General discussion for aviators

Helios 737 crashed with student pilot at controls – from Google News

http://www.flightinternational.com/Articles/2005/08/20/Navigation/177…

Comments (24)




24 Responses to “Helios 737 crashed with student pilot at controls – from Google News”

  1. admin says:

    I dunno…but this story’s hard to believe….

    Frankie

  2. admin says:

    After Airport I, II, III etc. etc. everybody knows any crew member with
    a few simple directions from the ground can land a passenger jet on a
    CVN.

     Seriously, the autopsies show the passengers were alive and probably
    unconscious so it isn’t beyond the possibility that a steward went into
    the cabin to ask what was happening and then tried to do something. The
    question that needs answering is where was the pilot and what was he
    doing.The actual cause of the crash was running out of fuel.

    "Frankie" <franki…@earthlink.net> wrote in message

    news:e77Oe.9166$Wi6.544@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net…

    - Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

    >I dunno…but this story’s hard to believe….

    > Frankie

  3. admin says:

    "Marc CYBW" <marc_latt…@telusplanet.net> wrote in message

    news:6L5Oe.209923$tt5.105203@edtnps90…

    http://www.flightinternational.com/Articles/2005/08/20/Navigation/177...

    The old "string of bad decisions". Incredible!!

  4. admin says:

    In article <6s7Oe.3982$Hi.3468@trnddc04>, "sfb" <s…@spam.net> wrote:
    >  Seriously, the autopsies show the passengers were alive and probably
    > unconscious so it isn’t beyond the possibility that a steward went into
    > the cabin to ask what was happening and then tried to do something.

    Yes, but it seems unlikely that he could (or would) have flown a holding
    pattern.

    rg

  5. admin says:

    The story I heard was that the Flight Attendant tried to fly the plane
    after the 1st officer fell asleep. The flight attendant was the Cessna
    pilot, the 1st officer was (I assume) fully qualified in the 737 (when
    awake). The captain was AWOL.

  6. admin says:

    sfb wrote:

    /snip/ The

    > question that needs answering is where was the pilot and what was he
    > doing.The actual cause of the crash was running out of fuel.

    > "Frankie" <franki…@earthlink.net> wrote in message
    > news:e77Oe.9166$Wi6.544@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net…

    >>I dunno…but this story’s hard to believe….

    >>Frankie

    It does strike me as strange that if the aircraft ran out of fuel, there
    was a postcrash fire big enough to need helicopter water drops to stop
    it.  I can envision small blazes caused by a few gallons of unuseable
    fuel, but I gotta wonder…

    Scott

  7. admin says:

    > The story I heard was that the Flight Attendant tried to fly the plane
    > after the 1st officer fell asleep.

    How would they know this?

    Jose

    Quantum Mechanics is like this: God =does= play dice with the universe,
    except there’s no God, and there’s no dice.  And maybe there’s no universe.
    for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

  8. admin says:

    Article says "air stewerd".. is that their version of a flight attendant?

    Sounds plausible… he would have access to the portable medical tank.

    He would have half a clue on trying to run things (though probably not
    enough of one).

    Says the engines flamed out from lack of fuel… where’d the fire come
    from then?

    Dave

    - Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

    Frankie wrote:
    > I dunno…but this story’s hard to believe….

    > Frankie

  9. admin says:

    Ron Garret wrote:

    > Yes, but it seems unlikely that he could (or would) have flown a holding
    > pattern.

    > rg

    The FMS entered the hold after overflying the destination at altitude.
    Sounds like it flew the lateral part of an approach, missed approach and
    hold.

    Dave

  10. admin says:

    Ron Garret wrote:

    > Yes, but it seems unlikely that he could (or would) have flown a holding
    > pattern.

    The article said the holding pattern was probably flown by the autopilot.

    George Patterson
          Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
          use the Internet and he won’t bother you for weeks.

  11. admin says:

    Scott Skylane wrote:

    > It does strike me as strange that if the aircraft ran out of fuel, there
    > was a postcrash fire big enough to need helicopter water drops to stop
    > it.  I can envision small blazes caused by a few gallons of unuseable
    > fuel, but I gotta wonder…

    Well, the plane went down only a few hours after takeoff. Perhaps there was
    plenty of fuel in other tanks if the guy flying it had known how to switch tanks?

    George Patterson
          Give a person a fish and you feed him for a day; teach a person to
          use the Internet and he won’t bother you for weeks.

  12. admin says:

    They know who was in the cockpit based on the remains and the
    observations by the F-16s.

  13. admin says:

    > They know who was in the cockpit based on the remains and the
    > observations by the F-16s.

    Yes, but is is presumption to say what they were doing, and when.  It
    might well be a reasonable presumption, but I don’t see how it can be
    established, expecially at this juncture, as fact.

    Jose

    Quantum Mechanics is like this: God =does= play dice with the universe,
    except there’s no God, and there’s no dice.  And maybe there’s no universe.
    for Email, make the obvious change in the address.

  14. admin says:

    In article <KFaOe.9221$Wi6.3…@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net>,
     Dave S <Dasta…@earthlink.net> wrote:

    > Ron Garret wrote:

    > > Yes, but it seems unlikely that he could (or would) have flown a holding
    > > pattern.

    > > rg

    > The FMS entered the hold after overflying the destination at altitude.
    > Sounds like it flew the lateral part of an approach, missed approach and
    > hold.

    > Dave

    Ah.

    rg

  15. admin says:

    The information gap on this crash is wider than the Grand Canyon, and bodes
    ill for a full disclosure at any time. First the F16 pilots say they saw the
    pilot absent and the FO slumped over the controls – then they say they saw
    someone else attempting to fly the plane – now there are reports one of the
    black boxes has been "lost" by authorities, after being recovered.

    I am not one given to conspiracy theories – I ridicule those who say 9/11
    was staged and I feel there is no strong evidence to contradict the official
    story on TWA800 (please let’s not start a new thread on this) – but in this
    case it is starting to appear that the authorities are not coming forward
    with the information. I believe it’s possible that the plane suffered a
    decompression accident, then, with no one left to fly the plane, the
    authorities made the "unthinkable" choice while the plane was in an
    uninhabited zone, rather than face the inevitable in less controlled
    circumstances.

    I’m not saying this is what I think happened  -  only that it is a possible
    theory, about as close as any of the others we have to fitting with the
    sparse evidence available. I am not optimistic that full and reliable
    details will ever be made available – the "lost" flight recorder being the
    last link in the chain of credibility.

    To those who claim the plane ran out of fuel – I ask, what evidence supports
    this?

    G Faris

  16. admin says:

    Greg Farris <no…@goaway.com> wrote:
    > – now there
    > are reports one of the black boxes has been "lost" by authorities,
    > after being recovered.

    You’re about a week behind in the news.  The cockpit voice recorder box
    was found fairly early in the investigation, but the guts were missing,
    having been torn out by the forces in the accident.  They have since
    found the voice recorder itself at the crash site, but are worried that
    it might be too damaged to read. It has been forwarded to France to see
    what information they can extract.

    >  - but in this case it is starting to appear that the authorities
    > are not coming forward with the information.

    The Greek authorities tend to do investigations without making early
    public statements like they do in some other countries.  However, they
    have released a general sequence of events that was extracted from the
    flight data recorder, and the head of the investigating agency has given
    a number of interviews describing what they have found in the
    investigation so far.  You just aren’t reading the right newspapers.

    > I believe it’s possible
    > that the plane suffered a decompression accident, then, with no one
    > left to fly the plane, the authorities made the "unthinkable" choice
    > while the plane was in an uninhabited zone, rather than face the
    > inevitable in less controlled circumstances.

    No, it looks like the pressurization system wasn’t working from the time
    the aircraft took off. No sudden decompression. The crew was busy trying
    to diagnose a number of problems, and likely set up the Flight
    Management System/Autopilot to control the flight.  The systems then
    handled everything involved with flying the airplane. What happened to
    the crew and passengers next is open to speculation. Perhaps the crew
    was simply overwhelmed by all the problems, and didn’t recognize the
    risk from the cabin altitude problem.

    > I’m not saying this is what I think happened  -  only that it is a
    > possible theory, about as close as any of the others we have to
    > fitting with the sparse evidence available. I am not optimistic that
    > full and reliable details will ever be made available – the "lost"
    > flight recorder being the last link in the chain of credibility.

    > To those who claim the plane ran out of fuel – I ask, what evidence
    > supports this?

    The flight data recorder. It says the engines flamed out. There might
    have been fuel available in some of the tanks, but if the engines ran
    the tanks dry that they were using, and nobody set up the feed for the
    other tanks with fuel, then it has the same effect as running out
    completely.  That would explain why the engines stopped for lack of fuel
    and there was still a fire after the crash.

  17. admin says:

    George Patterson wrote:
    > Scott Skylane wrote:

    >> It does strike me as strange that if the aircraft ran out of fuel,
    >> there was a postcrash fire big enough to need helicopter water drops
    >> to stop it.  I can envision small blazes caused by a few gallons of
    >> unuseable fuel, but I gotta wonder…

    > Well, the plane went down only a few hours after takeoff. Perhaps there
    > was plenty of fuel in other tanks if the guy flying it had known how to
    > switch tanks?

    He was reading this other thread about running a tank dry and really
    balled it up.

  18. admin says:

    The Greek investigators  say the plane ran out of fuel.
    http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/aug/22plane.htm

    "Greg Farris" <no…@goaway.com> wrote in message

    news:decfvt$s1i$1@biggoron.nerim.net…

    - Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

    > The information gap on this crash is wider than the Grand Canyon, and
    > bodes
    > ill for a full disclosure at any time. First the F16 pilots say they
    > saw the
    > pilot absent and the FO slumped over the controls – then they say they
    > saw
    > someone else attempting to fly the plane – now there are reports one
    > of the
    > black boxes has been "lost" by authorities, after being recovered.

    > I am not one given to conspiracy theories – I ridicule those who say
    > 9/11
    > was staged and I feel there is no strong evidence to contradict the
    > official
    > story on TWA800 (please let’s not start a new thread on this) – but in
    > this
    > case it is starting to appear that the authorities are not coming
    > forward
    > with the information. I believe it’s possible that the plane suffered
    > a
    > decompression accident, then, with no one left to fly the plane, the
    > authorities made the "unthinkable" choice while the plane was in an
    > uninhabited zone, rather than face the inevitable in less controlled
    > circumstances.

    > I’m not saying this is what I think happened  -  only that it is a
    > possible
    > theory, about as close as any of the others we have to fitting with
    > the
    > sparse evidence available. I am not optimistic that full and reliable
    > details will ever be made available – the "lost" flight recorder being
    > the
    > last link in the chain of credibility.

    > To those who claim the plane ran out of fuel – I ask, what evidence
    > supports
    > this?

    > G Faris

  19. admin says:

    "sfb" <s…@spam.net> wrote:
    > The Greek investigators  say the plane ran out of fuel.
    > http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/aug/22plane.htm

    Just a minor point.  The authorities have said that the engines stopped
    because of fuel starvation. They didn’t say the plane ran out of fuel.

  20. admin says:

    He may taken a full load of fuel earlier in the day on the mainland and
    not refueled in  Larnaca, Cyprus.

    "Newps" <nowh…@nowhere.com> wrote in message

    news:qo2dnbLw0IuORJTeRVn-sw@bresnan.com…

    - Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

    > George Patterson wrote:

    >> Scott Skylane wrote:

    >>> It does strike me as strange that if the aircraft ran out of fuel,
    >>> there was a postcrash fire big enough to need helicopter water drops
    >>> to stop it.  I can envision small blazes caused by a few gallons of
    >>> unuseable fuel, but I gotta wonder…

    >> Well, the plane went down only a few hours after takeoff. Perhaps
    >> there was plenty of fuel in other tanks if the guy flying it had
    >> known how to switch tanks?

    > He was reading this other thread about running a tank dry and really
    > balled it up.

  21. admin says:

    > doing.The actual cause of the crash was running out of fuel.

        So after the "Arrival", what was burning?                Al

    - Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -

    "sfb" <s…@spam.net> wrote in message news:6s7Oe.3982$Hi.3468@trnddc04…
    > After Airport I, II, III etc. etc. everybody knows any crew member with a
    > few simple directions from the ground can land a passenger jet on a CVN.

    > Seriously, the autopsies show the passengers were alive and probably
    > unconscious so it isn’t beyond the possibility that a steward went into
    > the cabin to ask what was happening and then tried to do something. The
    > question that needs answering is where was the pilot and what was he
    > doing.The actual cause of the crash was running out of fuel.

    > "Frankie" <franki…@earthlink.net> wrote in message
    > news:e77Oe.9166$Wi6.544@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net…
    >>I dunno…but this story’s hard to believe….

    >> Frankie

  22. admin says:

    On Mon, 22 Aug 2005 02:22:34 GMT, Dave S <Dasta…@earthlink.net>
    wrote:

    >Ron Garret wrote:

    >> Yes, but it seems unlikely that he could (or would) have flown a holding
    >> pattern.

    >> rg

    >The FMS entered the hold after overflying the destination at altitude.
    >Sounds like it flew the lateral part of an approach, missed approach and
    >hold.

    Not that it really matters, but was it a real FMS driven racetrack
    holding pattern, or was it just circling over what would have been the
    last waypoint loaded up in the plan pre departure?  Generally, how
    early does one get the STAR (if any), and approach assignment to put
    into the box?  In this case, how early would they have put it in,
    assuming they had enough time/sense to put it in considering the lack
    of O2?

  23. admin says:

    >>>>> "GF" == Greg Farris <no…@goaway.com> writes:

        GF> The information gap on this crash is wider than the Grand
        GF> Canyon, and bodes ill for a full disclosure at any time. First
        GF> the F16 pilots say they saw the pilot absent and the FO
        GF> slumped over the controls – then they say they saw someone
        GF> else attempting to fly the plane

    The *press* is saying this stuff.  I doubt very much the pilots are
    changing their story. The press is probably to blame for the changing
    stories, along with bureacrats who might know something but don’t have
    permission to say it, so they drop hints to the press.  No need for
    conspiracy theories.

  24. admin says:

    "James Robinson" <wasc…@212.com> wrote in message

    news:Xns96BA653BE2ED5wascanamailcircuitco@216.196.97.142…

    > "sfb" <s…@spam.net> wrote:

    >> The Greek investigators  say the plane ran out of fuel.
    >> http://www.rediff.com/news/2005/aug/22plane.htm

    > Just a minor point.  The authorities have said that the engines stopped
    > because of fuel starvation. They didn’t say the plane ran out of fuel.

    Regardless of the configuration of any cross-feed valves, it is not possible
    for any series 737 to have both engines stopped because of fuel starvation
    without the plane running out of fuel.

Place your comment

You must be logged in to post a comment.