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Black Box May Not Yield Secrets

Posted on: Tuesday, 16 August 2005, 09:00 CDT

DAMAGE to a cockpit voice recorder could hinder investigators' efforts to discover the cause of the Cypriot airliner disaster that claimed 121 lives.

A Greek air safety chief said the recorder - one of two "black box" flight recorders recovered from the wrecked aircraft - was badly damaged.

Both boxes were being sent to Paris for examination but safety chief Akrivos Tsolakis said the voice recorder was "in a bad state and, possibly, it won't give us the information we need".

Investigators will want to know what caused the problem that led to a loss of cabin pressure on the Boeing 737 aircraft operated by Cypriot-based Helios Airlines.

They will also want to discover if a back-up oxygen system for the pilots failed or whether they were overcome before being able to don oxygen masks.

Helios, which is owned by UK and Cyprus-registered Libra Holidays Group, flies into a number of UK airports from Cyprus.

Flights continued yesterday, with Helios adamant its planes were checked and maintained to international standards.

After taking off from Larnaca in Cyprus, the plane was due to have landed in Athens before flying on to Prague. The pilots first reported airconditioning system problems, then radio contact with the plane was lost and two Greek fighter jets were sent to accompany the aircraft.

According to a Greek government spokesman, the fighter jet crews could see the co-pilot slumped over his seat and the captain was not in the cockpit. Two people were seen possibly trying totake over the controls but it was not clear if they were crew or passengers.

The plane eventually crashed into a hill north of Athens.

Various Greek sources suggested The victims may have been dead before the crash.

n There were 21 children on board, although Helios reported that there were only 10 people aboard aged 12 orunder. n Some of the recovered bodies were "frozen solid".

n The plane had a history of technical faults. Helios Airways said the doomed Boeing 737-300 plane was previously operated by British Airways' former German subsidiary Deutsche BA and entered the Helios fleet in April 2004.

Helios added that the aircraft followed the approved maintenance programme laid out by manufacturer Boeing and the Cyprus civil aviation department. Also, the plane had been in inspected "in line with standard procedures" before its departure yesterday.

The Cypriot carrier also said that it would be making initial payments of about 19,000 euros (about pounds 13,100) per passenger "to help families with their immediate needs pending future compensation".

Helios said its scheduled services would continue to fly as normal

Source: Daily Post; Liverpool

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