Report on Cyprus airliner crash shares blame for disaster

dpa German Press Agency
Published: Tuesday October 10, 2006

Nicosia- A report released Tuesday into the cause of last year's Helios air crash found inadequacies across the spectrum, and could potentially lead to charges of criminal negligence. The report, presented to Cyprus President Tassos Papadopoulos on Tuesday, found fault with the operating airline, the Cyprus government, aviation officials and the manufacturer.

Akrivos Tsolakis, the chairman of the Greek Air Accident and Incidents Investigative Committee who compiled the report, said he could not find blame with any one party, as his mission was to compile the air accident report.

But a number of criminal negligence charges could result from the report, he said. Tsolakis will hand a copy of his report to Judge Panayiotis Kallis, who is conducting a public inquiry into the air crash.

The Boeing 737-300 aircraft crashed in Gramatikos near Athens on August 14, 2005, killing all 121 passengers and crew on board. There are reports that the Helios airline has changed its name to Ajet and is considering moving out of Cyprus.

Of the crash itself, the accident report blamed a variety of faulty components, saying the aircraft crashed because malfunction warnings failed, the cabin pressurization selector was in the manual position instead of on automatic, the crew was incapacitated because of lack of oxygen and the aircraft eventually ran out of fuel.

But the report more widely determined that the accident resulted from a range of direct and latent causes.

It points to deficiencies in the quality, management and safety procedures followed by the operator, to long-term inadequacy on the part of the regulatory authority to meet its safety responsibilities, to the manufacturers inability to take effective measures to rectify previous pressurization incidents and to inadequate application of principles relating to crew resource management.

The report also identifies additional safety deficiencies in maintenance procedures, pilot training and normal and emergency procedures. It finds organizational issues with the operator and with Cyprus officials' safety oversight of maintenance and flight operations, as well as issues related to the aircraft manufacturer's documentation for maintenance and flight operations. It also blames the international authorities' handling of precursor incident information so as to implement preventive measures in a timely manner.

The report was presented to Greek Transport Minister Michalis Liapis and the Court of First Instance in Athens earlier Tuesday.

© 2006 dpa German Press Agency