 5B-DBY, the aircraft involved in the accident, three days before the crash | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | 14 August 2005 |
| Summary | Crew incapacitation due to loss of pressurization, leading to fuel exhaustion and crash |
| Site | Grammatiko, Greece 38°13.894′N 23°58.214′E / 38.231567°N 23.970233°E |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 737-31S |
| Aircraft name | Olympia |
| Operator | Helios Airways |
| IATA flight No. | ZU522 |
| ICAO flight No. | HCY522 |
| Call sign | HELIOS 522 |
| Registration | 5B-DBY |
| Flight origin | Larnaca International Airport, Cyprus |
| Stopover | Athens International Airport, Greece |
| Destination | Prague Ruzyně International Airport, Czech Republic |
| Occupants | 121 |
| Passengers | 115 |
| Crew | 6 |
| Fatalities | 121 |
| Survivors | 0 |
Helios Airways Flight 522 was a scheduled passenger flight from Larnaca, Cyprus, to Prague, Czech Republic, with a stopover in Athens, Greece. Shortly after take-off on 14 August 2005, Nicosia air traffic control (ATC) lost contact with the pilots operating the flight, named Olympia; it eventually crashed near Grammatiko, Greece, killing all 121 passengers and crew on board. It is the deadliest aviation accident in Greek history.[1][2]
An investigation into the accident by Greece's Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board (AAIASB) concluded that the crew had failed to notice that the cabin pressurization system was set to "manual" during take-off checks. A ground engineer had set it to "manual" to conduct testing and had forgotten to restore it back to "auto" afterward. This caused the plane to gradually depressurize as it climbed and resulted in nearly everyone on board suffering from generalized hypoxia, thus resulting in a "ghost flight." The negligent nature of the accident led to lawsuits being filed against Helios Airways and Boeing, with the former also being shut down by the Government of Cyprus the following year.
- ^ Ranter, Harro. "ASN Aircraft accident Boeing 737-31S 5B-DBY Grammatikos". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 8 April 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.
- ^ Ranter, Harro. "Greece air safety profile". aviation-safety.net. Aviation Safety Network. Archived from the original on 25 March 2022. Retrieved 11 May 2022.