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Helios airways flight 522 date12/18/2023 The air pressure level in the cabin was shown to be the same as it had been at 8,500 feet, when the second malfunction (overheating) in the communication cooling system (found under the pilot’s seat) occurred. As the aircraft rose to its cruising altitude of 34,000 feet and the problem remained unsolved, the gradual decompression began to affect passengers and crew the latter, however, did not realize what was wrong. The pressure switch had not been checked and so remained in the manual position the warning alarm caused confusion since the same alarm also sounds for a quite different malfunction – the position of the flaps and the wheels while on the ground. The aircraft cabin was already losing pressure and, as it turned out, the flight crew had not carried out the appropriate checks before takeoff in accordance with the pre-takeoff checklist. Technicians on the ground in Larnaca had left the cabin air pressure switch in the manual position, instead of switching it over to auto, as they were supposed to do. The warnings (both an alarm and a light) came when the aircraft rose above 10,000 feet. Clarifications were sought from technicians on the ground. During takeoff, just a few minutes after 9 a.m., instruments almost simultaneously gave two warnings regarding air pressure and cooling systems. Mistakes on the ground The Helios aircraft crashed because of errors made on the ground which were then not dealt with in the air. As for Helios Airways, the findings point to criminal negligence on the ground and in the air, both on the part of company officials and ground staff involved in the particular flight. The report will attribute blame to both state and airline authorities for the unprecedented lack of any evaluation of the flight security system by the Cypriot Civil Aviation Authority. Sources have revealed to Kathimerini that the report will attribute a long series of mistakes on the part of all those in Cyprus involved in flight security. Apparently neither of the two malfunctions that appeared simultaneously during the flight could have caused the aircraft to crash if there had not also been dozens of other omissions related to flight security. These are accessible by car and are clearly signposted.The crash of a Boeing aircraft near Athens last August that killed all 121 passengers and crew will go down in aviation history as a case study of what can go wrong, according to an interim report to be released by the Investigation Commission for Accidents and Flight Security (EDAAP) in early April. The wreckage of the aircraft was removed from the site and a large cross and a church have been built in the memory of the victims of Helios Airways Flight 522. Helios Airways flight 522 was featured on the documentary series Air Crash Investigation (or Mayday in some markets) in the episode called Ghost Plane The chief purser was Louisa Vouteri, 32 years old, a Greek national living in Cyprus. He had accrued 7 549 flight hours during his career. The first officer - Pampos Charalambous, 51 years old, was a Cypriot pilot who flew for Helios for the last five years. He had 16 900 flight hours accumulated during a 35 year old career which included flying for Interflug before 1990. The captain was a 58 years old German contract pilot - Hans Jürgen Merten who had a contract with Helios Airways for the duration of the holiday season. On the day of the fatal flight the aircraft arrived from London Heathrow Airport LHR EGLL at 01.25 AM in the morning and was scheduled to depart Larnaca Airport, Cyprus at 09.00 AM local time for Prague Airport with a stopover at Athens Airport. At the time of the accident Helios Airways had another three leased planes, two Boeing 737-800s and an Airbus A319. Later on 16 April 2004 Helios Airways leased the plane registered it as 5B-DBY and gave the name Olympia to the aircraft. The incident aircraft performed its maiden flight on 29 December 1997 and was operated initially by DBA starting with 1998. It is also the fourth-deadliest crash involving a Boeing 737-300. The aircraft that operated the flight was a Boeing 737-31S. All the 121 people on board (115 passengers and 6 crew) were killed in the crash - this being the deadliest aviation disaster in Greece. The accident was caused by lack of oxygen that incapacitated the crew and passengers, although the airplane kept flying on autopilot and performed holding patterns it eventually run run out of fuel and crashed near Grammatiko just 40 km (25 mi) from Athens. Helios Airways Flight 522 (Flight numbers: HCY 522 or ZU522) was a scheduled passenger flight operated by Helios Airways which crashed into a mountain on the 14 August 2005, just nort of Marathon, Greece while enroute from Larnaca Airport to Prague Airport with scheduled stopover at Athens Airport
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