Twenty years have passed since the crash of Helios Airways Boeing 737-31S in Grammatiko, Attica, which on 14 August 2005 killed 121 people and plunged Cyprus and Greece into mourning.
Helios Airways Flight 522 (HCY 522) crashed at 12:04 in Grammatiko, Attica. The crash killed all 115 passengers and six crew members. Among the victims were 22 children, whilst 12 passengers were of Greek origin.
From the crash site, 118 bodies were recovered, most charred by the fire that broke out after the crash, whilst three bodies were completely burnt.
Post-mortem examinations revealed that passengers had cardiac function at the time of the crash, though the forensic report estimated they were in deep and irreversible coma due to hypoxia. The cause of death was multiple injuries from the crash and extensive burns on some bodies.
Timeline of the flight
The ill-fated aircraft departed on the morning of 14 August 2005 from Larnaca Airport with Prague as its final destination and Athens’ “Eleftherios Venizelos” as an intermediate stop. At 10:15 in the morning, the aircraft entered Athens National Airspace without any contact with the Control Tower.
At 11:05, two F-16 fighters took off from Nea Anchialos and came into visual contact with the aircraft at 11:18, establishing that the co-pilot was unconscious, the captain was not at his position and the oxygen supply system with masks had been activated.
When oxygen from the fallen masks ran out, all passengers, including pilots, lost consciousness. The aircraft’s fuel was exhausted and minutes later both engines stopped.
Flight attendant Andreas Prodromou, who was the only one maintaining consciousness, unsuccessfully attempted to take control of the aircraft. At 12:04, the aircraft crashed in the mountainous area of Grammatiko, killing 115 passengers and the six-member crew.
Causes of the tragedy
In October 2006, fourteen months after the crash, the Greek Committee for Investigation of Accidents and Flight Safety, led by Akrivos Tsolakis, published its findings on the causes of the accident.
Among the causes was shared responsibility between mechanics who checked the aircraft for the final flight and the aircraft operators of flight HCY522, for correction of settings – mainly the manual setting on the compression regulator – which set in motion subsequent events.
Boeing has already accepted that the binding guidance manuals for engineers and this specific aircraft type did not contain clear indication for placing the switch in “manual” position.
The report also attributed responsibility to operators for not carrying out timely corrective interventions based on warnings they received, considering what became known about “double” audio warnings and indications, which Boeing also changed after the aviation tragedy.
As a result, aircraft operators were overwhelmed by hypoxia symptoms in minimal time and lost control.
Trials in Cyprus and Greece
The trial of five company executives on charges of manslaughter and causing death due to reckless, thoughtless or dangerous acts began in Nicosia on 17 September 2009. On 18 February 2013, Nicosia Criminal Court acquitted all defendants of all charges, ruling the indictment was “unsubstantiated” and there was no testimony connecting them to the tragedy.
The then Attorney General ruled that prosecution should be suspended for all defendants, citing insurmountable difficulties in advancing the case.
Defendants included Helios Executive Chairman Andreas Drakos, Managing Director Dimitris Pantazis, Flight Director Giorgos Kikkidis, and the company’s Bulgarian-origin chief pilot Yanko Stoimenov.
Meanwhile, Athens First Instance Court found Dimitris Pantazis, Giorgos Kikkidis, Yanko Stoimenov and Alan Irwin, all Helios executives, guilty without mitigating circumstances for the aircraft crash, imposing sentences totalling 124 years.
In February 2013, the Athens Three-Member Court of Appeal imposed ten-year prison sentences, redeemable for €80,000 each, on three of four defendants, who were released after payment.
Lasting impact
Akrivos Tsolakis, who investigated the crash causes, died in October 2023 aged 93. Five years before his death, on 14 August 2020, he told the Cyprus News Agency the tragedy had cost him his sleep permanently, describing it as an “indelible and traumatic experience”.
Today, the memory of the 121 victims is honoured annually at the chapel of the Dormition of the Virgin Mary in Grammatiko, built at the exact crash site, where relatives and friends gather to pray for their loved ones.
(information from CNA)
