Plane crash in greece...

[Craig.]

at -50 you wouldn't last more than a few seconds when combined with hypoxia.
sad loss whatever happend

[beaky]

Awful news. This one is a real head-scratcher, too-if the flight crew was unconscious all the way down, how is it that a passenger was on his cell phone calling a relative just before impact?
Saw a quote: "Farewell... we're frozen here..."
 Only good thing is that it came down in an uncongested area...
Seems unlikely it was an act of terrorism, as nobody has claimed responsibility yet, and tinkering with the heaters or O2 system is not the way they usually work. Seems  too complicated a scheme. And if the "third person with a gasmask (does that mean a Boeing O2 mask, or a military -type gasmask?)" was a hijacker who had taken control, why crash it in the boonies, and not a populated area?

[Craig.]

Theres no point speculating cause of the accident, especially in the case of this crash, its just too complicated. There is nothing to say the text was sent just before impact. Chances are it was actually sent as the whole thing was happening at altitude, but the cell phone wouldn't have had a signal to send it till it was closer to the ground. while you dont need as much of a signal as you do for a call, you still need some sort of connection to send a message.

[Sytse]

I just posted this in the wrong thread:

Just heard some (Helios?) plane crashed North of Athens. All 115 people dead. Lost cabin pressure and oxygen from what I've heard. 2 black boxes found. That's all I know.

Kind of scary, my sister flew out to Greace this night. Different company though...

May the victims rest in peace.

[beaky]

Theres no point speculating cause of the accident, especially in the case of this crash, its just too complicated. There is nothing to say the text was sent just before impact. Chances are it was actually sent as the whole thing was happening at altitude, but the cell phone wouldn't have had a signal to send it till it was closer to the ground. while you dont need as much of a signal as you do for a call, you still need some sort of connection to send a message.

Very good point. didn't realize it was a text msg. Whatever the case, it's a bummer...

[C]

Very sad news. We'll have to wait and see what the investigation comes up with. Be interesting to see what they make of the Captain apparently being in the cabin, but if they did have a problem with the crew Oxy system at a jets normal cruising altitude, and they were dealing with an emergency, they would have had very little time to find an alternative source (the harder your body's working, the less "time of useful consciousness" you will have)...

[Carlo]

What I understood from a news broadcast on a German station is that the plane was flying for about 60 to 90 minutes on autopilot and without any contact to the ground or the fighter pilots escorting it. Also the Boeing dropped from it's altitude when it ran out off fuel. Apparently there is a video of the crash made by the F16 pilots which is under investigation at the moment.

Crash

[beefhole]

Was just filled in by my dad on this... really sad, all I have to say is that it will make for one helluva black box recording.

[Hai Perso Coyone?]

The black-boxes have been found...let's hope we find out what really happened

[Ivan]

Rescue teams confirmed passengers 'looking frozen'...

[beefhole]

I know it's been said before, but it really is odd... pilots are trained to perform emergency descents in the event of this type of emergency... I would have to say something else happened, or it was severe pilot error.

Know we're not really supposed to speculate, but they should've been able to do an emergency descent.

[Craig.]

To play the speculation game. There was only 1 pilot in the cockpit, so the other perhaps went to the bathroom, while he was there, this incident could have begun to unfold, because the pilot in the cockpit might have been either incapacitated or so busy, they other wouldn't have been able to get into the cockpit because the door would have been locked. in the end it could turn out to be the most unlikely set of circumstances all coming together at once.

[Ivan]

Pilot is said to have collapsed in the cabin while looking for the extra oxygen bottle. at least that was what one of the passengers sent on his phone

[beefhole]

Pilot is said to have collapsed in the cabin while looking for the extra oxygen bottle. at least that was what one of the passengers sent on his phone

That's very odd... they should've had enough... I can only think that means a failure of the oxy system.

[Whitey]

It's a shame this had to happen as the airline apparently knew the aircraft had problems with depressurisation before.