Update on Cyprus investigation and Tsolakis' report [from the Cyprus Mail online edition for today]:
Local Helios commission suspends hearings pending Tsolakis report
THE COMMISSION of Inquiry into the causes of the Helios air crash suspended its hearings yesterday ahead of the publication of the final report on the causes of the crash.
The announcement was made by Commission chair Panayiotis Kallis, noting that the first round of witnesses who were invited to testify was completed.
He also said that the Commission will continue with the second round of testimonies once it examines the report of the Greek Air Accident and Incidents Investigating Committee which is chaired by Akrivos Tsolakis. The report is expected to be made public this week.
Meanwhile, during yesterday’s proceedings, the Commission heard that the German captain who flew the Helios Boeing which crashed at the Grammatikos site near Athens on 14 August 2005 killing all 121 people on board, had problems in 2004 in implementing the aircraft’s Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs).
However, the he had adjusted by 2005 and implemented the company’s SOPs.
Pilot Marios Ioannou said that Hans Jeurgen Merten was a “good captain and knew the aircraft”.
However, Kallis who heads the independent commission presented a written note by the company’s British pilot Robert Lascelles which said that Ioannou was one of the co-pilots who did not want to fly with Merten, something which Ioannou rejected.
Replying to a question by Helios’s lawyer Demetris Araouzos, Ioannou said that SOPs differ from company to company and time is allowed for training the pilots who will work on contract in a company so they will become familiar with the procedures.
Sotiris Nicolaou, who worked as pilot at Helios from May 2004 until February 2006, said he had no communication problems with Merten and problems in keeping the SOPs stopped in 2005.
Co-pilot Stelios Mavrogenis, who also worked for Helios during the same period with Nicolaou, said Merten had problems in implementing the SOPs because he was working on contract but underlined he never felt unsafe while flying with him.
Asked what kind of problems Merten had, Mavrogenis cited an instance when Merten had exceeded the speeding limit as they were landing, pulled the air brakes, the use of which is not indicated below a certain altitude and as a result the plane started shaking.
Mavrogenis said he wrote to Helios about these problems and the chief pilot talked to Merten about the incident, noting that in 2005 the German captain had improved as far as the SOPs were concerned.
Co-pilot Lazaros Katsouromallis who works for Helios since 2004 said that he flew with the ill-fated plane on a number of occasions and never had any problem. He also said he had a good cooperation and communication with Merten.
On August 14 2005, an Helios Airways Boeing 737, on its way to Prague via Athens, crashed into the mountain side north of the Greek capital killing all 121 passengers and crew on board, most of them Cypriot holidaymakers.
Former member of the Supreme Court Panayiotis Kallis was sworn in on 24 May 2006 as the member of the independent Commission of Inquiry that will fully look into the causes of the air crash.
The Kallis Commission is expected to name those involved in the tragedy so that the Attorney General can bring criminal liability charges against them.
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