excerpts of Mr Stoimenov's intervew on bTV
This is an unofficial translation of the interview of the ex-Helios CP, Captain Yanko Stoimenov shown in prime time on Bulgarian bTV some time ago:
Seven years after the tragedy there are two criminal court cases in progress - in Greece and Cyprus. Bulgarian Yanko Stoimenov who was the chief pilot of the airline "Helios", was sentenced to 123 years in prison for the crash.
Greek court of first instance held that Stoimenov, along with three representatives of Helios, is responsible for the incident. Greek investigators assume that the crash was caused by human error and Stoimenov is responsible as the Chief Pilot of the airline.
In Cyprus, the case against Yanko Stoimenov and the three other defendants was dismissed but it is under appeal by the prosecution.
"The charges against us are that we allowed incompetent pilots to operate the plane," said Stoimenov. "The copilot held an English license. To get an English and a German license and be able to maintain it before coming to "Helios" cannot be done by an incompetent person. I last checked these pilots. Before, I had dozens of tests that have confirmed their competence.
Investigations into the crash in Greece and Cyprus have reached different conclusions. It is believed that the cause of the tragedy was cabin depressurization, leading to inadequate pilots and death. According to the Greek authorities, the pilots took off with the cabin selector in the wrong position - set to manual mode.
The paradox is that in such a scenario, many hypotheses exist. What is known is that the pilots did not recognize correctly the alarm. This Boeing alarm has a double meaning that got many pilots, before those of the "Helios" flight, confused and crashes had just been avoided.
The same signal is used for decompression and wrong configuration for departure. Recommendations have been sent years before this disaster to Boeing and if they were implemented that accident might not have happened.
Yanko Stoimenov who was Chief Pilot at "Helios" admits that six months before the deadly crash the same aircraft again had a problem with pressurization.
"Then the pilots did a brilliant job and managed to land the plane safely. The system had depressurized the aircraft without any human intervention.
The manufacturer of the system is a subcontractor of Boeing - a German company. They could not find a reason why their system depressurized the aircraft.
Why was this aircraft not removed from service after such a defect six months before the crash?
"Once the manufacturer himself could not find the reason, all components were replaced with new ones. I personally flew the aircraft to the maintenance facility in England, where the system was serviced. And I ferried it back without passengers.
For you as a professional was that not strange?
"In aviation, one must rely on the expertise of others. I was calm. Now it's hard to tell because I studied the system, and it is a computer, just as vulnerable. In the investigation of the crash no one looked at the history of failures of the computer system, that for example it was liable to radio transmissions. None of the Greek team has investigated why and if the computer has allowed the depressurization only because of a change in the switch position.
Could this type of system command a depressurization so easily?
"Official information about depressurization occurrences will hardly come to light. The information we have is that it was hundreds of times and that it confused pilots. "
Two years after the crash IATA did a research on cases of decompression of Boeing 737. Information was provided only by some airlines. These statistics indicate that for a year and a half there were 62 cases of depressurization and in nearly half of the cases the reason remains unclear - these are only the cases that were reported.
A team of independent Canadian experts analyzed the physical evidence from the plane crash near Athens. The main question was – manual position of the mode switch of the pressurization system, as the Greeks claimed, or automatic. If the setting was auto, this enhances a mechanical problem in the aircraft.
The Canadian independent expert team showed that the cause of depressurization was not the pilot actions and that the pilots have put the system in normal (auto) mode, in which you operate before departure. They examined the mechanical and collision traces and calculated that the position of the switch has been auto at impact, which clears the pilots.
"They were able to study the movement of the switch at the time of the crash, which clearly shows that it was placed where it should be. They are adamant that the pilots properly did the pre-flight inspection and there was a different reason for the depressurization. Probably technical.
A contradiction exists in the study of the light on the instrument panel that would illuminate in manual mode, but we have only photos of this and other details. The switch is gone, the light - too. Nobody knows where they are. The key evidence is missing.
"We want to find an explanation of what happened. And not to speculate on the actions of the pilots, unless all available evidence is taken into account, and some of the evidence was not even requested by the court, "says Yanko Stoimenov.
The last 30 minutes of the CVR audio recording from the cockpit are available. bTV has the official recording of the last moments of flight 522 on 14 August 2005.
Throughout the recording an alarm sounds. Recording ends, for technical reasons, and presumably a few minutes later the plane crashed.
No parallel analysis of the FDR and CVR recordings was ever made. What happened at the last moment is not known. Yanko Stoimenov hopes contradictions between the Greek and Canadian independent investigation, accepted by the court in Cyprus, will provoke a reopening of the investigation in Greece. Yanko and the other three defendants face a legal battle at two more institutions in Greece and Cyprus, with the hope that nobody will be condemned as a scapegoat.
For the relatives of the 115 people killed, including about 50 children, the question is no less painful?
"At the beginning of the case in Cyprus the mood was very hostile. We were physically abused, but then our embassy reacted and security measures were taken. It never happened again, but for two years we went to court with an escort. In court, I saw people who had lost their entire family. The pain was incredible, but pain is not always the best advisor. They were looking just for a victim, to direct their vengeance at, "said the Bulgarian.
Since he was sentenced for the plane crash Yanko Stoimenov cannot fly. He is working as a consultant and simulator instructor.
"This is the fourth year that I have to bear this stress, if I succumb to emotions, I won’t last a year. I do not want to go back to what I went through. I never thought that could happen and how it affected my health and my family. I would not go into details. But at one point ... There are many incentives that make me fight. "
"It is sad, because it is a year now, that I have not flown a plane," admits Yanko. "The good thing is that many people around the world are grateful I helped them learn to fly."
Last edited by swish266; 19th Aug 2012 at 15:13.