[TETENAL]

In Greece a plane crashed allegedly because the pilots passed out. All 121 on board are dead.

How can this even happen? Can't the pilots reduce the height of the flight when oxygen is low?

[AKcrab]

Exactly right. They should drop below 10,000 feet immediately, which makes oxygen a non-issue, and if temperature becomes a problem, drop even lower. The story makes no sense.

[macroy]

If the decompression happens rapid enough, they may not have had time (i.e. Payne Stewart). But I think its a bit early to determine exactly what happened.

I do recall that most pilots are trained to put on the oxgen masks as soon as the decompression warning is sounded though....

[Eug Wanker]

Cypriot plane crashes in Greece

Sunday, August 14, 2005 Updated at 10:14 AM EDT
Associated Press

Athens — A Cypriot airliner crashed into a hill north of Athens on Sunday, killing all 121 people on board. Reports said at least one of the pilots was unconscious when the plane went down, possibly from lack of oxygen in the cabin.

<snip>

A man whose cousin was a passenger on the plane told Greece's Alpha television he received a cell-phone text message minutes before the crash. "He told me the pilots were unconscious. ... He said: "Farewell, cousin, here we're frozen," Sotiris Voutas said.

Two F-16 fighter jets were sent out shortly after the plane entered Greek air space over the Aegean Sea and did not respond to radio calls — a standard Greek practice. As they intercepted the airliner shortly before it crashed, the jet pilots saw one of the pilots slumped unconscious over the controls, Alpha TV reported. They also reported that there was no movement in the cabin.

Greek state television quoted Cyprus Transport Minister Haris Thrasou as saying the plane had decompression problems in the past.

EDIT:

Ooops... Unfortunate coincidence for an ad:

[chabig]

Originally Posted by macroy

If the decompression happens rapid enough, they may not have had time (i.e. Payne Stewart). But I think its a bit early to determine exactly what happened.

I do recall that most pilots are trained to put on the oxgen masks as soon as the decompression warning is sounded though....

There is always time to put on oxygen. Whether the pilot actually does it is a different story. For unknown reasons, some (like Payne Stewart's pilots) delayed putting on oxygen. But there is always time. It takes less than 5 seconds to don the mask, and the time of useful consciousness is always longer than that.

This entire accident sound suspiciously fishy. As you said, it's too early to tell exactly what happened. But there will be plenty of speculation by people without any knowledge.

Chris

[TETENAL]

Originally Posted by Eug Wanker

Greek state television quoted Cyprus Transport Minister Haris Thrasou as saying the plane had decompression problems in the past.

http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,369752,00.html

Der Spiegel reports that passengers passed out on that plane on previous flights due to pressurization problems. And allegedly furious relatives had been storming the counter of the airline "you murderers did let a defective machine fly" and even the runway trying to prevent another machine of that airline from starting.

It that is true:

[chabig]

Originally Posted by TETENAL

http://www.spiegel.de/panorama/0,1518,369752,00.html

Der Spiegel reports that passengers passed out on that plane on previous flights due to pressurization problems. And allegedly furious relatives had been storming the counter of the airline "you murderers did let a defective machine fly" and even the runway trying to prevent another machine of that airline from starting.

It that is true:

What the relatives do is irrelevant to answering the question of why the airplane crashed. Pressurization problems alone do not make an airplane crash.

Chris

[Weyland-Yutani]

Originally Posted by chabig

There is always time to put on oxygen. Whether the pilot actually does it is a different story. For unknown reasons, some (like Payne Stewart's pilots) delayed putting on oxygen. But there is always time. It takes less than 5 seconds to don the mask, and the time of useful consciousness is always longer than that.

This entire accident sound suspiciously fishy. As you said, it's too early to tell exactly what happened. But there will be plenty of speculation by people without any knowledge.

Chris

Very sad and so far very mysterious. My prayers are with the victimes and their families.

It was a 737-300, likely this one http://www.airliners.net/open.file/817848/L/

delivered in 1997.

There would have to have been a chain of incidents that lead to this result. I don't want to speculate at this moment because we don't really know anything yet.

W-Y

[von Wrangell]

Originally Posted by chabig

What the relatives do is irrelevant to answering the question of why the airplane crashed. Pressurization problems alone do not make an airplane crash.

Chris

But an unconscious pilot might result in a crash. Wouldn't you agree?

But I agree, this whole thing seems fishy. Could the warning instruments have been faulty?

[TETENAL]

Originally Posted by chabig

Pressurization problems alone do not make an airplane crash.

Maybe that's what the airline thought as well when the let an airplane with known pressurization problems fly. And even when the plane doesn't crash, when passengers pass out during the flight, a plane can not be considered safe.

[spatterson]

Is it me or are there more planes crashing than normal?

[broxy5]

There are cockpit warnings when cabin altitude goes above 10,000 or 12,500, or what ever the warning system is designed to. Pilots have quick-don masks in the cockpit, which only takea second or two, and the warning system drops the rubber jungle automatically in the cabin for pax.

It's pointless to speculate as there is always more to the story.

[Cody Dawg]

Maybe it was a terrorist.

It's very strange and very upsetting because there were a lot of children on board.

[wdlove]

Originally Posted by Cody Dawg

Maybe it was a terrorist.

It's very strange and very upsetting because there were a lot of children on board.

Hi Cody how is the fish tank?