Cyprus marks 21 years since Helios Airways Flight 522 crash

Grammatiko, Greece. Cyprus marks 21 years on Friday since Helios Airways Flight 522 crashed into hills near Grammatiko, killing all 121 people on board, including 22 children and six crew members.

The aircraft departed from Larnaca airport on 14 August 2005, bound for Prague via Athens.

Final flight

The aircraft entered Athens airspace at 10.15am, but there was no contact with the control tower.

At 11.05am, two F-16 fighter jets took off from Nea Anchialos and made contact with the aircraft at 11.18am. The co-pilot was unconscious, the captain was not in his seat, and the oxygen supply system and masks had been activated.

Subsequent investigations found that the aircraft was flying on autopilot. All passengers were reported to be unconscious, except flight attendant Andreas Prodromos, who unsuccessfully tried to take control of the aircraft.

The aircraft crashed in the mountainous area of Grammatiko at 12.05pm, killing all 103 Cypriots and 12 Greeks on board.

Court proceedings

In February 2013, the Nicosia criminal court acquitted all defendants in the case, including Helios executive chairman Andreas Drakos, company chief executive Dimitris Pantazis, director of flights Giorgos Kikkidis and the airline’s Bulgarian chief pilot, Yanko Stoimenov.

The acquittal followed the suspension of criminal proceedings against all the accused and the airline, ordered by the attorney-general’s office.

The Athens court of appeal had earlier upheld convictions issued by the three-member misdemeanour court in a February 2013 ruling.

The original sentence of 122 years’ imprisonment for each of the three defendants was reduced first to 10 years and then converted into a fine. After paying approximately €73,000 each, they were released.

Under the principle that no one may be tried twice for the same offence, the three were expected to be removed from the Cypriot indictment.