Taking off from Cyprus on a hot August day in 2005, the Boeing 737-31S was making a trip to the Czech Republic via Greece.
The plane, which had just arrived from London the previous day and was checked, looked ready for flight. In fact, minor problems of the aircraft were detected and these problems were corrected by the technical team before the flight. Unfortunately, a small mistake made before the flight caused the plane to crash.
The pilots could not perceive how great the problem was and the response was inadequate.
Helios Airways, which operated the flight, was a company established in Cyprus and operating economical flights. At 09:00 on the day of the flight, Helios Airways’ Boeing 737-31S took off at 09:07 with a 7-minute delay.
At first everything seemed fine, but soon after, when the plane was at an altitude of about 3,650 meters, malfunction warnings started coming from the plane’s systems. At this stage, the pilots thought it was unimportant and generally did not take any action by checking the systems.
The pilots, who were unaware of the pressure loss on the plane, continued to raise the plane, while the oxygen masks on the plane were opened when 5,500 meters were reached.
After this security measure, the pilots, who realized that there was an air/pressure problem on the plane, immediately contacted the airline and tried to solve the problem together with the engineers. While communication was very difficult due to the loss of pressure, communication with the aircraft was lost at 09:20 and after 3 minutes, the aircraft reached 10,000 meters and continued its journey straight.
It has now been noticed by everyone that there was a problem with the plane that entered the autopilot. After no response was received from attempts to communicate with the aircraft, 2 F-16 warplanes took off to stop the aircraft.
F-16 pilots, who arrived near the plane at 11:24, received orders to shoot down the plane in order to prevent a possible terrorist attack. But the pilots were shocked by the scene they saw.
There was no one flying the plane. F-16 pilots, who could not see anyone when they looked at the pilot seat, explained the situation on the plane to the center.
Meanwhile, a flight attendant, who was under the influence of pressure, took over the plane, but soon after the fuel ran out, the engine caught fire and the plane drifted towards the unfortunate later. During this fall, all of the passengers passed out due to the pressure difference on the plane, and they were unaware of the bad fate that would befall them. In other words, the passengers were going to die without feeling any pain.
Flight attendant Andreas Prodromou steered the plane away from the city and managed to avoid possible casualties. Despite this move, those on board could not escape the tragic end.
Despite all the interventions, the plane crashed into the mountainous area in the Grammatiko region with its 115 passengers and 6 crew.
There were no survivors from this accident and the events went down in history as one of the most tragic plane crashes of the 21st century. While 121 people died in the accident, a major investigation was launched after the accident.
After this incident, the responsible company Helios Airways became the cause of criticism after the incident and the company was closed soon after.
So what was the mistake that caused the plane to crash?
During the pressure leak on the day of the flight, the engineer on duty manually operated the pressure system so that the engines would not start while testing the aircraft. These tests were successful, but the engineer left the aircraft without restoring the system.
Under normal conditions, aircraft pressure systems operate automatically. But keeping this system in manual mode poses a great danger to passengers and flight. So this disaster actually happened because 1 button was not touched.
The unfortunate end took place when this situation was overlooked by the pilots before the flight.
Sources: Aviation Safety Network, Wikipedia
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