Table of contents | |
Aircraft | |
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The incident aircraft performed its maiden flight on 29 December 1997 and was operated initially by DBA starting with 1998. Later on 16 April 2004 Helios Airways leased the plane registered it as 5B-DBY and gave the name Olympia to the aircraft. At the time of the accident Helios Airways had another three leased planes, two Boeing 737-800s and an Airbus A319. | |
Background | |
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On the day of the fatal flight the aircraft arrived from London Heathrow Airport LHR EGLL at 01.25 AM in the morning and was scheduled to depart Larnaca Airport, Cyprus at 09.00 AM local time for Prague Airport with a stopover at Athens Airport. | |
Accident | |
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Search and recovery | |
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Passengers and crew | |
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Crew | |
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The captain was a 58 years old German contract pilot - Hans Jürgen Merten who had a contract with Helios Airways for the duration of the holiday season. He had 16 900 flight hours accumulated during a 35 year old career which included flying for Interflug before 1990. The first officer - Pampos Charalambous, 51 years old, was a Cypriot pilot who flew for Helios for the last five years. He had accrued 7 549 flight hours during his career. The chief purser was Louisa Vouteri, 32 years old, a Greek national living in Cyprus. She was replacing a sick colleague. | |
Investigation | |
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Conclusions | |
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Aftermath | |
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Dramatization | |
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Helios Airways flight 522 was featured on the documentary series Air Crash Investigation (or Mayday in some markets) in the episode called Ghost Plane | |
The crash site today | |
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The wreckage of the aircraft was removed from the site and a large cross and a church have been built in the memory of the victims of Helios Airways Flight 522. These are accessible by car and are clearly signposted. | |
Further reading | |
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List of aviation accidents by year Airlines in Greece Fuel exhaustion Aviation pagesGo to: Air Station | |