CYPRUS: An exhausted-sounding man sent last-minute Mayday calls from a Cypriot aircraft that crashed earlier this month, Greek officials said yesterday.
The Helios Airways Boeing 737 crashed on August 14th into mountains near Athens, killing all 115 passengers and six crew in Greece and Cyprus's worst air disaster.
The cause of the crash is a mystery - the aircraft had flown for 2½ hours without making radio contact, and F16 fighters sent to investigate had reported seeing no pilot present and a seemingly unconscious co-pilot slumped in his seat.
As Helios started safety checks in Sweden on its remaining Boeings, the crash's chief investigator said a steward, who had some flight training, was thought to have made the last gasp cry for help from the aircraft's cockpit.
In a letter to Greece's transport ministry, Akrivos Tsolakis also said the Boeing crashed after the engines stopped, a possible signal that the aircraft ran out of fuel after flying for nearly twice the scheduled 90-minute flight from Larnaca in Cyprus to Athens.
"There are signs there were problems with the compression system," Tsolakis said in the letter, read out on state television. "There is proof that the engines stopped working, causing the plane to drop."
Police have confirmed that steward Andreas Prodromou, who was learning to fly small aircrafts, was inside the cockpit and appeared to be trying to fly the aircraft for about 30 minutes before it crashed. "The man who sent the Mayday calls sounded tired and exhausted," the letter said. - (Reuters)