correct translation? SAB 11:51, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
News media widely reported that shortly before the crash a passenger sent a text message indicating that one of the flight crew had become blue in the face, or roughly translated as "The pilot is dead. Farewell, my cousin, here we're frozen." Police later arrested Nektarios-Sotirios Voutas, who admitted that he had made up the story and given several interviews in order to get attention.Voutas was tried by a court of first instance on 17 August 2005 and received a suspended six-month imprisonment sentence under a 42-month probation term. SOPURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522 23.30.166.185 ( talk) 20:27, 25 March 2015 (UTC) Robert Kuhl
Absent confirmation, this item should be removed. The emerging picture seems to indicate that the pilots were incapable of controling the plane or communicating by the time the airforce jets had neared the stricken aircraft. Myron 15:29, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
One over-excited government official does not make a solid source. Dan100 ( Talk) 13:52, August 15, 2005 (UTC)
Now they're saying it was most likely going in circles on autopilot, waiting for someone aboard to commence the landing procedure.
Perhaps the sentence about decompression should be suspended pending further information. While sudden decompression can indeed cause structural damage and mechanically lead to a crash, it can also cause a crash indirectly, by knocking out the pilots. In the instant case, there seems to be talk of a decompression problem having occurred on the aircraft previously. During the flight a passenger sent a message that it was freezing cold in the cabin. Rapid loss of cabin pressure could directly result in lower temperature, as could ingestion of very cold outside air. Low air pressure (at 30,000 feet) can cause a person to lose consciousness within 30 seconds if supplemental oxygen is unavailable. There was mention in some news report that the emergency oxygen equipment may have failed and that the fighter jet pilots saw oxygen masks dangling within the passenger cabin. The pilot turning blue (if indeed that was reported) would be consistent with an oxygen problem. All this suggests that decompression combined with faulty oxygen equipment could have been the basic cause of the crash. Myron 15:45, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Who says the plane crashed because it ran out of fuel? Should we remove this line from the chronology until the statement is substantiated? Myron 17:45, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
What is a 737-31S, exactly? Sources I've seen call it a 737-300.-- Pharos 19:27, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
The article currently mentions that the escorting fighter planes were on a mission to *shoot* the 737, if necessary - are you sure? I could not find this in any of the sources, could you please subtantiate? (Besides, I can't understand why!) Gajamukhu 03:02, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
This article reads as if it were written by people for whom English is not a first languge. Anyone want to attempt a re-write? It's passable English, but rather awkward and clunky in places for an encyclopedia entry. Moncrief 05:49, August 15, 2005 (UTC)
Read Wikipedia:Verifiability. Dan100 ( Talk) 11:52, August 15, 2005 (UTC)
The article became overloaded with longwinded attribution of sources and material that has been refuted by new disclosures. A major purpose of Wikipedia is to nail down history. Since the Helios crash is no longer exactly breaking news, it should be trimmed to be a real encyclopedia article. I've revised it in keeping wiht Dan100's wise recommendation about verifiability Myron 02:41, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
The Accident Report inform "One hundred and eleven passengers were nationals either of the Hellenic Republic or the Republic of Cyprus. The remaining four passengers were nationals of Australia.". But the page haven't any reference to the Australian passengers ! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.237.67.66 ( talk) 16:20, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
The passenger information in the current wikipedia article is inaccurate. Please read the latest Cyprus News Agency press release. Wikinews more current.
I happen to know for a fact that Cypriots living around the world who are not in close touch with their relatives back home for whatever reason have used web-based lists to determine who was on the plane. I think it's legitimate that they be able to do so. I agree that photos of bodies are a tasteless thing to put on the web, but simply saying who died is pure information that should not be censored. The victims should not be anonymous.
i have written that "According to Alpha TV's reporter Demos Verykios, F-16 pilots saw one person in the cockpit, seemingly trying to regain control of the plane with the help of the co-pilot -who seems to have woken up-, during the last moments before the crash. That seems to be confirmed by the fact that the body of a female flight attendant was found in the cockpit."
Also, according to this(in greek) which is an account of the statements Mr. Rousopoulos made yesterday (he is the government representative, so his statements are as official as it gets), mr Verykios's statements are being confirmed.
Some hours ago, my edit was corrected as being discounted. Could i have a source for that? Should i replace it, including Mr. Rousopoulos's statements?-- Costas Skarlatos 16:50, August 15, 2005 (UTC)
The F-16 pilots reported somebody was trying to regain control of the plane. It could be air steward Andreas Prodromou, who had a pilot's licence. (article in Greek: [3]). I think we should keep this information for future reference, in case it is confirmed. Update: I'm adding this link: [4] -- Elp_gr
Wiki articles variously specify the F-16s came from Araxos or Néa Anchialos and that they were from the 116th or 117th Combat [sic] Wing. What is the truth and what is most precise?
The Wikipedia List of aircraft of the Hellenic Air Force shows 165 F-16s total but does not specify where they are deployed. According to Structure of the Hellenic Air Force, the 116th Fighter [sic] Wing (116 Πτέρυγα Μάχης) is based at Araxos, while the 117th is at Andravida. The home of the 111th is not given in that Wikipedia article. However, other sources [5] [6] put the 111th at Néa Anghialos and indicate that it is the 111th Pterix that operates all the F-16s (F-16C/D Blocks 30 and 50) and that the 116th operates only nuclear-capable aging Vaught A-7E and A-7H Corsairs, one of which crashed March 22, 2002 on a training flight from Araxos [7], another of which was lost on a training flight from Araxos July 5, 2005 [8]. On the other hand two F-16s attempting to return from a training flight to Néa Anghialos, collided and crashed on October 14, 2004 [9] [10].
All of this strongly albeit indirectly indicates that the F-16s that scrambled to intercept Helios Airways Flight 522 were actually from the 111th based at the military airport near Néa Anghialos, which is on Pagassitikos Bay (AKA Pagasetic Gulf) and nowhere near Araxos (see http://www.scramble.nl/gr.htm and click on "Order of Battle").
If I don't hear differently, I'll correct the Helios article as per the above. Myron 00:58, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
I suggest to remove the passenger list from the article, it does not add anything or help to understand the events.
(At least to seperate from main article) -- Yiango 10:34, August 16, 2005 (UTC)
Get rid of it. It's huge, ugly, and utterly useless to 99.999% of the people seeing the page. — ceejayoz ★ 16:55, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
According to this article from Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia ( [11]), locals who rushed to the crash site before the plane caught fire report that the bodies were jaundiced and looked like "wax statues". They also reported that the deceased passengers had bruises and wounds, but no blood was coming out of them. Also, the coroners report that the first autopsies show the autopsied victims had blood circulation and respiration at the time of the crash ( [12]). Can we draw any conclusions?
Just wanted to say that the quality of the article has improved tremendously over the past 24 hours, especially the analysis. Thanks to all contributors who helped assemble the article on this sad event, based on piecemeal information. Tempshill 16:05, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
I want to thank whoever removed the photograph of the burned passenger. Posting it was gruesome and disrespectful to the victims of this tragedy. -- Elp_gr
Has anyone heard or have theories on the location of the East German pilot? He was reportedly not in the cockpit when the F-16s were escorting, and they still have not found his body.
Fine but where was the German pilot - it's been months. He's a sneaky little guy from the stories on the net.
Unfortunately the Helios incident has spawned more false stories, exaggerations than any other incident in Cyprus/Greece than I care to remember. The media here are primarily to blame for this, since they are coming to, sometimes, irrational and uneducated assumptions that are misleading to the public since they do not present the "whole picture".
A dire consequence of the unprofessional reporting by the media here is that people are afraid to fly (especially with Helios), citing that their 'aircraft are not safe', when in fact all evidence up to now shows that all checks have indeed been passed. There is a constant referral to prior events (e.g. one decompression problem that was fixed + weak air conditioning onboard).
Would it be okay to aggregate all this (false/unproved) information in an attempt to debunk or at least show that there is insufficient evidence to prove such claims in order to better inform the public. Is Wikipedia the correct forum for such research?
Examples of claims that need to be researched:
Please voice your suggestions and comments. -- Yiango 10:33, August 17, 2005 (UTC)
I don't know how true this information is as this is the first time I'm reading it, but if true, Turkey received a distress signal by the Helios aircraft at some point. I'll be checking tomorrow to see if any more stories back up this claim. Here's the link: Turkey and Greece clash over Helios emergency code K... 04:59, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
It's been many months, yet nothing (the cause of crash etc) has been found? Has there been no updates? -- Zeno McDohl 03:26, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
Flight recorder data make it clear that explosive decompression was not a factor in this accident. True explosive decompressions are rare, one example of one which was virtually instantaneous but survivable was that of the Aloha Airlines Flight 243 Boeing 737 that lost a large section of roof while cruising at 24,000', illustrating how big a hole is needed to cause instantaneous decompression. A more typical decompression takes an appreciable time for pressure to be lost even with a hole the size, for example, of a window in the airframe. Talk of consciousness times in the 3-5 second range is therefore misplaced. treesmill 01:49, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
Here's a link to an article which details about the interim report of this accident in English version.
Helios Flight 522 was destined to crash
We may be able to update/rewrite the "Further Development" section basing on new information.
ppa 21:55, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
There is little if anything new in the above article, and some of it is clearly wrong though this may be due to poor translation. treesmill 18:56, 13 April 2006 (UTC)
Apparently this article is not in sync with the most recent findings of the crash investigation. I'm not sure where the official report can be found by this link suggests information is missing:
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20050814-0&lang=en
Update: A link to the full, official report in english was added on 10 December 2006:
A Discovery Channel programme onon this subject contained an alligation by an air crash investigator that the reinforced cabin door prevented the air steward from entering the cockpit before it was too late to prevent the crash. Can anyone cite other evidence for or against this? Unfortunately it must remain a speculation, as though the black boxes records when they entered the cabin, it doesn't record how many long it took them. But in the wake of ever increasing aircraft and airport security, isn't such professional speculation noteworthy? ANTIcarrot 15:21, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
I don't know if anyone can come up with a theory, but if the plane ran out of fuel why was there such a large post crash fire? Not only was it out of fuel, it also ran out of oxygen - something that could have fed a post crash fire, any other theories?
Also the plane smashed into a mountain side with plenty vegetation and bushes in summer (August).. even a small post crash fire can make a big bushfire.. images and footage of the rescue efforts show actually firefighter teams trying to put out bushfires more than the actual wreckage..so my gues is the plane smashed and desintegrated on impact.. there was some crash fires and the vegatation and bushes arround cought fire too and spreaded some. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.9.167.28 ( talk) 23:37, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
I was watching Mayday on Discovery Channel, and their story was totally different from the one in the article. Does anyone have an explanation for the inconsistency? -- Alx xlA 01:55, 30 June 2007 (UTC)
Bramley 07:17, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
The article contains a map that purports to show the crash location. It looks more like a search area than a crash location. Has anyone got a better map? 82.1.57.194 ( talk) 15:42, 13 June 2011 (UTC)
Many airliners have suffered explosive decompression including : Pan Am 103 (not a bomb), Air India 182 (not a bomb), United 811 and JAL 123 are all examples. The fuselage integrity is not the only guarantee of protection.
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The post 9/11 locked cockpit aspect was a major part of the post crash analysis but is missing from this article — Preceding unsigned comment added by BloofToofTechnology ( talk • contribs) 06:46, 27 March 2021 (UTC)
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:
Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. — Community Tech bot ( talk) 14:06, 13 May 2022 (UTC)
The AAIASB final report does not mention any video recordings of the flight made by the F-16 crews. These were likely to be single seat F-16 so the pilot would have to fly and film. There was a re-enactment done in Dec 2005 where a 2 seat F-16 went up and created a video that they then showed to the crews that intercepted the aircraft. Perhaps this is where confusion came into play claiming there was an F-16 video. Why would they make a reenactment video if there was an actual video?
In accordance with the observations of the F-16 pilot on 14 August 2005, two persons wearing passenger oxygen masks were placed on each side of the aircraft cabin in the over wing section. Also, the Captain of the re-enactment flight left his seat and, after a couple of minutes, a person dressed as the steward of the Operator entered the cockpit and sat in the Captain’s seat. Then the Captain returned to his seat and the aircraft left the KEA VOR holding. The aircraft followed the headings and altitudes of the accident aircraft and continued until it passed over the crash site. The results of the re-enactment flight proved to be identical to the data downloaded from the CVR, FDR, and NVM of the accident aircraft. The F-16 pilot confirmed that his observations during the re-enactment flight were the same as those of the accident flight. The view recorded from the F-16 camera allowed the Team to verify the F-16 pilot’s observations of cabin and cockpit movements inside the accident aircraft. Page 72.
There was only one male voice heard on the CVR:
Based on the fact that there was only one male cabin attendant on board the accident aircraft, that the voice on the CVR was identified by colleagues to match that of the male cabin attendant, and that the person that entered the cockpit was wearing a Helios cabin attendant uniform, the Board concluded that the person that entered the cockpit and made efforts to control the aircraft was the male cabin crew member. Page 127.
Only one person was seen by the F-16 crew:
Approximately 08:49 h, during the tenth holding pattern, the F-16 pilot observed a person wearing a light blue shirt and dark vest, but not wearing an oxygen mask, enter the cockpit and sit down in the Captain’s seat. He put on a set of headphones and appeared to place his hands on the panel directly in front of him.
There was a lot of media speculation about two people trying to save the plane, but it's just not supported by the final report. Many of these theories seem to persist even today and are repeated by the news using their old erroneous reports. I'm not sure what more can be said here. The final report by the AAIASB does not support the theory that Haris Charalambous and Andreas Prodromou both attempted to save the plane. -- Dual Freq ( talk) 22:49, 17 June 2024 (UTC)
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The dicovery channel series on this crash claims that the flight attendant had '260-270' hours in airplanes. this is not a "novice private pilot" as the article previously claimed. To wit, this is enough for a commercial pilot certificate and even a flight instructor certificate (for small planes) in many areas and is a siginificant bit of flying. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.6.11.56 ( talk) 14:13, 29 September 2007 (UTC)
The Discovery channel documentary claims that on few days earlier there had been report of burning smell and that the wires to the cockpit indicator of the pressurization door are located such that if one goes out, there's a good chance that the backup goes out too, making it possible that everything could look normal while the door was still open and thus there was no pressurization. And on this flight the maintenance person remembers setting pressurization to manual for reason not expained.
It's Cyprus not Cypres, not very important but still.
@unsigned commenter: Looks like this misspelling has been removed. Ken K. Smith (a.k.a. User:Thin Smek) ( talk) 10:35, 8 February 2019 (UTC)
I apologise if people have been having trouble editing this page due to me changing its title every 5 minutes. I think its current name, "Helios Airways Flight 522", matches the naming convention used for other air incident articles. - Mark 10:40, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
The BBC is reporting that the Greek defense minister is saying there is "no indication of hijack", and that Larnaca airport said the crash was "likely due to cabin pressure". A passenger reportedly texted someone to say he'd gone to the cockpit and "one pilot was blue", another text said "goodbye, we are all freezing". -- Finlay McWalter | Talk 11:04, August 14, 2005 (UTC)
Phileleftheros, the leading newspaper in Cyprus is reporting the flight number as HCY 522, not ZU 522. Changed on wikinews also. It is also being reported as a Boeing 737/800 not 300.
More likely a 300 but wait for confirmation Andypasto 12:38, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
SKY News reports that the English translation of the text message would be: "The captain has turned blue in his face. Farewell, cousin, we are freezing." Which is the correct translation? SAB 11:51, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
News media widely reported that shortly before the crash a passenger sent a text message indicating that one of the flight crew had become blue in the face, or roughly translated as "The pilot is dead. Farewell, my cousin, here we're frozen." Police later arrested Nektarios-Sotirios Voutas, who admitted that he had made up the story and given several interviews in order to get attention.Voutas was tried by a court of first instance on 17 August 2005 and received a suspended six-month imprisonment sentence under a 42-month probation term. SOPURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helios_Airways_Flight_522 23.30.166.185 ( talk) 20:27, 25 March 2015 (UTC) Robert Kuhl
Absent confirmation, this item should be removed. The emerging picture seems to indicate that the pilots were incapable of controling the plane or communicating by the time the airforce jets had neared the stricken aircraft. Myron 15:29, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
One over-excited government official does not make a solid source. Dan100 ( Talk) 13:52, August 15, 2005 (UTC)
Now they're saying it was most likely going in circles on autopilot, waiting for someone aboard to commence the landing procedure.
Perhaps the sentence about decompression should be suspended pending further information. While sudden decompression can indeed cause structural damage and mechanically lead to a crash, it can also cause a crash indirectly, by knocking out the pilots. In the instant case, there seems to be talk of a decompression problem having occurred on the aircraft previously. During the flight a passenger sent a message that it was freezing cold in the cabin. Rapid loss of cabin pressure could directly result in lower temperature, as could ingestion of very cold outside air. Low air pressure (at 30,000 feet) can cause a person to lose consciousness within 30 seconds if supplemental oxygen is unavailable. There was mention in some news report that the emergency oxygen equipment may have failed and that the fighter jet pilots saw oxygen masks dangling within the passenger cabin. The pilot turning blue (if indeed that was reported) would be consistent with an oxygen problem. All this suggests that decompression combined with faulty oxygen equipment could have been the basic cause of the crash. Myron 15:45, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
Who says the plane crashed because it ran out of fuel? Should we remove this line from the chronology until the statement is substantiated? Myron 17:45, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
What is a 737-31S, exactly? Sources I've seen call it a 737-300.-- Pharos 19:27, 14 August 2005 (UTC)
The article currently mentions that the escorting fighter planes were on a mission to *shoot* the 737, if necessary - are you sure? I could not find this in any of the sources, could you please subtantiate? (Besides, I can't understand why!) Gajamukhu 03:02, 15 August 2005 (UTC)
This article reads as if it were written by people for whom English is not a first languge. Anyone want to attempt a re-write? It's passable English, but rather awkward and clunky in places for an encyclopedia entry. Moncrief 05:49, August 15, 2005 (UTC)
Read Wikipedia:Verifiability. Dan100 ( Talk) 11:52, August 15, 2005 (UTC)
The article became overloaded with longwinded attribution of sources and material that has been refuted by new disclosures. A major purpose of Wikipedia is to nail down history. Since the Helios crash is no longer exactly breaking news, it should be trimmed to be a real encyclopedia article. I've revised it in keeping wiht Dan100's wise recommendation about verifiability Myron 02:41, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
The Accident Report inform "One hundred and eleven passengers were nationals either of the Hellenic Republic or the Republic of Cyprus. The remaining four passengers were nationals of Australia.". But the page haven't any reference to the Australian passengers ! — Preceding unsigned comment added by 152.237.67.66 ( talk) 16:20, 12 January 2023 (UTC)
The passenger information in the current wikipedia article is inaccurate. Please read the latest Cyprus News Agency press release. Wikinews more current.
I happen to know for a fact that Cypriots living around the world who are not in close touch with their relatives back home for whatever reason have used web-based lists to determine who was on the plane. I think it's legitimate that they be able to do so. I agree that photos of bodies are a tasteless thing to put on the web, but simply saying who died is pure information that should not be censored. The victims should not be anonymous.
i have written that "According to Alpha TV's reporter Demos Verykios, F-16 pilots saw one person in the cockpit, seemingly trying to regain control of the plane with the help of the co-pilot -who seems to have woken up-, during the last moments before the crash. That seems to be confirmed by the fact that the body of a female flight attendant was found in the cockpit."
Also, according to this(in greek) which is an account of the statements Mr. Rousopoulos made yesterday (he is the government representative, so his statements are as official as it gets), mr Verykios's statements are being confirmed.
Some hours ago, my edit was corrected as being discounted. Could i have a source for that? Should i replace it, including Mr. Rousopoulos's statements?-- Costas Skarlatos 16:50, August 15, 2005 (UTC)
The F-16 pilots reported somebody was trying to regain control of the plane. It could be air steward Andreas Prodromou, who had a pilot's licence. (article in Greek: [3]). I think we should keep this information for future reference, in case it is confirmed. Update: I'm adding this link: [4] -- Elp_gr
Wiki articles variously specify the F-16s came from Araxos or Néa Anchialos and that they were from the 116th or 117th Combat [sic] Wing. What is the truth and what is most precise?
The Wikipedia List of aircraft of the Hellenic Air Force shows 165 F-16s total but does not specify where they are deployed. According to Structure of the Hellenic Air Force, the 116th Fighter [sic] Wing (116 Πτέρυγα Μάχης) is based at Araxos, while the 117th is at Andravida. The home of the 111th is not given in that Wikipedia article. However, other sources [5] [6] put the 111th at Néa Anghialos and indicate that it is the 111th Pterix that operates all the F-16s (F-16C/D Blocks 30 and 50) and that the 116th operates only nuclear-capable aging Vaught A-7E and A-7H Corsairs, one of which crashed March 22, 2002 on a training flight from Araxos [7], another of which was lost on a training flight from Araxos July 5, 2005 [8]. On the other hand two F-16s attempting to return from a training flight to Néa Anghialos, collided and crashed on October 14, 2004 [9] [10].
All of this strongly albeit indirectly indicates that the F-16s that scrambled to intercept Helios Airways Flight 522 were actually from the 111th based at the military airport near Néa Anghialos, which is on Pagassitikos Bay (AKA Pagasetic Gulf) and nowhere near Araxos (see http://www.scramble.nl/gr.htm and click on "Order of Battle").
If I don't hear differently, I'll correct the Helios article as per the above. Myron 00:58, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
I suggest to remove the passenger list from the article, it does not add anything or help to understand the events.
(At least to seperate from main article) -- Yiango 10:34, August 16, 2005 (UTC)
Get rid of it. It's huge, ugly, and utterly useless to 99.999% of the people seeing the page. — ceejayoz ★ 16:55, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
According to this article from Greek newspaper Eleftherotypia ( [11]), locals who rushed to the crash site before the plane caught fire report that the bodies were jaundiced and looked like "wax statues". They also reported that the deceased passengers had bruises and wounds, but no blood was coming out of them. Also, the coroners report that the first autopsies show the autopsied victims had blood circulation and respiration at the time of the crash ( [12]). Can we draw any conclusions?
Just wanted to say that the quality of the article has improved tremendously over the past 24 hours, especially the analysis. Thanks to all contributors who helped assemble the article on this sad event, based on piecemeal information. Tempshill 16:05, 16 August 2005 (UTC)
I want to thank whoever removed the photograph of the burned passenger. Posting it was gruesome and disrespectful to the victims of this tragedy. -- Elp_gr
Has anyone heard or have theories on the location of the East German pilot? He was reportedly not in the cockpit when the F-16s were escorting, and they still have not found his body.
Fine but where was the German pilot - it's been months. He's a sneaky little guy from the stories on the net.
Unfortunately the Helios incident has spawned more false stories, exaggerations than any other incident in Cyprus/Greece than I care to remember. The media here are primarily to blame for this, since they are coming to, sometimes, irrational and uneducated assumptions that are misleading to the public since they do not present the "whole picture".
A dire consequence of the unprofessional reporting by the media here is that people are afraid to fly (especially with Helios), citing that their 'aircraft are not safe', when in fact all evidence up to now shows that all checks have indeed been passed. There is a constant referral to prior events (e.g. one decompression problem that was fixed + weak air conditioning onboard).
Would it be okay to aggregate all this (false/unproved) information in an attempt to debunk or at least show that there is insufficient evidence to prove such claims in order to better inform the public. Is Wikipedia the correct forum for such research?
Examples of claims that need to be researched:
Please voice your suggestions and comments. -- Yiango 10:33, August 17, 2005 (UTC)
I don't know how true this information is as this is the first time I'm reading it, but if true, Turkey received a distress signal by the Helios aircraft at some point. I'll be checking tomorrow to see if any more stories back up this claim. Here's the link: Turkey and Greece clash over Helios emergency code K... 04:59, 18 August 2005 (UTC)
It's been many months, yet nothing (the cause of crash etc) has been found? Has there been no updates? -- Zeno McDohl 03:26, 3 March 2006 (UTC)
Flight recorder data make it clear that explosive decompression was not a factor in this accident. True explosive decompressions are rare, one example of one which was virtually instantaneous but survivable was that of the Aloha Airlines Flight 243 Boeing 737 that lost a large section of roof while cruising at 24,000', illustrating how big a hole is needed to cause instantaneous decompression. A more typical decompression takes an appreciable time for pressure to be lost even with a hole the size, for example, of a window in the airframe. Talk of consciousness times in the 3-5 second range is therefore misplaced. treesmill 01:49, 6 April 2006 (UTC)
Here's a link to an article which details about the interim report of this accident in English version.
Helios Flight 522 was destined to crash
We may be able to update/rewrite the "Further Development" section basing on new information.
ppa 21:55, 12 April 2006 (UTC)
There is little if anything new in the above article, and some of it is clearly wrong though this may be due to poor translation. treesmill 18:56, 13 April 2006 (UTC)
Apparently this article is not in sync with the most recent findings of the crash investigation. I'm not sure where the official report can be found by this link suggests information is missing:
http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=20050814-0&lang=en
Update: A link to the full, official report in english was added on 10 December 2006:
A Discovery Channel programme onon this subject contained an alligation by an air crash investigator that the reinforced cabin door prevented the air steward from entering the cockpit before it was too late to prevent the crash. Can anyone cite other evidence for or against this? Unfortunately it must remain a speculation, as though the black boxes records when they entered the cabin, it doesn't record how many long it took them. But in the wake of ever increasing aircraft and airport security, isn't such professional speculation noteworthy? ANTIcarrot 15:21, 14 August 2006 (UTC)
I don't know if anyone can come up with a theory, but if the plane ran out of fuel why was there such a large post crash fire? Not only was it out of fuel, it also ran out of oxygen - something that could have fed a post crash fire, any other theories?
Also the plane smashed into a mountain side with plenty vegetation and bushes in summer (August).. even a small post crash fire can make a big bushfire.. images and footage of the rescue efforts show actually firefighter teams trying to put out bushfires more than the actual wreckage..so my gues is the plane smashed and desintegrated on impact.. there was some crash fires and the vegatation and bushes arround cought fire too and spreaded some. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.9.167.28 ( talk) 23:37, 9 February 2012 (UTC)
I was watching Mayday on Discovery Channel, and their story was totally different from the one in the article. Does anyone have an explanation for the inconsistency? -- Alx xlA 01:55, 30 June 2007 (UTC)
Bramley 07:17, 1 September 2007 (UTC)
The article contains a map that purports to show the crash location. It looks more like a search area than a crash location. Has anyone got a better map? 82.1.57.194 ( talk) 15:42, 13 June 2011 (UTC)
Many airliners have suffered explosive decompression including : Pan Am 103 (not a bomb), Air India 182 (not a bomb), United 811 and JAL 123 are all examples. The fuselage integrity is not the only guarantee of protection.
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The post 9/11 locked cockpit aspect was a major part of the post crash analysis but is missing from this article — Preceding unsigned comment added by BloofToofTechnology ( talk • contribs) 06:46, 27 March 2021 (UTC)
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:
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The AAIASB final report does not mention any video recordings of the flight made by the F-16 crews. These were likely to be single seat F-16 so the pilot would have to fly and film. There was a re-enactment done in Dec 2005 where a 2 seat F-16 went up and created a video that they then showed to the crews that intercepted the aircraft. Perhaps this is where confusion came into play claiming there was an F-16 video. Why would they make a reenactment video if there was an actual video?
In accordance with the observations of the F-16 pilot on 14 August 2005, two persons wearing passenger oxygen masks were placed on each side of the aircraft cabin in the over wing section. Also, the Captain of the re-enactment flight left his seat and, after a couple of minutes, a person dressed as the steward of the Operator entered the cockpit and sat in the Captain’s seat. Then the Captain returned to his seat and the aircraft left the KEA VOR holding. The aircraft followed the headings and altitudes of the accident aircraft and continued until it passed over the crash site. The results of the re-enactment flight proved to be identical to the data downloaded from the CVR, FDR, and NVM of the accident aircraft. The F-16 pilot confirmed that his observations during the re-enactment flight were the same as those of the accident flight. The view recorded from the F-16 camera allowed the Team to verify the F-16 pilot’s observations of cabin and cockpit movements inside the accident aircraft. Page 72.
There was only one male voice heard on the CVR:
Based on the fact that there was only one male cabin attendant on board the accident aircraft, that the voice on the CVR was identified by colleagues to match that of the male cabin attendant, and that the person that entered the cockpit was wearing a Helios cabin attendant uniform, the Board concluded that the person that entered the cockpit and made efforts to control the aircraft was the male cabin crew member. Page 127.
Only one person was seen by the F-16 crew:
Approximately 08:49 h, during the tenth holding pattern, the F-16 pilot observed a person wearing a light blue shirt and dark vest, but not wearing an oxygen mask, enter the cockpit and sit down in the Captain’s seat. He put on a set of headphones and appeared to place his hands on the panel directly in front of him.
There was a lot of media speculation about two people trying to save the plane, but it's just not supported by the final report. Many of these theories seem to persist even today and are repeated by the news using their old erroneous reports. I'm not sure what more can be said here. The final report by the AAIASB does not support the theory that Haris Charalambous and Andreas Prodromou both attempted to save the plane. -- Dual Freq ( talk) 22:49, 17 June 2024 (UTC)