Sunday, August 21, 2005
Helios Crash Update
The German pilot, who called in a technical problem at 14,000 feet, appeared to be another mystery added to the mix. Described as a loner with few friends and a host of personal problems, his body appears to be still missing.
The mystery deepened when the plane entered the Athens Flight Information Region (FIR). Under the watchful eye of two Greek F16s, somehow the Helios plane moved out of autopilot where it had been circling over Athens airport for at least two or three rounds and headed off slightly to the north west before reportedly running out of fuel and crashing into a mountain.
If there was someone in the cockpit trying to veer the plane away from Athens, why didn't they use the radio to try and make contact?
Timeline box:
As released by the Greek government.
9am (0600 GMT) Helios Airlines Flight ZU522, a Boeing 737, with 115 passengers and six crew members on board takes off from Larnaca International Airport in Cyprus, heading for Athens, Greece, and then Prague, Czech Republic.
9.37am (0637 GMT) The plane enters Greek airspace and is identified by Greece's Civil Aviation Authority.
10.07am (0707 GMT) Control tower at Athens International Airport is unable to establish communication with the plane.
10.20am (0720 GMT) Air traffic controllers notify their counterparts at Larnaca who say the plane reported a problem with its air conditioning system before entering Greek airspace.
10.25am (0725 GMT) Greece's Civil Aviation Authority notifies Defence Ministry's national search and rescue centre.
10.30am (0730 GMT) The Greek Defence Ministry issues a Renegade alert, a standard aviation procedure when a plane fails to respond to the control tower.
10.55am (0755 GMT) Two F-16 fighter jets scramble to locate airliner.
11.20am (0820 GMT) Fighter jets make visual contact with the Cypriot jet over Aegean island of Kea, but are unable to communicate with pilots.
11.25am (0825 GMT) Fighter jets approach the plane and report that the co-pilot of the Cypriot plane appears unconscious in the cockpit, while the other pilot was absent. Oxygen masks also seem to have been activated in the plane.
12.05pm (0905 GMT) Airliner crashes near coastal town of Grammatiko, about 40 kilometres north of Athens.
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