Helios Flight 522: How a Single Switch Killed 121 Passengers
Summary
TLDRHelios Airways Flight 522, on August 14, 2005, became a tragic tale of miscommunication and oversight. The flight from Cyprus to Prague via Athens devolved into a silent disaster when the crew failed to recognize a pressurization issue, leading to hypoxia. Despite alarms and warnings, the pilots did not don oxygen masks, leading to impaired judgment. The flight eventually crashed near Grammatico village, claiming all 121 lives on board. Investigations revealed organizational failures and a flawed alarm system, resulting in legal battles and convictions.
Takeaways
- 🛫 Helios Airways Flight 522, a Boeing 737, was scheduled to fly from Cyprus to Prague via Athens on August 14, 2005, but ended in a tragic accident.
- 🔍 The flight crew reported a strange banging noise from one of the plane's doors during an earlier flight, which was inspected but not properly resolved.
- 🛠 The pressurization mode selector was mistakenly left on manual after ground inspection, leading to a lack of cabin pressurization during the flight.
- 👨🔧 Alan Irwin, a UK engineer, was in charge of the inspection and failed to recognize the pressurization mode selector was not reset to auto.
- 👨✈️ Captain Hans Jürgen Merton and First Officer Pampos Harolambos had a combined 23,000 hours of flying experience but overlooked the pressurization issue during their pre-flight checklist.
- 🚨 The pilots misinterpreted a critical pressurization alarm as a less severe takeoff configuration warning, failing to take appropriate action.
- 😵💫 Both pilots suffered from hypoxia due to the lack of oxygen in the cabin, leading to impaired judgment and inability to address the situation.
- 🛩️ Two F-16 fighter jets were dispatched to investigate the unresponsive aircraft, revealing the pilots were unconscious and passengers motionless.
- 🆘 Flight attendant Andreas Prodromo, a qualified pilot but without Boeing 737 training, attempted to control the plane during its descent.
- 💥 Flight 522 crashed into hilly terrain near Grammatico village, resulting in the loss of all 121 lives on board due to the rapid descent and impact.
- 📋 The air accident investigation report cited multiple failures in recognizing the pressurization issues and criticized an ineffective organizational culture.
Q & A
What was the scheduled route of Helios Airways Flight 522 on August 14, 2005?
-The flight was scheduled to travel from Cyprus to Prague via Athens.
Why did the Greek army send two F-16 fighter jets to investigate Helios Airways Flight 522?
-The Greek army sent the jets to investigate because there had been no communication from the plane for over an hour and the pilots were nowhere to be seen.
What was the initial issue reported by the crew on the night of August 13, 2005?
-The crew reported a loud banging noise coming from one of the plane's doors and noticed that the seal around the door was frozen.
Who was in charge of the inspection of the plane after the crew reported the door issue?
-44-year-old Alan Irwin, a well-liked and hands-on engineer from the UK, was in charge of the inspection.
What was the critical mistake made by Alan Irwin and his team during the inspection?
-The critical mistake was that the pressurization mode selector was not set back to auto after performing the on-the-ground pressurization leak check.
Why was Captain Hans Jurgen Merten fired from his previous job at Jet2?
-Hans Jurgen Merten was fired for repeated failures to comply with standard procedures.
What was the consequence of the pilots not noticing the pressurization mode selector was still on manual?
-The cabin was not automatically pressurizing, leading to a situation where the air was getting thinner and there was increasingly less oxygen available.
What was the misinterpreted alarm that the pilots received at 12,000 feet?
-The pilots misinterpreted the cabin altitude warning alarm as an erroneous takeoff configuration warning.
Why did the crew and passengers lose consciousness on Helios Airways Flight 522?
-The crew and passengers lost consciousness due to rapid onset hypoxia caused by inadequate cabin pressurization and lack of oxygen.
What was the final fate of Helios Airways Flight 522?
-The flight collided with the terrain just outside of Grammatico village, resulting in the loss of all 121 lives on board.
What were the charges brought against Helios officials, including Alan Irwin, after the accident?
-Helios officials, including Alan Irwin, were charged with manslaughter after a legal battle with the Greek courts.
Outlines
🛫 Helios Flight 522: The Start of a Tragic Journey
The script begins with the eerie tale of Helios Airways Flight 522, which took off on August 14, 2005, from Cyprus to Prague via Athens. The flight mysteriously entered a loop at 35,000 feet with no communication for over an hour, leading to the Greek army dispatching F-16 fighter jets for investigation. The pilots were missing, signaling an impending disaster. The narrative rewinds to the previous day, detailing the flight's departure from London Heathrow and the subsequent strange banging noise from the plane's door. The issue was logged, and upon landing at Larnaca Airport, the crew passed the information to the ground engineer team for inspection. Alan Irwin, a UK engineer, performed a pressurization leak check, switching the pressurization mode selector from auto to manual, but failed to switch it back, setting the stage for the tragic events to unfold.
🔍 Pre-Flight Checks and the Chain of Errors
This paragraph delves into the pre-flight activities of Helios Flight 522. The crew, including two stand-ins due to staff sickness, went through their checklists hurriedly, missing the critical error of the pressurization mode selector still being on manual. The pilots, Captain Hans Jurgen Merton and First Officer Pampos Harolambos, had a troubled history, with Hans having been fired from a previous job for non-compliance with procedures and Pampos known for rushing through checklists. Despite their combined experience, they failed to notice the pressurization issue. As the plane climbed to 34,000 feet, the lack of oxygen in the cabin went unnoticed, and a loud alarm was misinterpreted as a takeoff configuration warning, further escalating the situation.
⚠️ The Alarm Ignored: Hypoxia Sets In
The narrative intensifies as the pilots of Flight 522, suffering from hypoxia due to the lack of cabin pressurization, misinterpret the critical alarm as a mere glitch. The effects of hypoxia, which include confusion, disorientation, and mood changes, quickly incapacitated the pilots, preventing them from taking necessary actions. Meanwhile, the master caution light indicated that oxygen masks had dropped in the cabin, providing only 12 minutes of oxygen, but the pilots were too impaired to understand the situation. Passengers and crew were left in a dire situation as the plane continued to fly on autopilot, reaching its cruising altitude with everyone on board unconscious or worse.
🚁 F-16 Intercept and the Realization of a Disaster
As Flight 522 entered Athens airspace, air control's repeated attempts to contact the plane went unanswered, leading to the dispatch of two F-16 fighter jets. The pilots of the F-16s reported a grim scene: the cockpit was empty, the first officer was slumped over the control panel, and the captain was missing, later found to have passed out. All passengers were motionless, their oxygen masks hanging uselessly above them. The realization of a major disaster struck as the plane entered an automated holding pattern over the Greek island of Kea, circling endlessly without any human control.
🛬 The Final Descent and Tragic Impact
In the final moments of Flight 522, Andreas Prodromo, a flight attendant and qualified pilot, attempted to control the plane from the cockpit. However, his lack of training on a Boeing 737 and the rapidly deteriorating situation led to a fatal outcome. As the plane ran out of fuel, it began to descend rapidly, with Andreas' desperate mayday calls going unanswered. The F-16 pilots watched helplessly as the plane crashed into the terrain near Grammatico village, killing all 121 people on board. The aftermath of the tragedy involved investigations, lawsuits, and legal battles, with the airline eventually going out of business and several officials found guilty of manslaughter, though some were able to avoid full punishment.
🏔️ The Legacy of Helios Flight 522
The script concludes with the lasting impact of the Helios Flight 522 tragedy. A memorial has been erected at the crash site to honor the victims, serving as a reminder of the lives lost. The incident highlighted the dangers of organizational culture that overlooks safety protocols and the importance of proper training and adherence to procedures. The story also raises questions about the actions of the cabin crew during the crisis and the potential missteps that may have led to their incapacitation, leaving the true details of their final moments a mystery.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Helios Airways Flight 522
💡Pressurization Mode Selector
💡Hypoxia
💡Cabin Pressurization
💡Autopilot
💡F-16 Fighter Jets
💡Air Accident Investigation
💡Manslaughter Charges
💡Oxygen Masks
💡Legal Settlement
💡Memorial
Highlights
Helios Airways Flight 522 was stuck in a loop at 35,000 feet with no communication for over an hour, leading to a tragic airplane disaster.
The flight, a Boeing 737, had an initial issue with a door seal that was inspected but not properly resolved, setting off a chain of events.
The pressurization mode selector was left on manual, causing the cabin to not pressurize automatically, leading to a lack of oxygen.
Pilots failed to notice the abnormal altitude readings and ignored the cabin altitude warning alarm, mistaking it for a glitch.
Captain Hans Jurgen Merten had been fired from a previous job for not complying with procedures, a fact unknown to Helios Airways.
First Officer Pampos Harolambos had a history of rushing through checklists and was seeking new employment due to disagreements with the captain.
Both pilots were suffering from hypoxia, leading to impaired judgment and a failure to don oxygen masks when alarms sounded.
Flight attendant Andreas Prodromo, a qualified pilot without Boeing 737 training, attempted to control the plane during the crisis.
The plane entered an automated holding pattern after running out of fuel, with no one capable of flying it.
Two F-16 fighter jets were dispatched to investigate, revealing the dire situation inside the unresponsive aircraft.
All passengers and crew were found motionless, with oxygen masks hanging uselessly, indicating a complete loss of consciousness due to hypoxia.
Andreas Prodromo was seen in the cockpit attempting to control the plane, but the engines failed due to fuel deprivation.
Flight 522 crashed into hilly terrain, resulting in a fireball and the loss of all 121 lives on board.
An investigation report cited organizational failures and an ineffective culture that contributed to the disaster.
Legal battles ensued, with families suing Boeing and Helios officials charged with manslaughter, highlighting the negligence in alarm system design.
A memorial stands at the crash site, serving as a reminder of the tragedy and the lives lost.
Transcripts
[Music]
requested
on the 14th of august 2005 at 7 30 a.m
helios airways flight 522 a flight
scheduled to travel from cyprus to
prague via athens was stuck on a loop 35
000 feet in the sky and there had been
no communication from the plane for over
an hour
in a state of confusion the greek army
sent two f-16 fighter jets to
investigate but as one of the pilots
glanced a view inside the aircraft they
saw that disaster was about to unfold
because the pilots were nowhere to be
seen
they were about to witness one of the
worst airplane disasters in european
history
and it left everyone on the ground with
one question
what happened to helios flight
[Music]
the story of helios flight 522 began at
9 pm on saturday the 13th of august 2005
when a boeing 737 aircraft nicknamed
olympia departed london heathrow for
lanica cyprus the plane was owned by
helios airways a low-cost cypriot
airline that charted flights between
cyprus and the rest of europe the flight
was initially fairly uneventful but then
the crew heard something strange a loud
banging noise was coming from one of the
plane's doors upon further inspection it
also seemed that the seal around the
door was frozen following procedure one
of the flight's crew members made a note
of the incident in the aircraft cabin
defect log and when the plane landed at
larnica airport at 1 25 am local time
those notes were passed to the captain
for review who personally spoke to the
ground engineer team to ensure a full
inspection was carried out and with that
the crew left and a full inspection
began
the man in charge of the inspection was
44 year old alan irwin a well-liked and
hands-on engineer from the uk who had
been hired by helios airways on a
six-month contract
following standard operating procedure
for a boeing 737 allen carried out a
cabin pressurization leak check to test
the integrity of the door to do this he
and his team needed to manually
pressurize the plane while it was still
on the ground as part of that process
allen switched something known as the
pressurization mode selector located on
the cockpit panel from auto to manual
it's important to remember that a
plane's onboard pressurization system
ensures that the plane is adequately
oxygenated as it gains altitude this is
something that is always done
automatically but a manual option is
available in order to perform
on-the-ground tests however going
through this process allen and the rest
of his team were unable to recreate the
problem and so after carrying on with
other routine checks he noted down that
there were no known defects no leaks and
no abnormal noises alan and the rest of
his team felt that the on-board
pressurization system was working just
fine this is the moment that starts off
a chain of events that will seal the
fate of everyone on board because the
pressurization mode selector had not
been set back to auto
on sunday the 14th of august 2005 at 3
15 a.m local time the aircraft was
released for its 6am flight to prague
via athens
fast forward to 5am the crew for flight
522 arrived an hour before departure to
complete a standard pre-flight briefing
due to staff sickness there had been
some difficulty in putting together a
full crew luckily two attendants louisa
volterra and andreas prodromo were able
to fill in last minute initially andreas
was reluctant to join the crew but would
eventually agree after discovering that
his girlfriend also a flight attendant
was serving as a member of the cabin
crew on that particular flight the four
flight attendants would join 59 year old
captain hans jurgen merton and 51 year
old first officer pampos harolambos two
experienced pilots with a collective 23
thousand hours of flying experience
between them together this crew of six
would serve 115 passengers around a
third of whom were children
as the cabin crew were preparing for
takeoff they knew that this would be an
easy and short flight with experienced
pilots
but what they didn't know is that hans
was fired three months earlier by
british airline jet 2 for repeated
failures to comply with standard
procedures
in fact nobody knows this not even
helios themselves because han's
references were never asked for
on top of this first officer pampas also
has a record of rushing through
checklists and to make matters worse the
two pilots don't exactly see eye to eye
in fact pampos had complained multiple
times about han's attitude and was
actively seeking new employment
nonetheless as passengers began to board
the plane pamphos and hans worked
through their standard pre-flight
checklist
it is here that the string of
catastrophic errors continued
pre-flight checklists are lists of tasks
that should be performed by pilots and
aircrew prior to takeoff in the cockpit
pilots will be working through multiple
lists designed to ensure that all
switches and indicators are in the
correct positions but flight 522 was
slightly behind schedule and so as both
hans and pamhos rushed through their
checklists they both failed to register
that the pressurization mode selector
was still on manual at 607 am seven
minutes behind schedule the aircraft
took off from lanikai airport for the
first few minutes everything seemed
perfectly normal
four minutes after takeoff at 6 11 am
ground control cleared flight 522 for a
final cruising altitude of 34 000 feet
and the plane began its climb through
the clear blue cypriot sky it should be
said at this point that only the last
few hours of in-flight cockpit
recordings are actually available and so
much of this story has been pieced
together using the in-flight data
recorder on the ground recordings and
testimony as well as clues from the
crash site and what this all shows is
that due to the pressurization mode
selector still being set to manual the
cabin was not automatically pressurizing
meaning the air was getting thinner and
there was increasingly less oxygen
even though multiple indicators on the
cockpit dashboard clearly showed that
the altitude inside the cabin was
abnormally high for some reason neither
hans nor pampas
two pilots with tens of thousands of
hours of flight experience between them
noticed
at twelve thousand feet and climbing yet
another fatal and inexplicable error was
made when a loud alarm started sounding
in the cockpit
because the pilots had missed the
earlier signs that the cabin was not
adequately pressurizing
they misread this loud alarm as an
erroneous takeoff configuration warning
in other words a glitch this was in fact
the cabin altitude warning alarm while
the two sound exactly the same
where the alarm sounds indicates which
it is and when it sounds off in the air
it means one thing and one thing only
that there is an immediate and urgent
issue with the cabin pressurization and
that oxygen masks should be worn
immediately
neither hans nor pampos did this
instead at 6 14 am hans made a call down
to the helios dispatcher on the ground
at first he mentioned the erroneous
takeoff configuration warning which was
sounding in the cockpit this confused
the dispatcher because a takeoff
configuration alarm cannot sound at
twelve thousand feet in the air and so
he handed the call over to alan irwin
the on-duty ground engineer who had
performed the plane's inspection earlier
on in the day but things became even
stranger when the captain began to radio
down about a ventilation cooling system
error he stated that quote the
ventilation cooling fan lights were off
then moments later he directly
contradicted himself
to alan who was listening in on the
ground the conversation was as confusing
as it was bizarre but perhaps alan
thought hans is confusing two lights
that sit closely together and it was at
this point that he asked the captain
about the pressurization mode selector
to which he received no reply
allen didn't realize it at the time but
hans was behaving strangely because he
and his co-pilot were both suffering
from rapid onset hypoxia
a condition whereby the body is deprived
of oxygen
[Music]
the effects of hypoxia on the human body
are strange
at first the vision worsens slightly and
then confusion and disorientation begin
to set in quickly followed by lack of
coordination and then a mood change
which for some can be extreme
irritability and for some euphoria what
is particularly terrifying about hypoxia
is that one of the symptoms can be a
disassociation from the self meaning
sometimes people cannot truly grasp what
is happening to them
because hans and pampas did not
immediately put on their oxygen masks in
response to the alarm at 15 000 feet and
climbing these symptoms were coming on
very quickly and as they set in a
warning light known as the master
caution light came on to indicate that
masks had now dropped inside the
passenger cabin
those masks were able to distribute
approximately 12 minutes of oxygen per
person
more than enough for a plane to descend
to a safe and breathable altitude this
was yet another warning that something
was wrong with the cabin pressurization
system but it was too late
both pilots were now too impaired to
understand what was happening and they
were unable to work through the problem
logically instead both pilots got
distracted by the equipment cooling
light which came on because the onboard
computer systems were not being cooled
properly due to the inadequate
pressurization and it was this that both
pilots chose to focus on in their
increasingly hypoxic state
hans believed that it could be fixed by
a system reset and down on the ground
allen still baffled continued to ask
cons about the pressurization mode
selector hans ignored him and demanded
to know where the circuit cooling
breakers were to which allen replied
behind your seat
13 minutes after the flight took off at
6 20 am the line went silent
and alan confused but satisfied that he
had answered all of the captain's
questions
went home
at this point passengers inside the
cabin would have only had a few minutes
of oxygen left
we can never know what happened in that
cabin but we can reasonably assume that
there would have been panic and
confusion
following procedure the cabin crew would
have been seated waiting for the pilots
to perform an emergency descent to a
safe altitude instead the plane was on
autopilot and was continuing its climb
to 34 000 feet all the while the cabin
crew would have been aware that the
masks were fast running out of oxygen
as the passengers and the crew were
struggling in their last moments of
consciousness at 6 29 am the helios
dispatcher who initially took the call
from hans contacted ground control at
nearby nicosia airport he stated that he
hadn't been able to make further contact
with flight 522 for nine minutes the
dispatcher at necosia airport also
failed to reach the cockpit and at 6 36
a.m 16 minutes after last contact flight
522 began to enter athens airspace and
was handed over to athenian air control
over the next 40 minutes the air control
center team at athens and several planes
in the vicinity attempted and failed to
make contact
over 30 calls were made across multiple
frequencies
there was of course radio silence
flight 522 still looked as if it was
operating as normal leading teams on the
ground to theorize that there was an
issue with the onboard radio system at 7
20 am flight 522 began what looked like
a standard approach procedure but air
control watched on an utter astoundment
as the plane began to slowly turn back
around in the same direction that it
came entering what is known as an
automated holding pattern as part of its
missed approach procedure
over the greek island of kea
and it was here that flight 522 stayed
flying around on a repeated loop at this
point teams on the ground knew that
something was desperately wrong by 8 23
am the emergency level was elevated to
alert the hellenic air force had been
contacted and two f-16 fighter aircraft
were dispatched
just nine minutes later at 8 32 am the
two f-16 pilots described the disaster
that was about to unfold before
everyone's eyes
teams on the ground listened in horror
as they were told that first officer
pampos haralambos was slumped over the
control panel and captain hans jugg and
martin was nowhere to be seen
later they would find out that he had
passed out searching for the switch
behind his seat no one was flying that
plane the two f-16 pilots went on to
describe how all passengers were sat
completely motionless with their oxygen
masks dangling uselessly above them
i saw two passengers on the left side of
the aircraft they were sat motionless in
their seats and were wearing oxygen
masks on their faces that's when i saw
additional oxygen masks dangling from
the passengers overhead units even
though the passenger cabin was dark i
could see the shadow of the oxygen hoses
and masks against the daylight shining
through the windows on the other side of
the passenger cabin
the emergency level was now set to the
highest possible as rescue teams on the
ground attempted to make sense of this
horrifying new information
and then at 8 49 am during the plane's
tenth holding pattern the f-16 pilot
observed someone slowly making their way
to the cockpit the person put on a pair
of headphones and placed their hand on
the controls in front of them but just
one minute later the left engine stopped
working due to fuel deprivation and the
plane all of a sudden began to rapidly
descend the following conversation is
recorded between the two f-16 pilots and
the rescue teams on the ground
[Music]
it's at this point that they realize
that the person in the cockpit is
andreas pedromo one of the flight
attendants who agreed to fill in for a
sick colleague at the last moment
andreas investigators would later find
out was a qualified pilot and it
appeared that he was controlling the
plane but he had no training on a boeing
737 and the plane was now rapidly losing
altitude at a rate of around 1 500 feet
per minute
the f-16 pilots desperately tried to
make visual contact but andreas was not
responding
instead the words mayday mayday may day
this is helios airways flight 522
was weakly spoken into the cockpit radio
which was set to the wrong frequency
these recordings would later be
recovered from the crash site but as the
plane was going down andreas was
speaking into the void
[Music]
terrain
am the right engine on the plane gave
out
at this point andreas looked directly at
the f-16 pilot slowly lifted his hand
and weakly pointed downwards
[Music]
foreign
the plane's descent was happening so
quickly that the teams on the ground
were struggling to keep up
altitude
altitude
[Music]
[Music]
at nine hours 3 minutes and 32 seconds
flight 522 collided with the rolling
hilly terrain just outside of gramatico
village at 400 miles per hour causing a
fireball that instantly raised several
acres of land to the ground all 121
people on board lost their lives
instantly several were members of the
same family some were couples who went
on holiday leaving their children with
their parents reports would later show
that most passengers were alive but
unconscious
after the wild speculation amongst the
media subsided a
186-page air accident investigation
report was written this report cited
multiple failures to recognise the cabin
pressurization issues as they arose on
the day but they also revealed an
ineffective and dangerous organizational
culture that bent the rules beyond
recognition
in the absence of all but the last hour
of the cockpit voice recorder
one question is often asked about helios
flight 522
why did the cabin crew not immediately
enter the cockpit
and if they did why did they not make
contact with teams on the ground over
the radio
this is especially puzzling considering
that they had access to several hours of
oxygen
as well as clearly the cockpit access
code
even the report itself states that it is
rather puzzling
but perhaps the on-plane oxygen system
can give us a clue
because of the way the emergency oxygen
system works on a plane it's likely that
the adult passengers would have run out
of oxygen first
the crew had access to four emergency
oxygen cylinders and we know that three
of them were used but how and in what
manner is unclear is it possible that
some of the cabin crew may have
attempted to share their masks with say
one or several of the flight's younger
passengers
if this did happen
this would have created an extremely
dangerous situation because at 34 000
feet the effects of hypoxia set in at
around 30 seconds making the window for
what is referred to as useful
consciousness very short indeed perhaps
in order to help other passengers the
crew inadvertently incapacitated
themselves perhaps this was done in the
time that their own masks ran out on
their way to the emergency oxygen
cylinders or perhaps andreas
incapacitated himself helping his
partner these are of course just
theories because ultimately we will
never know
helios airways continued operations
until november 2006 but sustained
massive losses and eventually went out
of business
in 2007 several families of those who
died in the crash sued boeing for 76
million euros the lawyer leading the
case highlighted that having the same
alarm in place for two different types
of dysfunction one relatively minor and
the other with potentially devastating
consequences was negligent
all parties ended up settling out of
court
and then in 2008 four helios officials
including alan irwin were charged with
manslaughter and after a complicated
legal battle with the greek courts were
all eventually found guilty in april
2012. by 2013 however alan irwin had
successfully appealed
other helios officials were sentenced to
10 years but were all ultimately able to
pay their way out for 79 000 euros
this has angered some
who feel that to this day
justice has not been served today a
memorial dedicated to the victims has
been built on the crash site
it stands as a reminder of the lives
lost in this unbelievable tragedy
so
[Music]
you
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