All language subtitles for Mayday.S04E10.Ghost.Plane.1080p.AMZN.WEB-DL.DD+2.0.H.264-playWEB_track3_[eng]

Helios 522,
do you read?

High above Athens,

fighter jets track a 737
as it circles the city.

522,
do you read? Over.

There's no answer
from the passenger plane,

but there is
someone at the controls.

More than a hundred
people are on board.

Everybody's mind was
going to hijack or terrorist.

There is one
person moving in the cockpit.

Repeat there is one person...

What happened
to the crew and passengers?

522,
do you read? Over.

And who is
flying the plane?

Helios 522,
do you read? Over.

Early morning,
August the 14th, 2005.

The cabin crew of Helios Airways
flight 522 are preparing

for their trip from the island
of Cyprus to Athens, Greece.

Sure is
a beautiful day.

Maybe I shouldn't have come in.

Andreas Prodromou
is twenty-five.

He isn't supposed to be
working today

but he's taken
the flight to spend some time

with his girlfriend,
who also works for Helios.

It's the sort of day
I'd like to be out flying.

You will Andreas.

Prodromou is
a flight attendant now

but he has bigger plans.

One day he wants
to fly for Helios.

His dream was
to become a professional pilot.

Personally, I wanted him
to stay in the family business.

We often talked about this.
We've got company.

Stay warm in the back.
See you in Athens.

In the cockpit,
the flight crew is occupied

with the daily routine of
preparing their jet for takeoff.

It's bright today.

09 Captain Hans Merten
is an East German,

a contract pilot hired by Helios
for the busy holiday season.

Are you almost through?
Pardon?

Are you almost done?
Nearly.

His co-pilot
is from Cyprus.

Pambos Charalambous
has been working

exclusively for Helios
for the last five years.

Before beginning any flight,
crews are required to perform

dozens of checks on various
pieces of onboard equipment.

It's a routine
but necessary procedure.

Doors closed.

Sorry. Could you store
trays and put your seat back.

Helios is
a charter airline,

with low cost fares to Greece.

It's a summer weekend, and the
plane is filled with families.

In all, there are 1-hundred
and fifteen passengers

on the morning flight.

If you need any
more help, let me know.

We're just about to take off.

They are low fare,
no thrills.

Uh they don't even
serve you refreshments

during small sorts of flights.

But they often
another possibility

for the budget minded traveler.

Paros Demetriou
and Maria Rikkou

are traveling to the
Greek island of Patros.

They've just got engaged.

They booked, they booked
this holiday a month,

or more than a month ago.

It was like
a honeymoon for them.

Flight attendants,
please take your seats.

Prepare for takeoff.

Just a few minutes
after nine in the morning,

Helios Airways flight 522 lifts
off into the bright sunshine.

Nicosia area control,
this is Helios 522.

Request cruising at 3-4-0.

Helios 522, you
are cleared to climb to 3-4-0.

Have a good day.

Set 3-4-0.
3-4-0.

Minutes
into the flight,

the plane is still climbing
towards its cruising altitude.

Suddenly, an alarm
blares in the cockpit.

What is it?

The takeoff
config warning?

The flight
crew is confused.

The takeoff configuration alarm

normally only sounds
on the ground.

It tells pilots their jet
isn't ready for takeoff.

The crew doesn't know why
it's sounding now.

Uncertain what the problem is,
the captain radios

the Helios operations center at
Larnaka Airport back in Cyprus.

Operations,
this is flight 522. Over.

Flight 522,
what can I do for you?

We have a takeoff config
warning on.

Pardon?

Our takeoff
config warning is on.

I'm sure it's nothing.

I'll let you know
when we level off.

With the first alarm
still beeping in the cockpit,

things become even more
confusing.

Their master caution
alarm goes off.

It could indicate that some
systems onboard are overheating.

We now have
a master caution.

I'll get you
an engineer, 522. Just a minute.

I find him
very hard to understand.

His accent is quite thick.

Flight 522,
what can I do for you?

The ventilation cooling
fan lights are off.

Sorry. Can you repeat?

While the pilots
and ground engineers

try to troubleshoot
the two alarms,

most passengers have no
idea there's a problem until...

Everyone stay calm.
Please remain seated.

Everyone
please put the oxygen

masks on completely
over your mouth and nose.

The protocol was
immediately to secure yourself,

grab an oxygen mask,
stay in your seat.

If you can help passengers
without getting up,

you could help them
and you should help them.

But you would not risk the
safety of any cabin crew member

to go and help a passenger which
is five or six rows further up.

Their procedure would
be to grab their mask,

don it, and wait
for the aircraft to level off or

commence with a descent.

No one in the cabin
knows what the problem is.

They're waiting for information
from the cockpit.

The pilots are unaware
that the oxygen masks

in the cabin have dropped.

And they still don't know
why their takeoff configuration

warning is on or why
their systems are overhearing.

Both of my equipment
cooling lights are off.

This is normal. Can
you please confirm your problem?

But the engineer
on the ground is struggling

to get a clear picture of what's
happening in the air.

They are not switched off!

Can you confirm

that the pressurization panel
is set to auto?

Where are my equipment
cooling circuit breakers?

Behind the captain's
seat. Can you see them?

What's going on?

There's something
wrong with the electrics on 522.

I had something
to pick up

from operations so
I was, I was there.

I figured, oh not again.
One of our problems. So I left.

Well good luck.

The problem
doesn't seem serious,

but as the plane continues
to climb, passengers still

haven't received any
information from the cockpit.

Helios 522, can you
see the circuit breakers?

And now the engineer
on the ground

loses contact with the aircraft.

Helios 522,
can you hear me?

It's less than
30 minutes after take-off.

And flight 522 is
still on course.

The plane is high
above the Mediterranean Sea -

and headed
straight towards Athens.

August the 14th, 2005.

A Helios Airways 737 with
1-hundred and twenty-one people

onboard is circling
in the sky near Athens.

Helios 522,
can you hear me?

Shortly after
leaving the island of Cyprus,

two different alarms had been
triggered on the plane.

The flight crew was
trying to solve

the problem with the help
of ground engineers.

But now radio contact
with the plane has been lost.

Air traffic control
can't get any response

from the captain or co-pilot.

The flight to Greece normally
takes an hour and a half

but the passenger jet has been
in the air for over two hours,

circling in a holding pattern.

We heard that there
was an airplane which was

flying into Greek territory
and had no communication.

Everybody's mind was
going to hijack or to terrorist.

More than 3-million
people live in Athens.

A plane slamming into the city

could cause an incredible
loss of life.

This is
a runaway aircraft.

It's a possible hijacking or
it's a possible terrorist act

so let's involve the military.

The Greek air force
scrambles two of its most

sophisticated fighter jets
to investigate the Helios plane.

Helios 522,
do you read? Over.

But the pilots
aren't getting any response.

One of the jets flies
closer to the cockpit.

Someone is in the co-pilot's
seat, slumped over the controls.

But there's no
sign of the captain at all.

The fighter pilot radios air
traffic control in Athens.

Athinai ACC,

there's one figure
in the cockpit of Helios 522.

He appears non-responsive.
Athinai ACC, checking the cabin.

He can see
passengers in their seats,

but none of them react
to the presence of the jet.

Then, the pilot sees someone
moving in the cockpit.

Athinai Control.

There is one person moving
in the cockpit of Helios 522.

Repeat there is one
person inside the cockpit.

Helios, 522 do you read?
Over. Helios 522. Over.

Flight HCY 522,
this is Athinai radar control.

The F-16s continue
shadowing the jet,

but there's no response
at all from the cockpit.

One of them
was actually

in a shooting position
behind the 737.

The other one was nearby
the cockpit and he was

trying to communicate visually
with the person in the cockpit.

Suddenly,
the 737 turns left

and begins to quickly descend.

Athinai ACC.
Helios 522 turning sharply.

Following down.

From more
than 10-thousand meters,

the plane drops
towards the ground.

There is no structural
failure. There is no fire.

There is no problem,
obvious problem,

from the external
view with the plane.

Helios 522. Over.
Do you read?

Helios 522, do you read? Over.

Then 21-hundred
meters above the ground,

the person in the captain's seat

acknowledges the fighter jet
for the very first time.

But no words are exchanged.

Neither the fighter pilot nor
local air traffic control

can make radio
contact with the jet.

Just after twelve o'clock,
almost three hours

after it took off from the
island of Cyprus,

Helios flight 522
slams into the ground.

Athinai ACC.
Helios 522 is down.

Repeat Helios 522 is
down on Grammatiko Hill. Over.

Fire and rescue
workers rush to the crash site.

There are no survivors.

Flight attendant Lazaros
Temetzian is stunned by what

he hears at the company's
operations center.

It was the most
chaotic scene I've ever seen.

When I went back, our operations
controller said that he

lost the aircraft and his eyes,
he started to cry.

Helios is a small
company, with just three jets.

Members of the cabin crew have
been working together for years.

For Paul Symeonides,

news of the crash is
particularly terrifying.

He's a flight attendant for the
airline, and so is his fiancée.

I think that must have
been the worst thirty minutes

of my life following
that first image

because Victoria was flying
that morning to Glasgow.

I had everyone and his brother,

every person we knew was calling
me up to find out if I'm alive,

if Victoria's alive,
what happened, why it happened.

At first we said it
takes one hour and a half

to go to Greece, so probably
it's not that plane

and it took about two or three
hours later to know that

Paros and Maria
was on the plane that crashed.

Andreas Prodromou's
father didn't know his son

had been called to fill
in on Flight 522.

I was told that
a Helios aircraft was

lost by radar and air
controllers couldn't contact it.

I got worried.
I called Andreas' phone.

He always had it
on and unfortunately

he wouldn't answer.

After that phone call,

I felt as if the ground was
pulled out from under my feet.

It's the worst air
crash in the history of Greece.

Most of the 1-hundred
and twenty-one victims

are from Cyprus.

The small island
nation declares three

days of mourning
following the crash.

It's an eerie disaster.

For over an hour,
air traffic controllers watched

the passenger jet fly in radio
silence closer and closer

to Athens with no idea what was
happening inside the jet.

Now, piece by piece,

investigators
are trying to find out.

So we climbed
over the hill and there we were,

you know, facing this situation

which was beyond any,
any description.

I saw a great area in front
of me which was burning,

it was black, burning, people
spread, pieces of the airplane.

It is a truly
nightmarish sight.

I hope that I never
experience it again.

It was terrible, just terrible.

Investigators
immediately start

looking for the cause
of the crash.

In the early days, their efforts
take a frustrating turn.

They recover the box containing
the cockpit voice recorder,

but the recorder itself
has been thrown clear.

It was difficult for us
because we first,

first found the case of the CVR
very badly damaged

and we could not find the,
you know, the machine itself.

Investigators
need to know what

happened to the pilots.

Without the cockpit
voice recorder,

they have little to go on.

So keep looking.
Let's hope we can find it.

Bodies recovered
from the wreckage are brought

to the offices of Athens'
chief coroner.

Autopsies add more
mystery to the case.

Everyone on board the plane was
alive at the time of the crash.

There were scenarios
at the time

that they had all
died in midair.

But the truth, they did not
die from inhaling a toxic

substance in the airplane
or from an explosion.

These people died on impact.

But if the passengers
were alive the entire flight,

why didn't the pilot
of the fighter jet

see any activity
inside the cabin,

and who was at the controls
as the jet circled over Athens?

When investigators find tissue
samples in the remains

of the cockpit,
they make a stunning discovery.

The person at the controls
of the plane when it crashed

was flight attendant
Andreas Prodromou,

a last minute
addition to the cabin crew.

But why was he in the cockpit?

Was he trying to save the plane,

or did he deliberately fly it
into the ground?

Several days after finding
the outer case of the cockpit

voice recorder, investigators
find the recording itself.

When chief investigator
Tsolakis listens to the final

moments of the flight,
it answers a vital question.

Mayday, Mayday, Mayday.

This was
no terrorist act.

Helios Airways
flight 522.

Prodromou was
calling for help.

Mayday, Mayday.

Tsolakis hears five
separate maydays on the tape,

even though none of them
were heard

by air traffic controllers.

From the first
moment that they saw someone

in the cockpit believe me,
I was certain it was Andreas.

He wasn't a coward.

He knew something about planes,

and he had the capacity
to do something.

In fact, Prodromou had
his commercial pilot's license.

It was the first step
towards his goal

of becoming a captain
for Helios.

It's the sort of day
I'd like to be out flying.

Oh you will Andreas.

But all of
his training

wouldn't have helped
save the jet.

When he was
seen at the controls,

flight 522 had been in the air
for almost three hours.

And the reason the Helios plane
seemed to veer away from the

F-16s following it was because
its left engine was out of fuel.

No matter what caused
the alarms to sound,

the ultimate reason
for the crash was simple.

The DFDR and the CVR
gave us absolute proof that the

plane ran out of fuel and this
was the cause of the crash.

Scheduled as a
ninety-minute flight, the plane

didn't have enough fuel to stay
in the air for over three hours.

But why had the plane flown
so much longer

than it was supposed to?

Tsolakis now knows who
was in the cockpit of the plane

and why it crashed.

But to fully understand
the mystery,

he needs more information.

His investigators uncover
a suspicious

history of maintenance
issues with the Helios jet,

issues that could help explain
what happened on flight 522.

Less than a year
before the crash,

the same aircraft had suffered
a rapid decompression.

Lazaros Temetzian
worked on that flight.

I was in the back
of the aircraft at the time.

There was a loud metallic bang,
a clanging sound

and the oxygen masks
dropped in the cabin.

Every step I was taking
was difficult.

It was hard to move,
uh hard to breathe.

In fact, I was, I was starting
to pant, I was panting for air.

As the plane began an
immediate descent

to 33-hundred meters,

all Temetzian could do was
remain strapped in and wait.

Once the plane reached a safe
altitude,

Temetzian inspected
the rear door

and was shocked
by what he found.

I noticed that
the aft service door

was not fully locked.

The hinges on the top
and the bottom of the door

were kind of displaced.

I could pass my hand
right through.

There were no injuries
and the plane made

an emergency landing,
and the door was inspected.

But this wasn't the only problem
crews had with this plane.

We would record
faults in the cabin logbook

constantly and nothing would be
done to rectify even these

small little
problems in the cabin.

Engineers would take
months to rectify

even the slightest
problem in the cabin.

There were more
recent problems as well.

A Helios ground engineer tells
Tsolakis that on the very day of

flight 522, the 737 had another
problem with its back door.

When we checked
the flight log for the trip,

we saw that we'd have to do some
unscheduled maintenance.

The plane had
arrived in Cyprus just after

midnight on August the 14th.

The cabin crew had heard
loud banging noises

and saw ice on the rear service
door during the flight.

It was scheduled to take
off again just hours later.

Soon after it landed, engineers
began checking the problem.

To make sure there's nothing
wrong with the seal

on the door, the engineers
run a pressurization test.

During normal flight,

a plane's engines force
air into the cabin.

To ensure oxygen
circulates during the trip,

small valves in the rear allow
some of it to leak out.

A pressurized
airplane essentially is

sort of like a pressurized can.

We pressurize the airplane
so that the people inside can

survive the environment that the
airplane likes to operate in.

Switching digital
pressure control

unit from auto to manual.

Without the jet's
engines running,

the engineer uses
the plane's auxiliary power

unit to force air
into the aircraft,

and the cabin is pressurized
for several minutes.

It's like looking
for a leak in a tire.

In this case, what you're
having to do is pressurize

the aircraft, use a bar,
a barometer essentially

to monitor the pressure inside
uh and look for leaks that way.

But there's
no indication any air

is escaping through
the back door.

In this case,
they felt that it was all right

and they completed the test.

The entire jet seems
to be in good working order.

After performing a series of
additional routine maintenance

procedures, the engineers signed
off on their technical log.

Investigators are faced
with a dead end.

An explosive decompression

could have explained
the tragic events of flight 522.

If the oxygen had been suddenly
sucked out of the jet,

everyone onboard could
have been overcome.

But not only did engineers check
the problem, when the F-16s

approached the plane
near Athens, no damage was seen.

There was no indication that the
fuselage was punctured.

Investigators are still
struggling to solve the mystery.

What had overcome the passengers
and crew of Helios flight

522, and why was one flight
attendant apparently unaffected?

The discovery of one
small switch holds

the key to the entire crash.

The crash of
Helios flight 522

is one of the most mysterious
air disasters ever.

Helios 522,
do you read? Over.

All investigators
know for sure is that shortly

after takeoff the crew
stopped communicating

with air traffic controllers.

Helios 522. Over.
Mayday.

Then, after two
and a half hours in the air,

one of the plane's
flight attendants

was seen at the controls.

Eventually the plane ran
out of fuel and crashed,

killing 1-hundred
and twenty-one people.

But investigators are stumped.

They still don't know what
had happened to the plane's

captain or the rest of the crew.

Tell me about what
happened the day of the flight.

They concentrate
on the conversation

between the pilot and the Helios
engineer shortly after takeoff.

As the plane passed
through 37-hundred meters,

an alarm sounded in the cockpit.

Operations,
this is flight 522. Over.

Flight 522,
what can I do for you?

We have a takeoff
config warning on.

Pardon?

Our takeoff
config warning is on.

Usually,
the takeoff config warning

is only triggered
on the runway,

but wreckage recovered
at the crash site

reveals no problems
with the plane's flaps,

landing gear or anything else
that could trigger the alarm.

So why had it sounded?

Chief investigator Akrivos
Tsolakis focuses on a small

control panel found in the
wreckage of the ravaged jet.

Are you sure this is
the way it was found?

It hasn't been moved at all?

We were lucky.

Finding this panel which
had the switch

on the manual
position was a major one.

The P-5 pressurization
panel ensures that

passengers have enough air to
breathe, even at high altitudes.

Normally, pressurization
takes place automatically.

As the jet climbs,
its engines force

air into the plane as
they power it through the sky.

But when the pressurization
switch is set to manual,

both the captain
and co-pilot are responsible

for maintaining the cabin
atmosphere using a controller.

So explain again how
you tested the pressure.

I went
into the cockpit.

I turned the pressurization
switch to manual.

Tsolakis learns
that during the early morning

maintenance check on Helios 522,

ground engineers had turned
the P-5 switch to manual.

That allowed them to use
the onboard generators

to test the pressure
seals on the plane's rear door

without starting the engines.

When the test was over,

they didn't turn the switch
back to automatic.

The procedure
of pressurizing the aircraft

has to do with setting
the pressurization

system from auto to manual.

They were supposed to return

the uh selector
to the auto position.

Several hours later,
when the flight crew entered

the cockpit, the pressurization
switch was still set to manual.

It's bright today.
Are you almost through?

Pardon?

But neither the pilot
nor co-pilot saw it.

As a result, after takeoff
the cabin would not pressurize

automatically, and the higher
flight 522 climbed

the thinner
the atmosphere became.

Not turning the switch
back to automatic

was a deadly hidden danger.

Are you sure this
is the way it was found?

It hasn't been moved at all?

Tsolakis believes
this panel could be

the key to the disaster.

Leaving one switch on manual
could have led to all

the other problems
the plane faced.

To prove he's right,
he takes an unusual step.

Four months after the disaster,
he takes an Olympic Airlines

737 on the same route
flown by the Helios jet.

If he's right about what
caused the crash,

this plane should react exactly
like the doomed airliner did.

Are we ready to go?

When there is a
complicated accident like this,

I think reenact, reenactments
should, should be performed.

Of course it's expensive to
have a jetliner flying

for three or four hours but it
is worth it if you have to come

with some results which benefit
to the overall investigation.

Make sure the P-5 is
set to manual. It's hard to see.

In the cockpit,

Tsolakis has the crew turn the
pressurization switch to manual.

A green light indicates it's
no longer on automatic

but in the bright glare
of an early morning departure

the light is hard to see.

As the reenactment
flight climbs,

oxygen is thinning
quickly in the aircraft.

The same thing
happened on the Helios flight,

triggering an alarm.

What is it?

The takeoff
config warning?

The alarm sounded and
that alarm was misinterpreted.

Most of the flight crew
they will never face

an alarm with non-pressurization
in all of their flight career

because it's a rare event.

Tsolakis
confirms that the alarm went off

because of the dangerously low
air pressure in the aircraft.

But he also discovers that
the sound itself is

identical to the takeoff
config warning.

We have a takeoff
config warning on.

But even if the flight
crew did misinterpret

the first alarm, they still had
another chance to determine

what the real problem was.

At almost 5-thousand meters,
the plane's master caution

light flashed on and stayed
on for almost a minute.

We now have a
master caution.

But once again
the pilots misinterpreted

the cause of the alarm.

The master caution light can
indicate that the plane's

systems are overheating.

But it can also tell pilots
the oxygen masks are down.

In this case, it
was doing both at the same time.

But since the crew didn't think

they were having
pressurization problems,

they focused on
the plane's cooling systems.

The alarm
about the non-cooling

was a side effect
of non-pressurization.

Actually it was not really that
there was a high temperature

inside the avionics bay,
but it was the sensors

that were supposed to measure
the temperature

and the pressure in that area
sensed that something was wrong.

On the recreation
flight,

investigators monitor
instruments recording

the same events occurring
onboard their aircraft.

At the same time,

they also begin to feel the
effects of the lack of oxygen.

The first feelings
you'd start to have

were your ears would pop

and you'd start feeling
pressure in your sinuses.

Uh as you climb higher,
you begin to feel almost giddy.

It's almost like having
a couple of drinks of alcohol.

The dwindling oxygen
levels could also help

explain some of the crews'
bizarre behavior.

Such as,
when the ground engineer

asked about pressurization...

Can you
confirm that

the pressurization panel
is set to auto?

Captain Merten
ignores the question

and responds with one
of his own.

Where are my equipment
cooling circuit breakers?

You really don't
notice it at first.

It's amazing how subtle it
can be in the early phases.

They'd start feeling dizzy.

They'd begin to lose
the ability to think coherently.

In a way it
traps you in the situation.

You can't react to anything.

Eventually,
you're gonna lose consciousness.

Tsolakis believes
that the captain may have been

checking on the circuit
breakers behind his seat

when he and the co-pilot
finally ran out of air.

And, unlike in the cabin,
the oxygen masks in the cockpit

do not automatically deploy if
the atmosphere begins to thin.

Helios 522,
can you hear me?

On the other
side of the locked cockpit door,

no one in the cabin
would have known

that the plane was now
flying itself.

Nor would they have
realized that

a limitation of the passenger
oxygen system had sealed

the fate of everyone
in the cabin.

Passenger masks
are supplied by a chemical

generator above their seats,
but the generators only produce

enough oxygen to last
about twelve minutes.

Well the problem
with the passenger masks

is for one thing they're not
designed to keep you

oxygenated at a high altitude.

What they're designed to do is
give you enough oxygen

so that you can survive

until the pilots get the
airplane down to a low altitude.

In almost every event where
we've had a decompression,

that's been perfectly adequate.

For those who
did put their masks on,

they would have remained
conscious for several minutes

until their oxygen ran out.

Then they too would
have passed out.

Once you get
up to 34-thousand feet,

you're talking useful
consciousness

of thirty to sixty seconds.

Most of the people, once
the hypoxia begins to cause them

to lose consciousness,
they're just gonna go to sleep.

Without a flight crew,

Helios 522 would have continued
to Athens on autopilot.

When the crew didn't
take control,

the autopilot would have
put the jet in a holding

pattern as it
flew over the airport.

Exactly the same thing will
happen on the reconstruction

flight if cabin pressure
isn't restored.

Tsolakis asks
the co-pilot to reset

the P-5 panel to auto before
the jet continues to climb

to its cruising altitude of just
over 10-thousand metres.

Then, as it approaches
Athens, Tsolakis also has

an F-16 shadow the jet
performing the recreation.

He wants to confirm that it
was Andreas Prodromou

at the controls of flight 522
when it went down.

We dressed
one of our guys

with the uniform of the steward.

He came in,
he sat on the captain's chair,

and the F-16 was looking at him.

He was confirming that it
was exactly what

he saw on the accident plane.

The reconstruction
also answers another

question about the tragic
fate of Helios Flight 522.

The cockpit voice recorder

picked up several
strange noises.

They're heard just before
Prodromou enters the cockpit.

Tsolakis confirms that these
sounds were made by Prodromou

using the electronic keypad
to unlock the cockpit door.

We confirmed all
those items and during the

reenactment flight and it
was very, very useful.

It filled a lot of gaps we had.

Okay, take it down.

For chief
investigator Tsolakis,

the reenactment flight
has been convincing.

There was no dramatic
cabin failure.

Instead, a series of small
mistakes and misunderstandings

had led to the worst air
disaster in Greek history.

Fifteen months after the crash,

Greek authorities
release the official

report on Helios Airways Flight
522, but mysteries remain.

What was happening in the cabin

while the doomed airplane
flew towards Athens.

And why was Andreas Prodromou
the only one

conscious at the very end.

The crash of
Helios Flight 522 was the worst

disaster in the history
of Greek aviation.

Like many crashes,
it was a fatal combination

of mechanical problems,
and human error.

The final accident report
details a tragic series of

oversights and false assumptions
made by the flight crew.

Problems that could have been
easily prevented turned

deadly for all 1-hundred
and twenty-one people onboard.

Where are my equipment
cooling circuit breakers?

Behind the captain's
seat. Can you see them?

But what the final
report does not do is

explain what happened
in the cabin of the plane.

What actions did the flight
attendants take?

And why was Andreas Prodromou
still conscious

after almost three hours?

Interviews with Helios safety
instructors and crew members

paint a tragic picture of what
may have occurred.

Everyone,
please your masks on.

We're not sure what the trouble
is but remain calm

and please remain seated.

Prodromou was sitting
at the back of the cabin.

When the oxygen masks fell,

he would have waited for
instructions from the cockpit.

The flight attendants sitting
at the front of the plane would

have done the same, but none of
them would have waited forever.

We made it
an issue at Helios

to uh
to emphasize that cabin crew

should not entirely depend
on their procedures,

but to think on their feet

and to adapt to any
impending situation.

In most
depressurizations,

the plane descends quickly.

But as minutes
passed on the Helios flight,

the plane continued to climb.

Unsure of what was going on,

Prodromou would have tried
to contact the flight crew.

Captain?
Captain Merten?

But he gets
no response.

Can you give us
an update please

With no word from the
cockpit, he would have soon

realized that this was not
a typical depressurization.

When there was no
call out from the cockpit

and the aircraft didn't
start an emergency descent,

there was absolutely no
protocol.

It would be,
they would be winging it.

By now,
Prodromou must have felt

that something
was terribly wrong.

But to find out what the problem
was he had to leave his seat.

The oxygen available
on a 737 is of course

the drop-down oxygen.

Ten percent of those
masks are available

for the crew in case
of a de-pressurization incident.

There are extra
masks per every seat row.

Taking advantage
of the extra passenger masks,

he could have made his way
to the front of the plane,

a process cabin crew called
monkey swinging.

But if more than twelve minutes
had passed, his girlfriend

and the other flight attendant
may have still been

in their seats and, like the
passengers, overcome by hypoxia.

But Prodromou was a scuba diver

and a former soldier
in the Cypriot special forces.

His training may have helped him
to stay alert a little longer.

Andreas
was not a coward.

He was a brave person,
fearless, brave and very calm.

But to survive after
the passenger oxygen system

stopped working,
he needed another solution.

The 737 had four
portable oxygen bottles.

Each one could last
more than an hour.

All four bottles were
found at the crash site.

Three of them
appeared to have been used.

While the F-16 pilot saw
Prodromou in the cockpit

just before the crash,

it may not have been
the first time he had gone in.

As he did at the end
of the flight,

he could have used the security
code to unlock the door earlier.

The procedure would
be to enter the flight deck

via the cockpit door,

initially to bang on the door
and then if no response is

forthcoming to enter the code
and enter the flight deck.

During the accident
investigation,

DNA was discovered on an oxygen
mask in the cockpit

that matched the co-pilot's.

It's possible Prodromou used it
to try and revive him.

You can still
revitalize somebody

for quite an extended
period of time if you

get to them before major brain
damage has set in, and that's

somewhat a variable situation
depending on the person,

depending on how long they're
exposed to high altitude.

But if he was
in the cockpit earlier,

why did he leave?

No one will ever know.

He probably was
a little bit disoriented,

a little bit confused.

He's reacting a lot
slower than he normally would.

What was
his state of mind?

What was his physical condition?

We think that he knew what
was really the problem

but is that the real situation?

It's a real question.

After three
hours in the air,

everyone who
didn't have bottled oxygen

would have been unconscious.

As it approached Athens, flight
522 was now a ghost plane.

Most of the victims,

uh they probably still had
heartbeats when the airplane

crashed but almost certainly
were in an irreversible coma.

Hypoxia is no more
painful than falling asleep,

but for Andreas Prodromou

the flight must have been
a nightmare.

As the F-16s
roared to meet the jet,

and with his oxygen running out,

he must have known that
he too was almost out of time.

Yet, to the very end
he didn't give up.

Prodromou made one last
attempt to save the plane.

When he returns to the cockpit,
the young flight attendant

who dreamed of becoming
a pilot calls for help.

But no one can hear him,

probably because the radio
was still tuned to Larnaka,

the airport on Cyprus where
the flight had taken off.

Fighting hypoxia and struggling
to control an airplane

larger than any
he had ever flown,

Prodromou was in
an impossible situation.

Even if he could have landed
the plane, it was now too late.

Flight 522 was out
of time and fuel.

There are pictures of Andreas
in Cyprus, in the cemetery

where he and his girlfriend
Charis are buried side by side.

As his father,
my son is in front of me.

Wherever I go he is always
there. He left a very big gap.

We will never get over it.

There are pictures
in Greece too.

On the hill north of Athens
where Helios flight 522 crashed,

there are faded photographs
of many of those who died.

Bleached by the brilliant
Mediterranean sun,

they gaze over the rugged,
ancient terrain,

silent witnesses to
one of the world's most bizarre

and tragic airline disasters.