Deserter,
Admittedly, your scenario makes sense. Certainly, the valve canĒt go from full-open at 12,000 feet to ¾-shut at 34,000 feet, without some form of …manual intervention in between (assuming a cabin altitude of 26,000 feet at cruise height is the correct figure). That should dispel at least some of BOACĒs clouds.
Nonetheless, the argument sounds more like that of a Helios Investigation deserter (excuse the pun) from Seattle, than of Tsolakis himself. Although the words - coming from disparate interviews over the past 4 months - may be his, he certainly didnĒt sound so unequivocal at the press conference room after the re-enactment, if BFC has quoted him correctly.
Personally, I donĒt see why "the manufacturer" or the two lost pilots should bear the same blame for the disaster as "the airline". And that, IMHO, goes a long way towards explaining the Greek investigatorsĒ (and third partiesĒ) residual ambivalence.
They know they canĒt get the company off the hook, so they throw their net out wide enough to catch as much fish as they can, and let the lawyers separate the small fry from the sharks.
The pilots should have refused to get on that plane, thatĒs for sure. Even if this meant an early end to their professional careers and their 'easy' replacement by another condemned duo, including someone as desperate to fly as Prodromou. Who can accuse pilots for bowing to their employer if they like their job?
As for Boeing, their refusal to legitimize HeliosĒ shoddy maintenance and repairs culture became evident when they categorically denied having ever issued a clean bill of health for this or any other of the airlineĒs fleet. But even this was too little to late for stopping the disaster from "waiting to happen".
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi...&date=20050817