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On 14 August 2005, air traffic controllers lose radio contact with Helios Airways Flight 522. Two fighters from the Hellenic Air Force intercept and investigate the flight and find all but one person on board not moving. A few moments later, the aircraft runs out of fuel and crashes, killing all 121 people on board. An incorrect cabin pressurization setting had caused everyone on board to succumb to hypoxia.
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TVTranscripción
00:01Video 522, do you read?
00:04High above Athens, fighter jets track a 737 as it circles the city.
00:12522, do you read? Forward.
00:15There's no answer from the passenger plane, but there is someone at the controls.
00:21More than a hundred people are on board.
00:24Everybody's mind was going to hijack terrorists.
00:28There is one person moving in the cockpit. Repeat, there is...
00:32What happened to the crew and passengers?
00:35522, do you read? Forward.
00:37And who is flying the plane?
00:41Kilius, 522, do you read? Forward.
00:49Made it, made it.
01:10Early morning, August the 14th, 2005.
01:14The cabin crew of Helios Airways Flight 522 are preparing for their trip from the island of Cyprus to Athens,
01:21Greece.
01:24Sure is a beautiful day.
01:27Maybe I shouldn't have come in.
01:30Andreas Prodromu is 25.
01:33He isn't supposed to be working today, but he's taken the flight to spend some time with his girlfriend, who
01:38also works for Helios.
01:41It's the sort of day I'd like to be out flying.
01:44Oh, you will, Andreas.
01:47Prodromu is a flight attendant now, but he has bigger plans.
01:51One day, he wants to fly for Helios.
01:58His dream was to become a professional pilot.
02:02Personally, I wanted him to stay in the family business.
02:06We often talked about this.
02:12We've got company.
02:16Stay warm at the back.
02:25In the cockpit, the flight crew is occupied with the daily routine of preparing their jet for take-off.
02:32It's bright today.
02:34Captain Hans Merten is an East German, a contract pilot hired by Helios for the busy holiday season.
02:41Are you almost through?
02:43Pardon?
02:45Are you almost done?
02:50Nearly.
02:53His co-pilot is from Cyprus.
02:56Pambos Haralambos has been working exclusively for Helios for the last five years.
03:02Before beginning any flight, crews are required to perform dozens of checks on various pieces of onboard equipment.
03:08It's a routine but necessary procedure.
03:13Doors closed.
03:17Sorry, could you store trains with your seatbelt?
03:21Helios is a charter airline with low-cost fares to Greece.
03:25It's a summer weekend and the plane is filled with families.
03:29In all, there are 115 passengers on the morning flight.
03:34If you need any more help, let me know we're just about to take off.
03:39They are low fare, no frills.
03:42They don't even serve you refreshments during small sorts of flights.
03:48But they offer another possibility for the budget-minded traveller.
03:56Paros Dimitriou and Maria Rikou are travelling to the Greek island of Patros.
04:01They've just got engaged.
04:05They booked this holiday a month or more than a month ago.
04:11It was like a honeymoon for them.
04:14Flight attendants, please take your seats.
04:17Prepare to take off.
04:27Just a few minutes after 9 in the morning, Helios Airways Flight 522 lifts off into the bright sunshine.
04:36Helios Airways Flight 522.
04:46Helios Airways Flight 522, you are cleared to climb to 340. Have a good day.
04:52Set 340.
04:54340.
05:00Minutes into the flight,
05:01the plane is still climbing towards its cruising altitude.
05:06Suddenly, an alarm blares in the cockpit.
05:10What is it?
05:13The take-off config warning?
05:15The flight crew is confused.
05:17The take-off configuration alarm normally only sounds on the ground.
05:21It tells pilots their jet isn't ready for take-off.
05:26The crew doesn't know why it's sounding now.
05:30Uncertain what the problem is,
05:32the captain radios the Helios Operations Centre at Larnaca Airport back in Cyprus.
05:38Operations, this is Flight 522, over.
05:42Flight 522, what can I do for you?
05:44We have a take-off config warning on.
05:48Pardon?
05:49Our take-off config warning is on.
05:57I'm sure it's nothing.
05:58I'll let you know we're level off.
06:03With the first alarm still beeping in the cockpit,
06:06things become even more confusing.
06:08Their master caution alarm goes off.
06:11It could indicate that some systems on board are overheating.
06:15We now have a master caution.
06:18I'll get you an engineer. 522, just a minute.
06:26I find them very hard to understand. His accent is quite thick.
06:30Flight 522, what can I do for you?
06:35The ventilation cooling fan lights are off.
06:39Sorry, can you repeat?
06:41While the pilots and ground engineers try to troubleshoot the two alarms,
06:45most passengers have no idea there's a problem.
06:49Until...
06:53Everyone, stay calm.
06:55Please, remain seated.
06:59Everyone, please put the oxygen masks on completely over your mouth and nose.
07:08The protocol was immediately to secure yourself, grab an oxygen mask, stay in your seat.
07:12If you can help passengers without getting up, you could help them, and you should help them,
07:17but you would not risk the safety of any cabin crew member to go and help a passenger
07:22which is five or six rows further up.
07:26Their procedure would be to grab their mask, don it,
07:29and wait for the aircraft to level off or commence with a descent.
07:38No one in the cabin knows what the problem is.
07:42They're waiting for information from the cockpit.
07:46The pilots are unaware that the oxygen masks in the cabin have dropped,
07:51and they still don't know why their take-off configuration warning is on,
07:55or why their systems are overheating.
07:58Both of my equipment cooling lights are off.
08:02This is normal. Can you please confirm your problem?
08:06But the engineer on the ground is struggling to get a clear picture of what's happening in the air.
08:12They are not switched off.
08:14Can you confirm that the pressurisation panel is set to auto?
08:20There are my equipment cooling circuit breakers.
08:24Behind the captain's seat.
08:28Can you see them?
08:30What's going on?
08:31There's something wrong with the electrics on 522.
08:35I had something to pick up from operations, so I was there.
08:39I figured, oh, not again. One of our problems.
08:42So, I left.
08:46Oh, good luck.
08:48The problem doesn't seem serious.
08:50But as the plane continues to climb, passengers still haven't received any information from the cockpit.
08:59Ilios 522, can you see the circuit breakers?
09:03And now the engineer on the ground loses contact with the aircraft.
09:09Ilios 522, can you hear me?
09:14It's less than 30 minutes after take-off, and flight 522 is still on course.
09:22The plane is high above the Mediterranean Sea, and headed straight towards Athens.
09:35August 14th, 2005.
09:38A Ilios Airways 737 with 121 people on board is circling in the sky near Athens.
09:47Ilios 522.
09:49Can you hear me?
09:51Shortly after leaving the island of Cyprus, two different alarms had been triggered on the plane.
09:56The flight crew was trying to solve the problem with the help of ground engineers.
10:03But now radio contact with the plane has been lost.
10:07Air traffic control can't get any response from the captain or co-pilot.
10:13The flight to Greece normally takes an hour and a half.
10:17But the passenger jet has been in the air for over two hours, circling in a holding pattern.
10:24We heard that there was an airplane which was flying into the Greek territory and had no communication.
10:34Everybody's mind was going to hijack or to terrorists.
10:42More than three million people live in Athens.
10:45A plane slamming into the city could cause an incredible loss of life.
10:52This is a runaway aircraft.
10:54It's a possible hijacking or it's a possible terrorist act, so let's involve the military.
11:02The Greek Air Force scrambles two of its most sophisticated fighter jets to investigate the Ilios plane.
11:09Helios 522, do you read? Over.
11:12But the pilots aren't getting any response.
11:15One of the jets flies closer to the cockpit.
11:19Someone is in the co-pilot's seat, slumped over the controls.
11:23But there's no sign of the captain at all.
11:27The fighter pilot radios air traffic control in Athens.
11:31Athena ACC.
11:33There is one figure in the cockpit of Helios 522.
11:38Appears non-responsive.
11:41Athena ACC.
11:43Checking the captain.
11:45He can see passengers in their seats, but none of them reacts to the presence of the jet.
11:59Then the pilot sees someone moving in the cockpit.
12:04Athena ACC.
12:05There is one person moving in the cockpit of Helios 522.
12:09Repeat, there is one person inside the cockpit.
12:13Helios 522, do you read? Over.
12:17Helios 522, over.
12:20Flight 8CY, 522.
12:22This is Athena radar control.
12:24The F-16s continue shadowing the jet, but there's no response at all from the cockpit.
12:31One of them was actually in a shooting position behind the 737.
12:36The other one was nearby the cockpit and he was trying to communicate visually with the person in the cockpit.
12:43Suddenly, the 737 turns left and begins to quickly descend.
12:47Athena ACC.
12:49Helios 522, turning sharply.
12:52Following down.
12:54From more than 10,000 meters, the plane drops towards the ground.
13:00There is no structural failure, there is no fire, there is no problem, obvious problem, from the external view with
13:07the plane.
13:09Helios 522, over. Do you read?
13:13Helios 522, over. Do you read?
13:15Helios 522, over.
13:15Helios 522, over.
13:19Then, 2100 meters above the ground, the person in the captain's seat acknowledges the fighter jet for the very first
13:26time.
13:28But no words are exchanged.
13:33Neither the fighter pilot nor local air traffic control can make radio contact with the jet.
13:42Just after 12 o'clock, almost three hours after it took off from the island of Cyprus, Helios flight 522
13:49slams into the ground.
14:01Hattire ACC, Helios 522 is down.
14:06Repeat, Helios 522 is down on Grammatico Hill, over.
14:16Fire and rescue workers rush to the crash site.
14:19There are no survivors.
14:25Flight attendant Lazaros Temetsian is stunned by what he hears at the company's operations centre.
14:34It was the most chaotic scene I've ever seen.
14:40When I went back, our operations controller said that he'd lost the aircraft and his eyes, he's starting to cry.
14:54Helios is a small company with just three jets.
14:58Members of the cabin crew have been working together for years.
15:04For Paul Simeonides, news of the crash is particularly terrifying.
15:09He's a flight attendant for the airline, and so is his fiancée.
15:14I think that must have been the worst 30 minutes of my life following that first image,
15:18because Victoria was flying that morning to Glasgow.
15:22I had everyone and his brother, every person we knew was calling me up to find out if I'm alive,
15:27if Victoria is alive, what happened, why it happened.
15:31At first we said, it takes one hour and a half to go to Greece, so probably it's not that
15:37plain.
15:38And it took about two or three hours later to know that Paris and Maria was on the plane that
15:46crashed.
15:50Andreas Prodromo's father didn't know his son had been called to fill in on Flight 522.
15:59I was told that Helios aircraft was lost by radar, and air controllers couldn't contact.
16:08I got worried. I called Andreas' phone. He always had it on, and unfortunately he wouldn't answer.
16:18After that phone call, I felt as if the ground was pulled out from under my feet.
16:28It's the worst air crash in the history of Greece.
16:31Most of the 121 victims are from Cyprus.
16:35The small island nation declares three days of mourning following the crash.
16:44It's an eerie disaster.
16:47For over an hour, air traffic controllers watched the passenger jet fly in radio silence closer and closer to Athens,
16:54with no idea what was happening inside the jet.
17:00Now, piece by piece, investigators are trying to find out.
17:06So we climbed over the hill, and there we were, you know, facing this situation which was beyond any description.
17:15I saw a great area in front of me which was burning. It was black.
17:21Burning, people spread, pieces of the airplane.
17:31It is a truly nightmarish sight. I hope that I never experience it again.
17:38It was terrible, just terrible.
17:46Investigators immediately start looking for the cause of the crash.
17:52In the early days, their efforts take a frustrating turn.
17:58They recover the box containing the cockpit voice recorder.
18:03But the recorder itself has been thrown clear.
18:08It was difficult for us because we first found the case of the CVR.
18:14Very badly damaged.
18:16And we could not find the, you know, the machine itself.
18:22Investigators need to know what happened to the pilots.
18:25Without the cockpit voice recorder, they have little to go on.
18:28So keep looking. Let's hope we can find it.
18:39Bodies recovered from the wreckage are brought to the offices of Athens' chief coroner.
18:44Autopsies add more mystery to the case.
18:47Everyone on board the plane was alive at the time of the crash.
18:54There were scenarios at the time that they had all died in mid-air.
18:57But the truth, they did not die from inhaling a toxic substance in the airplane.
19:05Or from an explosion.
19:09These people died on impact.
19:16But if the passengers were alive the entire flight,
19:20why didn't the pilot of the fighter jet see any activity inside the cabin?
19:25And who was at the controls as the jets circled over Athens?
19:33When investigators find tissue samples in the remains of the cockpit,
19:37they make a stunning discovery.
19:41The person at the controls of the plane when it crashed was flight attendant Andreas Prodromu,
19:47a last-minute addition to the cabin crew.
19:53But why was he in the cockpit?
19:55Was he trying to save the plane?
19:58Or did he deliberately fly it into the ground?
20:06Several days after finding the outer case of the cockpit voice recorder,
20:10investigators find the recording itself.
20:14When chief investigator Tsolakis listens to the final moments of the flight,
20:18it answers a vital question.
20:20Mayday.
20:22Mayday.
20:24Mayday.
20:24This was no terrorist act.
20:26Flight 5.
20:282, 2.
20:29Prodromu was calling for help.
20:32Mayday.
20:33Mayday.
20:35Tsolakis hears five separate maydays on the tape,
20:39even though none of them were heard by the air traffic controllers.
20:46From the first moment that they saw someone in the cockpit,
20:50believe me, I was certain it was Andreas.
20:56He wasn't a coward.
20:59He knew something about planes,
21:01and he had the capacity to do something.
21:05to be able to save people in the plane.
21:12In fact, Prodromu had his commercial pilot's license.
21:16It was the first step towards his goal of becoming a captain for Helios.
21:20It's the sort of day I'd like to be on the flight.
21:23You will, Andreas.
21:25But all of his training wouldn't have helped save the jet.
21:30When he was seen at the controls,
21:33flight 5.2.2 had been in the air for almost three hours.
21:38And the reason the Helios plane seemed to veer away from the F-16s following it
21:43was because its left engine was out of fuel.
21:47No matter what caused the alarms to sound,
21:50the ultimate reason for the crash was simple.
21:54The DFDR and the CVR gave us absolute proof
22:00that the plane ran out of fuel.
22:03And this was the cause of the crash.
22:09Scheduled as a 90-minute flight,
22:11the plane didn't have enough fuel to stay in the air for over three hours.
22:16But why had the plane flown so much longer than it was supposed to?
22:23Solakis now knows who was in the cockpit of the plane,
22:27and why it crashed.
22:28But to fully understand the mystery,
22:31he needs more information.
22:38His investigators uncover a suspicious history of maintenance issues with the Helios jet.
22:43Issues that could help explain what happened on Flight 522.
22:49Less than a year before the crash,
22:52the same aircraft had suffered a rapid decompression.
23:00Lazaros Tumetsian worked on that flight.
23:03I was in the back of the aircraft at the time.
23:05There was a loud metallic bang, a clanging sound.
23:10And the oxygen masks dropped in the cabin.
23:16Every step I was taking was difficult.
23:20It was hard to move, hard to breathe.
23:23In fact, I was starting to pant, I was panting for air.
23:28As the plane began an immediate descent to 3300 meters,
23:32all Tumetsian could do was remain strapped in and wait.
23:38Once the plane reached a safe altitude,
23:41Tumetsian inspected the rear door and was shocked by what he found.
23:46I noticed that the aft service door was not fully locked.
23:52The hinges on the top and the bottom of the door were kind of displaced.
23:57I could pass my hand right through.
24:03There were no injuries and the plane made an emergency landing.
24:06And the door was inspected.
24:09But this wasn't the only problem crews had with this plane.
24:13We would record faults in the cabin logbook constantly.
24:18And nothing would be done to rectify even these small little problems in the cabin.
24:23Engineers would take months to rectify even the slightest problem in the cabin.
24:30There were more recent problems as well.
24:33A Helios ground engineer tells Solakis that on the very day of flight 522,
24:38the 737 had another problem with its back door.
24:41When we checked the flight log for the trip,
24:43we saw that we'd have to do some unscheduled maintenance.
24:46The plane had arrived in Cyprus just after midnight on August the 14th.
24:51The cabin crew had heard loud banging noises
24:54and saw ice on the rear service door during the flight.
24:57It was scheduled to take off again just hours later.
25:04Soon after it landed, engineers began checking the problem.
25:08To make sure there's nothing wrong with the seal on the door,
25:11the engineers run a pressurization test.
25:16During normal flight, a plane's engines force air into the cabin.
25:21To ensure oxygen circulates during the trip,
25:24small valves in the rear allow some of it to leak out.
25:32A pressurized airplane essentially is sort of like a pressurized can.
25:37When we pressurize the airplane so that the people inside can survive the environment that the airplane likes to operate
25:43in.
25:44Switching digital pressure control unit from auto to manual.
25:49Without the jet's engines running, the engineer uses the plane's auxiliary power unit to force air into the aircraft,
25:55and the cabin is pressurized for several minutes.
26:01It's like looking for a leak in a tire.
26:03In this case, what you're having to do is pressurize the aircraft,
26:07use a barometer essentially to monitor the pressure inside and look for leaks that way.
26:15But there's no indication any air is escaping through the back door.
26:21In this case, they felt that it was alright and they completed the test.
26:28The entire jet seems to be in good working order.
26:32After performing a series of additional routine maintenance procedures,
26:36the engineers signed off on their technical log.
26:40Investigators are faced with a dead end.
26:42Explain again how you tested the pressure.
26:45An explosive decompression could have explained the tragic events of Flight 522.
26:50If the oxygen had been suddenly sucked out of the jet,
26:54everyone on board could have been overcome.
26:57But not only did engineers check the problem,
27:00when the F-16s approached the plane near Athens, no damage was seen.
27:05There was no indication that the fuselage was punctured.
27:10Investigators are still struggling to solve the mystery.
27:13What had overcome the passengers and crew of Helios Flight 522?
27:17And why was one flight attendant apparently unaffected?
27:22The discovery of one small switch holds the key to the entire crash.
27:32The crash of Helios Flight 522 is one of the most mysterious air disasters ever.
27:42Helios 522, do you read over?
27:44All investigators know for sure is that shortly after take-off,
27:48the crew stopped communicating with air traffic controllers.
27:51Helios 522, over!
27:54Then, after two and a half hours in the air,
27:57one of the plane's flight attendants was seen at the controls.
28:01Eventually, the plane ran out of fuel and crashed, killing 121 people.
28:09But investigators are stumped.
28:11They still don't know what had happened to the plane's captain or the rest of the crew.
28:17Tell me about what happened the day of the flight.
28:20They concentrate on the conversation between the pilot and the Helios engineer shortly after take-off.
28:27As the plane passed through 3700 meters, an alarm sounded in the cockpit.
28:33Operations, this is Flight 522, over.
28:37Flight 522, what can I do for you?
28:39We have a take-off config warning on.
28:43Pardon?
28:44Our take-off config warning is on.
28:48Usually, the take-off config warning is only triggered on the runway.
28:52But wreckage recovered at the crash site reveals no problems with the plane's flaps,
28:57landing gear or anything else that could trigger the alarm.
29:03So why had it sounded?
29:08Chief investigator Akrivost Solakis focuses on a small control panel found in the wreckage of the ravaged jet.
29:18Are you sure this is the way it was found? It hasn't been moved at all.
29:23We were lucky finding this panel which had the switch on the manual position was a major one.
29:30The P5 pressurization panel ensures that passengers have enough air to breathe, even at high altitudes.
29:38Normally, pressurization takes place automatically.
29:41As the jet climbs, its engines force air into the plane as they power it through the sky.
29:48But when the pressurization switch is set to manual, both the captain and co-pilot are responsible for maintaining the
29:55cabin atmosphere using a controller.
29:59So explain again how you tested the pressure.
30:02When I went into the cockpit, I turned the pressurization switch to manual.
30:08Solakis learns that during the early morning maintenance check on Helios 522, ground engineers had turned the P5 switch to
30:16manual.
30:17That allowed them to use the on-board generators to test the pressure seals on the plane's rear door without
30:23starting the engines.
30:25When the test was over, they didn't turn the switch back to automatic.
30:30The procedure of pressurizing the aircraft has to do with setting the pressurization system from auto to manual.
30:38They were supposed to return the selector to the auto position.
30:53Several hours later, when the flight crew entered the cockpit, the pressurization switch was still set to manual.
31:00It's bright today.
31:03Are you almost two?
31:07But neither the pilot nor co-pilot saw it.
31:12As a result, after takeoff, the cabin would not pressurize automatically.
31:18And the higher flight 522 climbed, the thinner the atmosphere became.
31:24Not turning the switch back to automatic was a deadly hidden danger.
31:30Are you sure this is the way it was found? It hasn't been moved at all.
31:36Solakis believes this panel could be the key to the disaster.
31:40Leaving one switch on manual could have led to all the other problems the plane faced.
31:47To prove he's right, he takes an unusual step.
31:51Four months after the disaster, he takes an Olympic Airlines 737 on the same route flown by the Helios jet.
31:58If he's right about what caused the crash, this plane should react exactly like the doomed airliner did.
32:07Are we ready to go?
32:09When there is a complicated accident like this, I think a reenactment should be performed.
32:16Of course, it's expensive to have a jetliner flying for three or four hours.
32:22But it is worth it if you have to come with some results which benefit to the overall investigation.
32:34Make sure the P5 is set to manual.
32:44In the cockpit, Solakis has the crew turn the pressurization switch to manual.
32:49A green light indicates it's no longer on automatic.
32:53But in the bright glare of an early morning departure, the light is hard to see.
32:59As the reenactment flight climbs, oxygen is thinning quickly in the aircraft.
33:06The same thing happened on the Helios flight, triggering an alarm.
33:13What is it?
33:15The takeoff config warning?
33:18The alarm sounded and that alarm was misinterpreted.
33:23Most of the flight crew, they will never face an alarm with no pressurization in all their flight career because
33:33it's a rare event.
33:35Solakis confirms that the alarm went off because of the dangerously low air pressure in the aircraft.
33:41But he also discovers that the sound itself is identical to the takeoff config warning.
33:46We have a takeoff config warning on.
33:49But even if the flight crew did misinterpret the first alarm, they still had another chance to determine what the
33:55real problem was.
33:57At almost 5000 meters, the plane's master caution light flashed on and stayed on for almost a minute.
34:04We now have a master caution.
34:07But once again, the pilots misinterpreted the cause of the alarm.
34:12The master caution light can indicate that the plane's systems are overheating.
34:17But it can also tell pilots the oxygen masks are down.
34:23In this case, it was doing both at the same time.
34:28But since the crew didn't think they were having pressurization problems, they focused on the plane's cooling systems.
34:35The alarm about the non-cooling was a side effect of non-pressurization.
34:43Actually, it was not really that there was a high temperature inside the avionics bay, but it was the sensors
34:54that were supposed to measure the temperature and the pressure in that area sensed that something was wrong.
35:02On the recreation flight, investigators monitor instruments recording the same events occurring on board their aircraft.
35:10At the same time, they also begin to feel the effects of the lack of oxygen.
35:16The first feelings you'd start to have were your ears would pop and start feeling pressure in your sinuses.
35:23As you climb higher, you begin to feel almost giddy. It's almost like having a couple of drinks of alcohol.
35:29The dwindling oxygen levels could also help explain some of the crew's bizarre behavior.
35:38When the ground engineer asked about pressurization...
35:42Can you confirm that the pressurization panel is set to auto?
35:47Captain Merton ignores the question and responds with one of his own.
35:51Where are my equipment cooling circuit breakers?
35:55You really don't notice it at first. It's amazing how subtle it can be in the early phases.
36:01They start feeling dizzy. They begin to lose the ability to think coherently.
36:07In a way, it traps you into the situation. You can't react to anything. Eventually, you're going to lose consciousness.
36:17You can't.
36:19Solakis believes that the captain may have been checking on the circuit breakers behind his seat when he and the
36:25co-pilot finally ran out of air.
36:28And unlike in the cabin, the oxygen masks in the cockpit do not automatically deploy if the atmosphere begins to
36:35thin.
36:38Video's 522. Can you hear me?
36:43On the other side of the locked cockpit door, no one in the cabin would have known that the plane
36:48was now flying itself.
36:51Nor would they have realized that a limitation of the passenger oxygen system had sealed the fate of everyone in
36:57the cabin.
36:59Passenger masks are supplied by a chemical generator above their seats.
37:03But the generators only produce enough oxygen to last about 12 minutes.
37:11Well, the problem with the passenger masks is, for one thing, they're not designed to keep you oxygenated at a
37:19high altitude.
37:20What they're designed to do is give you enough oxygen so that you can survive until the pilots get the
37:26airplane down to a low altitude.
37:27In almost every event where we've had a decompression, that's been perfectly adequate.
37:32For those who did put their masks on, they would have remained conscious for several minutes until their oxygen ran
37:38out.
37:39Then they too would have passed out.
37:44Once you get up to 34,000 feet, you're talking useful consciousness of 30 to 60 seconds.
37:50Most of the people, once the hypoxia begins to cause them to lose consciousness, they're just going to go to
37:56sleep.
38:00Without a flight crew, Helios 522 would have continued to Athens on autopilot.
38:06When the crew didn't take control, the autopilot would have put the jet in a holding pattern as it flew
38:12over the airport.
38:19Exactly the same thing will happen on the reconstruction flight if cabin pressure isn't restored.
38:25Solakis asks the co-pilot to reset the P-5 panel to auto before the jet continues to climb to
38:31its cruising altitude of just over 10,000 meters.
38:36Then, as it approaches Athens, Solakis also has an F-16 shadow the jet, performing the recreation.
38:44He wants to confirm that it was Andreas Prodromou at the controls of flight 522 when it went down.
38:53We dressed one of our guys with the uniform of the steward.
38:58He came in, he sat on the captain's chair and the F-16 was looking at him.
39:04He was confirming that it was exactly what he saw on the accident plane.
39:11The reconstruction also answers another question about the tragic fate of Helios flight 522.
39:19The cockpit voice recorder picked up several strange noises.
39:23They're heard just before Prodromou enters the cockpit.
39:30Solakis confirms that these sounds were made by Prodromou using the electronic keypad to unlock the cockpit door.
39:38We confirmed all those items and during the enactment flight that it was very, very useful.
39:47It filled a lot of gaps we had.
39:51Okay, take it down.
39:56For Chief Investigator Solakis, the re-enactment flight has been convincing.
40:01There was no dramatic cabin failure.
40:04Instead, a series of small mistakes and misunderstandings had led to the worst air disaster in Greek history.
40:1615 months after the crash, Greek authorities released the official report on Helios Airways flight 522.
40:24But mysteries remain.
40:27What was happening in the cabin while the doomed airplane flew towards Athens?
40:33And why was Andreas Prodromou the only one conscious at the very end?
40:46The crash of Helios flight 522 was the worst disaster in the history of Greek aviation.
40:53Like many crashes, it was a fatal combination of mechanical problems and human error.
41:00The final accident report details a tragic series of oversights and false assumptions made by the flight crew.
41:07Problems that could have been easily prevented turned deadly for all 121 people on board.
41:14Where are my equipment cooling circuit breakers?
41:21Behind the captain's seat. Can you see them?
41:29But what the final report does not do is explain what happened in the cabin of the plane.
41:35What actions did the flight attendants take?
41:38And why was Andreas Prodromou still conscious after almost three hours?
41:46Interviews with Helios safety instructors and crew members paint a tragic picture of what may have occurred.
41:55Everyone, please put your masks on. We're not sure what the trouble is, but remain calm and please remain seated.
42:03Prodromou was sitting at the back of the cabin.
42:06When the oxygen masks fell, he would have waited for instructions from the cockpit.
42:11The flight attendants sitting at the front of the plane would have done the same, but none of them would
42:16have waited forever.
42:18We made it an issue at Helios to emphasize that cabin crew should not entirely depend on their procedures, but
42:28to think on their feet and to adapt to any impending situation.
42:33In most depressurizations, the plane descends quickly.
42:37But as minutes passed on the Helios flight, the plane continued to climb.
42:43Unsure of what was going on, Prodromou would have tried to contact the flight crew.
42:48Captain.
42:50Captain Merton.
42:51But he gets no response.
42:53Can you give us an update, please? Captain Merton.
42:58Captain.
42:58With no word from the cockpit, he would have soon realized that this was not a typical depressurization.
43:04When there was no call out from the cockpit and the aircraft didn't start an emergency descent, there was absolutely
43:09no protocol.
43:10They would be winging it.
43:13By now, Prodromou must have felt that something was terribly wrong.
43:17But to find out what the problem was, he had to leave his seat.
43:21The oxygen available on the 737 is, of course, the dropout oxygen.
43:26Ten percent of those masks are available for the crew in case of a depressurization incident.
43:32There are extra masks per every seat row.
43:35Taking advantage of the extra passenger masks, he could have made his way to the front of the plane, a
43:41process cabin crew called monkey swinging.
43:46But if more than 12 minutes had passed, his girlfriend and the other flight attendant may have still been in
43:52their seats, and like the passengers, overcome by hypoxia.
43:59But Prodromou was a scuba diver and a former soldier in the Cypriot Special Forces.
44:05His training may have helped him to stay alert a little longer.
44:11Andreas was not a coward. He was a brave person. Fearless, brave and very calm.
44:21But to survive, after the passenger oxygen system stopped working, he needed another solution.
44:28The 737 had four portable oxygen bottles. Each one could last more than an hour.
44:36All four bottles were found at the crash site.
44:39Three of them appeared to have been used.
44:42While the F-16 pilot saw Prodromou in the cockpit just before the crash, it may not have been the
44:48first time he had gone in.
44:50As he did at the end of the flight, he could have used the security code to unlock the door
44:54earlier.
45:00The procedure would be to enter the flight deck via the cockpit door.
45:06Initially to bang on the door, and then, if no response is forthcoming, to enter the code and enter the
45:18flight deck.
45:20During the accident investigation, DNA was discovered on an oxygen mask in the cockpit that matched the co-pilots.
45:27It's possible Prodromou used it to try and revive him.
45:32You can still revitalize somebody for quite an extended period of time if you get to them before major brain
45:40damage is set in.
45:41And that's somewhat a variable situation depending on the person, depending on how long they're exposed to a high altitude.
45:51But if he was in the cockpit earlier, why did he leave? No one will ever know.
45:59Probably was a little bit disoriented, a little bit confused. He's reacting a lot slower than he normally would.
46:08What was his state of mind? What was his physical condition?
46:11We think that he knew what was really the problem, but is that the real situation? It's a real question.
46:21After three hours in the air, everyone who didn't have bottled oxygen would have been unconscious.
46:27As it approached Athens, flight 522 was now a ghost plane.
46:38Most of the victims, they probably still had heartbeats when the airplane crashed, but almost certainly were in an irreversible
46:46coma.
46:48Hypoxia is no more painful than falling asleep.
46:52But for Andreas Prodromou, the flight must have been a nightmare.
47:00As the F-16s roared to meet the jet, and with his oxygen running out, he must have known that
47:06he too was almost out of time.
47:08Yet to the very end, he didn't give up.
47:15Prodromou made one last attempt to save the plane.
47:21When he returns to the cockpit, the young flight attendant who dreamed of becoming a pilot calls for help.
47:28But no one can hear him, probably because the radio was still tuned to Larnaca, the airport on Cyprus where
47:35the flight had taken off.
47:37Fighting hypoxia and struggling to control an airplane larger than any he had ever flown, Prodromou was in an impossible
47:44situation.
47:46Even if he could have landed the plane, it was now too late.
47:51Flight 522 was out of time and fuel.
47:56Flight 522 was diagnosed with over 80 to 80 years ago with Noir Raptor and Festivalised William Osborne.
48:01Rejoined in the 770s, of course we met Peter Holester , slit 예 op stage 522.
48:11We have to deal with the control in the sky for three days too little from the estadoun biologicalwirred by
48:13the enemy of Egypt.
48:16It failed to be able to catch the сегодня who was estaba我也 drugged.
48:19To be able to pliers, we went somewhere.
48:35There are pictures of Andreas in Cyprus, in the cemetery where he and his girlfriend
48:40Haris are buried side by side.
48:46As his father, my son is in front of me.
48:51Wherever I go, he is always there.
49:00He left a very big gap.
49:06We will never get over it.
49:11There are pictures in Greece too.
49:14On the hill north of Athens where Helios Flight 522 crashed, there are faded photographs of many of those who
49:21died.
49:22Bleached by the brilliant Mediterranean sun, they gaze over the rugged ancient terrain,
49:28silent witnesses to one of the world's most bizarre and tragic airline disasters.
49:33Be slowly.
49:40Be slowly.
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