Investigators search for Greece plane-crash clues

ACCIDENT investigators will be scouring the wreckage of the doomed Helios Airways flight that crashed near Athens for clues as to what might have caused the disaster.

However, it already seems that one of their main lines of enquiry will be whether the plane fell victim to a loss of cabin pressure.

Passengers reportedly sent texts to family and friends shortly before the crash which said the temperature was below freezing and they were short of oxygen.

The plane also apparently failed to respond to radio messages from air traffic controllers, suggesting the crew could have been rendered unconscious.

But Eric Moody, a former captain with British Airways, said that even in a slow “creeping” decompression alarms should have alerted the pilots to danger before it was too late.

Commercial pilots are equipped with their own oxygen masks in the cockpit, and should have received a great deal of training on how to recognise the signs, according to Mr Moody.

However, he added that if the pilots had somehow become incapacitated by a drop in pressure there would be no reason for the plane to crash straight away.

Mr Moody said: “The pressurising system is totally independent from the flying controls.

“If it was on automatic pilot at the time, as it probably would have been, there’s no reason why it would have crashed immediately due to lack of pressure.”

In October 1999 US golfer Payne Stewart’s private Lear jet depressurised, causing the crew and passengers to lose consciousness.

The craft flew for four hours, failing to respond to radio calls, before it finally crashed in South Dakota. It is still not clear why the pilots did not use supplemental oxygen.

Mr Moody said yesterday’s incident did not currently sound like it had been caused by an explosion.

“If it’s an explosive decompression there’s a big bang, and lots of white mist as the air inside disappears.

“You have to get an oxygen mask on as quickly as you can for an emergency descent.

“An explosive decompression is something that pilots practise regularly.”

The Helios Airways Boeing 737 was headed from Larnaca, Cyprus to Athens International Airport yesterday when it plunged out of the sky at about 12.20pm local time near the coastal town of Grammatikos, about 25 miles north of the Greek capital.

It was due to fly on to Prague, Czech Republic after stopping in Athens.

After losing contact with Athens’ control tower, the Greek air force scrambled two F-16 fighter jets which were nearby when it crashed.

Mr Moody said “creeping” decompressions can be caused by leaks from faulty window seals, or any other small breach of the hull.

“Most commercial airlines have a lot of checks for that kind of thing,” he added.