It's now being reported that at least one passenger, a child, survived whatever happened in the air, and the subsequent crash, only to die from the brushfire after the crash.
The F-16 pilots said one of the two flight attendants signalled to them by hand gesture that he would try to land the plane.
The decompression scenario seems to be fading, if there were crew walking around.
On the pilots' forum there are a lot of stumped professionals trying to figure this one out.
Condoleeza Rice has phoned the Greek and Cypriot governments offering investigative help.
UPDATE
The the two flight attendants said to have been seen in the cockpit are Andreas Prodromou, who trained as a pilot, and girlfriend Haris Charalambous. He wasn't scheduled to work that flight, but wanted to hang out with Charalambous.
Other reports are saying it was another stewardess, chief flight attendant Louiza Vouteri, who was found in the cockpit, so it's up in the air. So to speak.
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Previous posting:
Helios Airways
Nice gesture on the part of Condoleeza Rice - - I read they've already sent the flight recorder to France, though.
Unfortunately, if the USA got involved and then came out with investigative results that the Greeks/Cypriots didn't like, many there would say that it was a CIA plot that crashed the airplane.
Posted by: erik at August 17, 2005 08:28 AMThey're already saying it was heading for the carrier Theodore Roosevelt.
Yeah, it was a nice gesture from Condi. I agree it's best though if they don't take us up on it.
Posted by: Donnah at August 17, 2005 12:30 PMI lived in Athens for 3 years - - I love the Greeks, but they're crazy when it comes to Americans. Somehow the USA is responsible for everything that goes wrong, anywhere and anytime.
Posted by: erikk at August 17, 2005 04:53 PMThey were a huge recipient of Marshall aid, too.
Are they friends with anybody?
Forgive me, but I don't know why I needed to know that the child survived the crash and then burned to death afterward. It was awful enough to begin with--that's beyond awful. (I'm not blaming you, I'd heard about it earlier in the day from a news source. This just reminded me of it.)
Posted by: James at August 17, 2005 11:45 PMBecause of the irony?
Posted by: Donnah at August 18, 2005 06:00 AM>>They were a huge recipient
>>of Marshall aid, too.
>>Are they friends with anybody?
Well, everyone they're near (Turkey, Albania, Bulgaria, Italy) has invaded them in the last century (not too mention the Nazi occupation in WW2, approx 450,000 starved to death out of a total population of 7 mil) so I don't blame them for not trusting anyone. The USA ended up backing the military dictatorship junta that ruled them 1967-1974 (Greeks tend to forget they also backed the Junta initially) and in the last decades they've had to deal with the anti-american craziness of Harvard educated, University of Berkely economic professor Andreas Papandreou as leader of the PASOK socialist party (he died in 1996 after running the country '81-'89) - - so if anyone wonders what a lefty Berkely professor would be like in charge of a whole country, Greece is the answer - - embezzlement, corruption, unions and a bureaucracy so powerful nothing gets done until theres been a strike held and money skimmed to somebody. (Things have improved since Papandreou)
Sorry for the long history lesson - - on the other hand, Greece is a beautiful country, perfect climate, and the people are warm and family-oriented in a way that's more like classic Southern culture. Very giving and loyal.
Posted by: erikk at August 18, 2005 10:47 AMNo, it was very interesting. I love learning new things.
Posted by: Donnah at August 18, 2005 08:27 PMThe story about the child surviving the crash and horribly then expiring from inhaling soot from the resulting fire is too awful. I don't mind READING about it, I mind that it HAPPENED.
Poor, dear child. It's just horrible.
I have to go read up on the forum, see what I missed.
But, before reading what the more experts have to opine about the cause/s of the crash, it DOES NOT rule out decompression that there were the few remaining seen in the cabin (or even some in their seats, rear). It just means they survived the decompression (if it occured and I think probably it did but we'll see what the experts conclude) and probably because they immediately responded to the onset of the incident and took protective measures within twenty seconds, while everyone else slipped into stupor and then death because they didn't. The idea of "slow decompression" seems more than likely, thus the pilot who was well trained to know how to deal with that would have not noticed the issue (or, at least, didn't) until it was too late and he'd already lost motor and mental function (thus, caught out of his seat in mid-motion as he attempted to do whatever).
Posted by: -S- at August 19, 2005 01:32 AMErikk,
a very interesting posting your historical bgr on Greece.
Being Greek myself, I can say that a big part of this is true. Most people incl. myself are not at all prejudiced with American tourists (or any other tourist).
The most shocking thing for me is that I had actually briefly met Andrea 8 days before the crash - and had a chat with him over coffee in Thessaloniki. He was a really nice and handsome guy. I just can't begin to imagine what he must have went through.
Posted by: e.p. at August 23, 2005 12:19 PME.P.- You're lucky. Not many of us get to realize we've come face to face with a truly brave man.
Posted by: Donnah at August 23, 2005 09:43 PM