Originally Posted by
AndoniP
henra
you might want to do a bit of reading yourself.
in the helios crash both pilots were in the cockpit but had succumbed to hypoxia. it was the door that prevented the cabin crew member (who was using a portable oxygen tank) from entering the cockpit. had he managed to get in earlier he may have been able to do something about the crash, as he was a CPL himself.
After this admonishment I obviously had to read the Accident Report again.
I only remembered that the left seat was vacant when the F-16 accompanied it. Note to self: Don't write just from Memory.
Therefore I accept being set right.
Now for the minute details:
The captain apparently left his seat to check Circuit Breakers but did indeed not leave the cockpit.
But after having read the report again it seems this example is anyway a bad one for the door lock topic since the mentioned cabin attendant managed to enter the cockpit using the emergency code and took the captain's seat but could not manage to recover the descending aircraft.
Still no one ever suggested this was a suicide. Which was my original point apart from the minute details about which we can still argue.