Human error caused Greece's deadliest crash

Pilot error caused the crash of a Cypriot airliner near Athens in August 2005 in which all 121 people aboard were killed, the Greek investigating commission reported last week.

Tuesdayีs report on the deadliest air accident in Greek and Cypriot history also blamed sloppiness by Helios Airways in Cyprus and Cypriot aviation authorities, and alleged the Boeing Company dealt inadequately with a problem affecting its 737 passenger jets.

Chiefly, the report faulted the two pilots of the Boeing 737-300 for failing to recognise warnings of a drop in cabin pressure, and for omitting to switch pressurisation from manual to automatic in pre-flight checks.

When the cabin pressure failed, the 59-year-old German pilot and his 50-year-old Greek Cypriot co-pilot were incapacitated from loss of oxygen and the plane continued on auto-pilot until it ran out of fuel, crashing into a rural hillside about 40 kilometres northeast of Athens.

Last year, the investigating committee informed the Athens prosecutorีs office that the Helios pilots may have been confused by an emergency warning signal with the same sound for two different malfunctions.

The international air industry had been eagerly awaiting the accident report, since the Helios disaster was one of the most puzzling in aviation history.
Taking off from Cyprusี Larnaca Airport for a flight to Prague via Athens, the plane flew on auto-pilot for about two hours before crashing just after midday local time.

After the airliner entered Greek airspace and was failing to respond to calls, the pilots of two Greek F-16 military fighter jets who intercepted it saw that the captainีs seat was empty, someone was slumped in the first officerีs seat and a second person was wrestling with the controls.