Talk:Cypriot plane with 121 on board crashes in Greece

Timeline

Theres something wrong with the timeline; the F-16 pilots establish visual contact *after* seeing the copilot unconcious?? --Pvtparts 16:35, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Good point. Also, unconscious pilots are unlikely to fly distress patterns. I'm removing that. If someone reports that such a pattern was indeed observed, we can always restore that line. Mpulier 17:36, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

I have no idea about aircraft operations but it is possible that the auto-pilot can be set to do such a thing? --Deprifry 18:32, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

By and large, no - a descent has to be initated manually. It might, might have circled its last waypoint at cruise altitude (which was filed as FL340, I understand), and then eventually ran out fuel. Dan100 (Talk) 23:06, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Post messages of condolence, talk about past experiences you might have had with Helios Airways, discuss the conduct of the company, its management and directors. http://helios-tragedy.blogspot.com/

Strange things

1. At the start it was said that the aircraft run out of fuel and fall. Not that possible cause the end destination ws Prague and it wasnt planned to be refueled in Athens. Also if it didnt had any fuels couldnt cause that huge fire on the ground.
2. No logical person would leave on the air a 200 tons aircraft flying till it runs out of fuel. Probably the F16 's jammed the auto pilot and blew it on the sky when it was over a deserted area.
3. They still cant find 3 persons including the pilot and they start to say that they may have evaporized on the fire. Is it possible such a tning and if yes why only these 3 people and specially the main pilot.
4. We invite people to post their comments on http://helios-tragedy.blogspot.com/

Cause

A decompression doesn't make sense - if the pilots passed out (who are trained to deal with such situations and have additional air supplies), why were the passengers still concsious? Also, why didn't the windows mist up, which always occurs with decompressions?

Ah, one of the sources says the oxygen masks dropped. Perhaps some of the passengers recovered as the aircraft descended (on autopilot?), and the windows cleared with time...

Previous pressurization problem reported

Cyprus media are reporting the same aircraft previously had a pressurization problem in the cockpit and had to perform an emergency landing a few months ago. I can not confirm this information. Anyone found out anything about this? --Yiango 18:01, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

See the Aviation Safety Network report. Mpulier 00:52, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

Re Pilots reporting problem on takeoff

Cyprus media are reporting that the pilots reported a problem with the airconditioning, not with the pressurization upon takeoff. Please explain why we are sticking to the story that the pilots reported pressurization problems. --Yiango 18:01, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

My removal of your changes was the result of an edit conflict and not intented. I've restored them and apologize. --Deprifry 18:24, August 14, 2005 (UTC)

No problem --Yiango 18:29, 14 August 2005 (UTC)

Passenger information

Please take care when updating the passenger information, as the international media have been proved wrong of the flight having '48 children on board'. The latest we know is of 21 children. Greek ERT article. Please wait for official information, which will be released to the public at noon, Cyprus time by the Minister Haris Thrasou. (CNA passenger list announcement). --Yiango 08:42, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

Update: the list has in fact been released and the names are being recited as I write on TV. Can not find the list online, however Politis newspaper has published the information as to the amount of children onboard, which I have included in the Wikinews article. --Yiango 10:33, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

Text Message Hoax?

What is the source for the allegation that the "cousin" receiving the message perpetrated a hoax? Posting a verifiable authority is important. All news media seem to have fallen for the story, which made front page headlines on many of today's newspapers. Mpulier 17:47, 15 August 2005 (UTC)

Hoax timeline ?

The hoax text message: "The pilot is dead. Farewell, my cousin, here we're frozen." It seems as though the message's content is at least somewhat accurate. Does anyone know the exact time the hoax was initially released? Specifically, was this hoax released before or after speculation that depressurization may have been the problem. From what I recall, the hoax message was released not long after the crash, before news about the F16's, and what the F16 pilots saw in the cockpit, was released. I could be wrong though, does anyone else have an opinion?