BOAC
I was baffled too, since most of the international press carried the same news from the Tsolakis briefing about Prodromou entering the cockpit earlier with the code. So I contacted the editor of the Athens News; he advised that, due to space restrictions, the article, which went to press late Thursday, had to be limited to 750 words. He very kindly sent me the original draft, which included the comments on the Prodromou and cabin crew issue, as noted below. For the sake of brevity, I will just excerpt the Q & A.
According to the reporter’s original draft, which includes some marginal notes, the question you raise about the timing of the cabin crew’s entrance was asked more than once. The answer was: “This is still under investigation. We don’t know yet whether they could or did get into the cockpit earlier.”
Again, according to the draft, several reporters asked how the flight attendant and at least one other of the cabin crew had survived for 2.5 hours at an unpressurized cabin altitude of 26,000 feet. The answer was: “They used auxiliary O2 bottles.” Q: How long do these last? A: “Twenty-five minutes – they were using them interchangeably.”
Continuing, the next questions were: Why were traces of the co-pilot’s DNA (saliva) found on two different cockpit oxygen masks? Was there a lack of oxygen, or did the co-pilot need more until he could lower the plane? Did the captain leave his seat to find spare bottles in the passenger cabin? A: “This is still under investigation.”
Q: What about the medical report stating that both pilots had severe coronary blockage? The co-pilot’s wife strongly disputes this. A: “We haven’t studied the evidence of that in the coroner’s report. It is not yet confirmed.”
BOAC, there is much more in this text of the press conference; these are just a few of the topics covered. All in all, the re-enactment of the flight raised more questions than were answered.
Finally, I would like to wish you and all of our fellow pruneys a very Merry Christmas and all the best for the New Year to come!!