Helios Crash
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HELIOS CRASH TRUTH
To all Aviation professionals out there - We need your help.
As a family member of one of the accused. I am posting the below letter that one of the accused pilots wife wrote and was published by the Cyprus Mail. It's time to release the truth as to what these pilots / Engineer are going through. There is quite a lot that I would like to say but I believe that the below letter gives a good outline of what is going on. At the moment the defendants are being tried simultaneously in Cyprus and Greece. (2 EU countries) for the same incident?! Human Rights violations are beyond belief with translators failing to translate the simplest sections of such a technical case. Recently the Initial accident investigation report being used in the trial has been retracted by the 2 investigators who wrote it due to New physical evidence which counteracts their report. They requested that the case be reopened however this was rejected. Direct breach of ICAO Annex 13.
Please read it and pass this information on. Pilots and Engineers should not be tried in civil courts and treated like criminals especially when the physical evidence proves they are innocent!
Why is new evidence in the Helios crash being ignored? - Cyprus Mail
''I am shocked that the Cypriot press is mute about the new evidence regarding the causes of the Helios air crash as well as the proceedings in the criminal action in Greece.
As the wife of an innocent man - a professional pilot and extremely responsible person who was at the time the chief pilot of the company; an individual who has been wrongfully prosecuted, I believe I must speak up and make the public aware of the brutal violations of all professional ethics and fundamental human rights during the court proceedings in Greece.
For years the media, and the higher levels of power, speculated about the causes of the crash top appease the discontent of the public. At the end, through manipulation of public opinion they succeeded in creating the ‘villains’ destined to be used as scapegoats for the rage of all who suffered the unbearable losses in the crash.
In its final report, the Greek Board of Investigation (AAIASB) threw the whole blame on the two pilots wjp were portrayed as incompetent suicidal idiots. The sequence of their alleged actions, as detailed in the official report of Mr Tsolakis, which was not supported with any evidence, is a hypothesis that will not stand the test of the new findings of independent experts.
According to the official report’s hypothesis, the pressurisation system mode switch was ‘forgotten’ in the ‘manual’ position after the pre-flight check and inspection of the aircraft, and was left in that same position throughout the flight. Under the said scenario, everybody on the plane but one steward suffered hypoxia due to the slow depressurisation of the aircraft.
It is unacceptable, but a fact, that the switch at issue mysteriously disappeared. Other important components of the plane were manipulated or destroyed as was proven in the court in Cyprus. Until this day, there is no explanation why only one-third of the 256 parameters recording the condition of all major aircraft systems and flight data of the recovered “black box”, were decoded and analysed.
It is also inexplicable why the professional investigators failed to notice that a great number of the analysed parameters did not match or make sense at all. According to the data provided in the report, the passenger aircraft must have flown at supersonic speed while keeping its fuel consumption at the levels of a luxury limousine.
These astounding irregularities were discovered five years after the crash and were submitted during the proceedings in Cyprus. As a result of the discovered omissions Ajet, the company-successor of Helios assigned AIR - a team of independent Canadian experts, the task of analysing elements of the pressurisation system. The experts’ scientifically based conclusion is that the mode switch of the pressurisation system was in position ‘auto’ and not ‘manual’, as the Greek Board alleged. The logical question then is: what happened at the beginning of the flight that led to its fatal end? Why were the masks of the pilots never found but at the same time the communication switch was in the ‘mask’ position?
The standard practice in similar cases is to re-open the case/investigation and find the real causes. Contrary to the recommendations of numerous aviation organizations and investigation boards, the Greek board (AAIASB) refused to re-open the investigation referring to a consultation with Boeing, who are a party to the case. At a hearing of the Court of Appeal in Athens, Mr Tsolakis as witness and seeking to defend his report mentioned that in the course of the investigation he relied on the assistance of two prominent NTSB experts whose competence he had no doubt about. Later, it emerged that those same experts, Mr Caj Frostell and Mr Ron Schleede, sent an official letter in which they confirmed the substance of AIR’s evidence and recommended the re-opening of the investigation for the purposes of aviation safety.
The “hypothesis” report of the Greek board (AAIASB) became grounds for two parallel criminal lawsuits, which although not barred in the EU, is profound in its deliberate cruelty.
The lawsuit in Cyprus was based on an independent police investigation. The judges had time and opportunity to get acquainted with the complicated technical documentation of the case and to ultimately hold, despite political pressure, that the evidence submitted was such that no fair and reasonable court could convict a person. All prosecution witnesses, who could competently evaluate pilots and their performance, unequivocally stated that the pilots of the fateful flight were competent and there was no basis for them to be grounded before the flight.
In contrast to Cyprus, the magistrate's court in Greece accepted the AAIASB report as gospel, and with no second thought hastily sentenced four innocent people to 123 years jail. The news flashed around the world, bringing joy and satisfaction to some, pain and anguish from the obvious injustice to others.
1. Greece refused the defendants presentation of certain important exhibits related to the pressurisation system of the plane that were available in the Cyprus court proceedings.
2. The prosecution relied heavily for its case on the official accident report of the Greek investigators (AAIASB), notwithstanding the prohibition on this in the Chicago Convention of 1944 and European Regulation 996/2010 . They used it as a road map for the prosecution despite the new evidence provided by independent accident investigation experts from Canada, UK and USA, that challenged the conclusions in the final report.
3. Important exhibits that would have demonstrated the errors in the official report have been lost while in the keeping of the Greek Accident Investigation Board (AAIASB).
4. The Court failed in its obligation to provide adequate translation. The interpreter was not sufficiently competent to deal with the complex technical issues raised, but the request for proper interpreter, made evident from two of the defendants, who were foreigners, was rejected.
5. During the course of the hearings in Greece, the Bar council called on lawyers to strike. The court was requested to adjourn the hearing, but in flagrant breach of custom and practice, denied the defendants their basic right to representation and the trial continued in the absence of defence counsel. During these days a series of important witnesses testified, but the defence was not able to examine them.
6. The court also refused the defendants a request to allow a simple reconstruction of the workings of the pressurizsation system of a similar aircraft which would have demonstrated the impossibility of certain key findings in the official report.
7. The court exerted pressure on proceedings, and the defendants were not given time or opportunity to call a substantial number of their witnesses, most of which are experts who do not live in Greece and are engaged in professional duties in different parts of the world.
After many international institutions were notified about the numerous procedural and other violations during the investigation and trial, we believed that the Court of Appeal in Athens would proceed in a way consistent with the principles of European legislation, which allows for a fair trial. On October 26, 2012, the appellate trial began. The judges, entrusted with this technically complex case and supposed to start from the very beginning according to the Greek law, heard a total of three witnesses, whose competency to evaluate pilots’ performance is doubtful, and surprisingly concluded after the testimonies that the prosecution could rest. While the defence was provided a single day to summon all its witnesses, the Court announced that it would be ready with its opinion within three days. Aviation experts from all over the world readily flew in from thousands of miles to defend the truth. All of them unanimously stated that the pilots of the ill-fated Helios flight had been competent.
The experts proved that the conclusions of the official report were faulty and that the investigation must be re-opened in order to find the real causes of the crash.
It is more detrimental to society to convict innocent people than not to have a conviction. If today, despite the pain, accumulated wrath and thirst for redemption, we allow this judicial farce to victimise innocent people and to add to the number of the victims of the tragic crash, it will rest upon our own conscience''
As a family member of one of the accused. I am posting the below letter that one of the accused pilots wife wrote and was published by the Cyprus Mail. It's time to release the truth as to what these pilots / Engineer are going through. There is quite a lot that I would like to say but I believe that the below letter gives a good outline of what is going on. At the moment the defendants are being tried simultaneously in Cyprus and Greece. (2 EU countries) for the same incident?! Human Rights violations are beyond belief with translators failing to translate the simplest sections of such a technical case. Recently the Initial accident investigation report being used in the trial has been retracted by the 2 investigators who wrote it due to New physical evidence which counteracts their report. They requested that the case be reopened however this was rejected. Direct breach of ICAO Annex 13.
Please read it and pass this information on. Pilots and Engineers should not be tried in civil courts and treated like criminals especially when the physical evidence proves they are innocent!
Why is new evidence in the Helios crash being ignored? - Cyprus Mail
''I am shocked that the Cypriot press is mute about the new evidence regarding the causes of the Helios air crash as well as the proceedings in the criminal action in Greece.
As the wife of an innocent man - a professional pilot and extremely responsible person who was at the time the chief pilot of the company; an individual who has been wrongfully prosecuted, I believe I must speak up and make the public aware of the brutal violations of all professional ethics and fundamental human rights during the court proceedings in Greece.
For years the media, and the higher levels of power, speculated about the causes of the crash top appease the discontent of the public. At the end, through manipulation of public opinion they succeeded in creating the ‘villains’ destined to be used as scapegoats for the rage of all who suffered the unbearable losses in the crash.
In its final report, the Greek Board of Investigation (AAIASB) threw the whole blame on the two pilots wjp were portrayed as incompetent suicidal idiots. The sequence of their alleged actions, as detailed in the official report of Mr Tsolakis, which was not supported with any evidence, is a hypothesis that will not stand the test of the new findings of independent experts.
According to the official report’s hypothesis, the pressurisation system mode switch was ‘forgotten’ in the ‘manual’ position after the pre-flight check and inspection of the aircraft, and was left in that same position throughout the flight. Under the said scenario, everybody on the plane but one steward suffered hypoxia due to the slow depressurisation of the aircraft.
It is unacceptable, but a fact, that the switch at issue mysteriously disappeared. Other important components of the plane were manipulated or destroyed as was proven in the court in Cyprus. Until this day, there is no explanation why only one-third of the 256 parameters recording the condition of all major aircraft systems and flight data of the recovered “black box”, were decoded and analysed.
It is also inexplicable why the professional investigators failed to notice that a great number of the analysed parameters did not match or make sense at all. According to the data provided in the report, the passenger aircraft must have flown at supersonic speed while keeping its fuel consumption at the levels of a luxury limousine.
These astounding irregularities were discovered five years after the crash and were submitted during the proceedings in Cyprus. As a result of the discovered omissions Ajet, the company-successor of Helios assigned AIR - a team of independent Canadian experts, the task of analysing elements of the pressurisation system. The experts’ scientifically based conclusion is that the mode switch of the pressurisation system was in position ‘auto’ and not ‘manual’, as the Greek Board alleged. The logical question then is: what happened at the beginning of the flight that led to its fatal end? Why were the masks of the pilots never found but at the same time the communication switch was in the ‘mask’ position?
The standard practice in similar cases is to re-open the case/investigation and find the real causes. Contrary to the recommendations of numerous aviation organizations and investigation boards, the Greek board (AAIASB) refused to re-open the investigation referring to a consultation with Boeing, who are a party to the case. At a hearing of the Court of Appeal in Athens, Mr Tsolakis as witness and seeking to defend his report mentioned that in the course of the investigation he relied on the assistance of two prominent NTSB experts whose competence he had no doubt about. Later, it emerged that those same experts, Mr Caj Frostell and Mr Ron Schleede, sent an official letter in which they confirmed the substance of AIR’s evidence and recommended the re-opening of the investigation for the purposes of aviation safety.
The “hypothesis” report of the Greek board (AAIASB) became grounds for two parallel criminal lawsuits, which although not barred in the EU, is profound in its deliberate cruelty.
The lawsuit in Cyprus was based on an independent police investigation. The judges had time and opportunity to get acquainted with the complicated technical documentation of the case and to ultimately hold, despite political pressure, that the evidence submitted was such that no fair and reasonable court could convict a person. All prosecution witnesses, who could competently evaluate pilots and their performance, unequivocally stated that the pilots of the fateful flight were competent and there was no basis for them to be grounded before the flight.
In contrast to Cyprus, the magistrate's court in Greece accepted the AAIASB report as gospel, and with no second thought hastily sentenced four innocent people to 123 years jail. The news flashed around the world, bringing joy and satisfaction to some, pain and anguish from the obvious injustice to others.
1. Greece refused the defendants presentation of certain important exhibits related to the pressurisation system of the plane that were available in the Cyprus court proceedings.
2. The prosecution relied heavily for its case on the official accident report of the Greek investigators (AAIASB), notwithstanding the prohibition on this in the Chicago Convention of 1944 and European Regulation 996/2010 . They used it as a road map for the prosecution despite the new evidence provided by independent accident investigation experts from Canada, UK and USA, that challenged the conclusions in the final report.
3. Important exhibits that would have demonstrated the errors in the official report have been lost while in the keeping of the Greek Accident Investigation Board (AAIASB).
4. The Court failed in its obligation to provide adequate translation. The interpreter was not sufficiently competent to deal with the complex technical issues raised, but the request for proper interpreter, made evident from two of the defendants, who were foreigners, was rejected.
5. During the course of the hearings in Greece, the Bar council called on lawyers to strike. The court was requested to adjourn the hearing, but in flagrant breach of custom and practice, denied the defendants their basic right to representation and the trial continued in the absence of defence counsel. During these days a series of important witnesses testified, but the defence was not able to examine them.
6. The court also refused the defendants a request to allow a simple reconstruction of the workings of the pressurizsation system of a similar aircraft which would have demonstrated the impossibility of certain key findings in the official report.
7. The court exerted pressure on proceedings, and the defendants were not given time or opportunity to call a substantial number of their witnesses, most of which are experts who do not live in Greece and are engaged in professional duties in different parts of the world.
After many international institutions were notified about the numerous procedural and other violations during the investigation and trial, we believed that the Court of Appeal in Athens would proceed in a way consistent with the principles of European legislation, which allows for a fair trial. On October 26, 2012, the appellate trial began. The judges, entrusted with this technically complex case and supposed to start from the very beginning according to the Greek law, heard a total of three witnesses, whose competency to evaluate pilots’ performance is doubtful, and surprisingly concluded after the testimonies that the prosecution could rest. While the defence was provided a single day to summon all its witnesses, the Court announced that it would be ready with its opinion within three days. Aviation experts from all over the world readily flew in from thousands of miles to defend the truth. All of them unanimously stated that the pilots of the ill-fated Helios flight had been competent.
The experts proved that the conclusions of the official report were faulty and that the investigation must be re-opened in order to find the real causes of the crash.
It is more detrimental to society to convict innocent people than not to have a conviction. If today, despite the pain, accumulated wrath and thirst for redemption, we allow this judicial farce to victimise innocent people and to add to the number of the victims of the tragic crash, it will rest upon our own conscience''
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Cabin RoC
I am not familiar with the 73 but have many hours on the 75. I have had two occasions when, due to freezing slush, the outflow valve stuck, thus cutting out the auto pressurization. I was fully aware of what had happened even before all the various warnings manifested themselves. Ears can tell a story very quickly.
Were the 73’s pressurization not set, what would have been the cabin rate of climb and would it not have been apparent even before 1,000ft, let alone 10 or 20?
Were the 73’s pressurization not set, what would have been the cabin rate of climb and would it not have been apparent even before 1,000ft, let alone 10 or 20?
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Prober, just caught this at a late stage & I have not read through all of the previous. Apologies now for re-stating what might have already been discussed. I too flew 737,757 & 767. Pressurisation systems were similar if not identical. AUTO is a setting which permits fully automatic control of the dump valve. It is the normal ops setting. MANUAL was really meant for use if the auto system had failed. Manual gives electrically AC or DC control of the valve but through pilot inputs on the CLB/DEC rotary control. You are absolutely correct in stating that flight at any point in MANUAL would be easily detected by human sensing. The ears take a real wallop with insensitive use of the CLB/DEC control in MANUAL. Take off in the MANUAL position would have been instantly recognised as the cabin would climb / descend (whatever) at the same rate as the AIRCRAFT rate.
If the crew took off in MANUAL, they will have noticed immediately and switched to AUTO or at least manipulated the CLB/DEC facility in order to stabalise the situation in MANUAL & then go to AUTO. If, however, all was normal & the flight was conducted in AUTO, a failure, sometimes subtle, would in all probabilty still be "sensed" by the pilots and switching to MANUAL in order to attempt control of the dump valve would be a standard 'non -normal' procedure.
Again, deep apologies if this has all been discussed previously.
If the crew took off in MANUAL, they will have noticed immediately and switched to AUTO or at least manipulated the CLB/DEC facility in order to stabalise the situation in MANUAL & then go to AUTO. If, however, all was normal & the flight was conducted in AUTO, a failure, sometimes subtle, would in all probabilty still be "sensed" by the pilots and switching to MANUAL in order to attempt control of the dump valve would be a standard 'non -normal' procedure.
Again, deep apologies if this has all been discussed previously.
Per Ardua ad Astraeus
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If the crew took off in MANUAL, they will have noticed immediately
I cannot remember the detail of the Helios but I'm sure the 'implication' is that the crew did NOT notice the lack of pressurisation even when the horn went off.
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This case stinks. The Greek investigators obviously messed up with the report and their efforts to cover it led to some aviation professionals to be prosecuted for one and the same thing three times.
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Cyprus Mail link
Hi everyb!
I would like to post the link to the letter by the wife of Mr. Stoimenov again:
Why is new evidence in the Helios crash being ignored? - Cyprus Mail
Please make your position known by commenting on the article.
Let the press in Cyprus know how we all feel about this farce!
I would like to post the link to the letter by the wife of Mr. Stoimenov again:
Why is new evidence in the Helios crash being ignored? - Cyprus Mail
Please make your position known by commenting on the article.
Let the press in Cyprus know how we all feel about this farce!
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Athens Court
Maybe the time has come to stop flying or working on aircraft that are to enter Greek airspace. 123 years in a Greek jail can't be a whole lot of fun.
And if you are not getting support from your management just remind them that the Accountable Manager will also be sharing your cell!
And if you are not getting support from your management just remind them that the Accountable Manager will also be sharing your cell!
Legal Defense Costs
Whilst we should all be reminding our Accountable Managers they would join us in a Greek Jail ask him or her if your Company Insurers would cover the cost of a decent Defense team ie a cool few million euros, my advice here is don't listen to answers like ''Of course we wouldn't leave in the lurch'' or ''my goodness me of course every help would be offered to you'' It would be nice to see proof of help direct from the Insurers but don't hold your breath whilst waiting.
Last edited by marvo999; 22nd Jan 2013 at 16:37.
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Act Now Accountable Managers
Well said Marvo, I suspect that even Insurers run out of money in cases that go on as long as this one.
At least you will have 123 years together in which you can say "I told you so" to any accountable manager who accuses you of scaremongering and doesn't act.
At least you will have 123 years together in which you can say "I told you so" to any accountable manager who accuses you of scaremongering and doesn't act.
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Legal Defense Costs - why you will never get the comfort you need
I have followed this case for a few years. It is not the first, or last, aviation crash where criminal charges will be brought against aviation professionals. AF447 grinds on in front of Mdme Zimmerman as we speak. BUT, you won't get any aviation insurer or airline to give you the comfort you deserve.
The aviation insurers of any airline have zero obligation to pay any criminal legal defence fees, under any circumstances. The aviation insurers are there to bail out the airline for compensation claims by the families of the dead and injured, and that includes expensive aviation lawyers to defend the airline for those civil claims.
Aviation Insurers only ever start to fork out for criminal lawyers, if they think it is expedient to their financial interests in the civil compensation claims. Put another way, if criminal charges/convictions somehow make the civil claims more expensive, this is bad for the aviation insurers as their bill goes up. Then there is a clear financial interest on the insurers behalf in paying less: so it then only makes sense to spend money on criminal lawyers, as well as civil lawyers, in an attempt to reduce the total bill.
So, money seems to trump human rights or air safety in certain situations.
All rather unsettling, and unsatisfactory.
The aviation insurers of any airline have zero obligation to pay any criminal legal defence fees, under any circumstances. The aviation insurers are there to bail out the airline for compensation claims by the families of the dead and injured, and that includes expensive aviation lawyers to defend the airline for those civil claims.
Aviation Insurers only ever start to fork out for criminal lawyers, if they think it is expedient to their financial interests in the civil compensation claims. Put another way, if criminal charges/convictions somehow make the civil claims more expensive, this is bad for the aviation insurers as their bill goes up. Then there is a clear financial interest on the insurers behalf in paying less: so it then only makes sense to spend money on criminal lawyers, as well as civil lawyers, in an attempt to reduce the total bill.
So, money seems to trump human rights or air safety in certain situations.
All rather unsettling, and unsatisfactory.
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Greek Justice
Greek justice has always been rather different to our understanding.
An aquaintance of mine bought a holiday froman established operator to go plane spotting in Greece. While parked in a viewing spot near an airfield spotting except for one of the wives who was not interested and sat in the bus doing puzzles. The cops turned up and arrest them all for spying. They must not take photographs or note plane numbers.
At the court case they point out that the airfield features in an evening soap opera about the Greek air force at which many photographs and aircraft numbers may be seen... not relevant says the court. They describe the process of aircraft spotting... all lies says the prosecutor there is no such hobby as plane spotting. They produce plane spotting magazine printed in Greece and bought at airport that morning.. All fabricated says prosecutor... they say lets go airport buy more magazines... court adjourns Garry given bail of £10K which he borrows....
Garry told not to attend net court hearing but can't afford to lose the money so turns up... found not guilty..... eight years later still can't get the bail money back is told has been forfeit
If you go the Greece you must obey the rules and laws of that sovereign country, they may not be what you expect.. Greece is fully entitled to make it's own laws but we may be ignorant of them and should not expect allowance for our ignorance
An aquaintance of mine bought a holiday froman established operator to go plane spotting in Greece. While parked in a viewing spot near an airfield spotting except for one of the wives who was not interested and sat in the bus doing puzzles. The cops turned up and arrest them all for spying. They must not take photographs or note plane numbers.
At the court case they point out that the airfield features in an evening soap opera about the Greek air force at which many photographs and aircraft numbers may be seen... not relevant says the court. They describe the process of aircraft spotting... all lies says the prosecutor there is no such hobby as plane spotting. They produce plane spotting magazine printed in Greece and bought at airport that morning.. All fabricated says prosecutor... they say lets go airport buy more magazines... court adjourns Garry given bail of £10K which he borrows....
Garry told not to attend net court hearing but can't afford to lose the money so turns up... found not guilty..... eight years later still can't get the bail money back is told has been forfeit
If you go the Greece you must obey the rules and laws of that sovereign country, they may not be what you expect.. Greece is fully entitled to make it's own laws but we may be ignorant of them and should not expect allowance for our ignorance
Last edited by Tinribs; 6th Feb 2013 at 16:59.
I have no problems obeying the "law of the land".
I do have a problem with people who are supposed to make evidence based judgements refusing to even accept that evidence and make a judgement anyway regardless.
I do have a problem with people who are supposed to make evidence based judgements refusing to even accept that evidence and make a judgement anyway regardless.
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Finally! After so many years of worry. Timeo Danaos et dona ferentes as they say. So pleased for Alan but deeply concerned about the possible ramifications of operating in Greek airspace.
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Wonderful news. I sincerely hope he can try to put this behind him. (as much as is possible)
It would appear justice does prevail after all, even in Greece. It just takes a long long long time.
It would appear justice does prevail after all, even in Greece. It just takes a long long long time.