Akrivos Tsolakis, the man behind the probe into the Helios crash, speaks to ELIAS HAZOU about the investigation that has captured a nation’s attention
AKRIVOS Tsolakis has become a household name in the Greek world, though the association carries with it a terrible event – the crash of the Helios airliner last August, which killed 121 people.
Yet, perhaps understandably, little was known of the man on this Mediterranean island prior to August 15, 2005.
Now, a year later, it can be safely said that the man who led investigations into the air disaster has become one of the most likeable figures among the Cypriot people.
His outwardly easygoing style belies his resolute drive and work ethic that has brought the probe to a conclusion just twelve months down the line.
But it would be a mistake to see him as a heartless automaton or a workaholic technocrat. The victims’ relatives can relate to him: he has suffered personal loss too, two years ago when his son died.
Tsolakis has been in the aviation business for more than 50 years now, as a military pilot, airline pilot, adviser to government, national safety official, accident investigator, author and president of Flight Safety Foundation-Southeastern Europe, Hellas.
He has been credited with playing a great part in improving safety in military, civil and international contexts. His career has spanned service in the Hellenic Air Force, with Olympic Airways, as adviser and consultant to the Hellenic Minister of Transport and the Civil Aviation Authority, and as the first chairman of the Hellenic Republic National Aviation Safety Board.
As a pilot and training officer with the Hellenic Air Force (HAF) from 1949 to 1965, he founded the HAF Aviation Safety Division, introduced its Flight magazine and established a hazard-reporting system. His 25-year career with Olympic Airways included flying several aircraft types including the Airbus A300 and the Boeing 747.
On the eve of the first anniversary of the Helios crash, the Sunday Mail asked Tsolakis for an assessment of the year-long probe, anxiously awaited by the victims’ grieving relatives and the public at large.
“In my view, the investigation was completed in record time. Nine months and four days, to be exact.
“And this is not to pat ourselves in the back,” he adds.
He said his team – formally known as the Air Accident Investigating Committee – comprised 15 people, 10 full-time and five hired on freelance basis.
“Corresponding agencies abroad employ up to a hundred people, so I think we did OK considering our size,” he says.
The committee was established in February 2002, after Greece complied with an EU directive to member-states to set up independent bodies to investigate aviation accidents. Previously, this task had fallen to the local civil aviation authorities, but the European Union reasoned that naturally this situation created a conflict of interest.
Cyprus still lacks such an independent body, although Civil Aviation has been taking measures to beef up its Flight Safety Unit.
Tsolakis told the Mail his committee had an annual operating budget of around one million euros, in addition to a “buffer fund” of some 800,000 euros. The committee is financed by the Greek government, and comes under the Transport Ministry.
“If I’m not mistaken, we were the first to produce the report in two languages – Greek and English. The translation itself was extremely time-consuming, and we were careful to get all the technical and legal terms right, since the document will inevitably be used in court later on.”
According to EU regulations, a draft report must be presented six months (plus two) following an aviation accident. However, from then on, the chief investigator can ask for as much time as he deems necessary to tie all the loose ends.
And Tsolakis is not one to leave anything to chance.
“Though we were done essentially after nine months, we were obliged to forward our findings to all the interested parties for comments.”
These included the US Federal Aviation Administration, Boeing, the Cypriot investigating commission and the affected airline. Their feedback was “crucial,” he says.
He estimates his team expended some 30,000 to 35,000 hours of “brain work” on the probe.
Only this past week Tsolakis announced that the final report would be out in early September at the latest.
But was he satisfied with the overall investigation? Were there any bumps along the way?
“No, I don’t feel we had any major problems. Far from it. Everyone – and I mean everyone – involved both here and in Cyprus were extremely cooperative. Authorities in both countries made it ‘easy’ for us.
“Let me give you an example: the public prosecutor [in Greece] was very accommodating. He readily allowed evidence [plane fuselage] to be flown abroad for inspection, whereas he was not obliged to authorise this.
“Frankly, I can’t find any flaw with the help we got.”
He pauses, reflecting on the sinking feel he had upon first gazing on the wreckage at Grammatikos.
“The investigation was launched on 14 August, hours after the tragedy occurred. I remember that on visiting the crash site, with all the devastation, I thought to myself: ‘There’s no way we can make it – this is too hard.’
“It was an instinctive reaction. As the days went by, both I and my colleagues grew in confidence. We knew we could get to the bottom of this.”
So has he solved the mystery? Much has been written in the media about the causes of the crash. Some theories – such as that the plane was attacked by an experimental electromagnetic pulse gun and the affair then covered up – are more outlandish than others.
“To me, there is no mystery. At least not anymore. I know exactly what happened,” asserts Tsolakis, but of course he declines to go any further.
He says all will be revealed in due time, when the media are given a downsized version of the report.
“But I’ll tell you this: it was the most complex case I’ve ever dealt with. I’ve stayed awake many a night racking my brains.”
The prevailing theory about one of the main causes of the accident concerns the now-famous decompression switch. To give a little background, the warning horn sounded after the aircraft reached an altitude of 10,000 feet. The switch had been left on manual by ground crew during pre-flight checks, while it should have been set to automatic.
When the decompression alarm went off, the crew – who had assumed that the decompression switch was on auto – mistakenly took this for a glitch in the positioning of the flaps, because the sounds emitted in both cases are identical. As the aircraft climbed to 34,000 feet, both the pilots and passengers gradually lost consciousness.
We asked Tsolakis whether the crash of Helios ZU522 has provided us with lessons for the future.
“No doubt. I’ll cite but one example. Based on our safety recommendations, Boeing has since taken many corrective measures to address the problem with the decompression alarm.”
“Believe me, without a shred of exaggeration I can say we’ve shaken up the aviation industry with our findings. Hopefully, we’ve done our bit to make flying that much safer.”
He says his immediate plans will be to serve out his term as head of the Greek committee. After that, who knows?
Though not prone to displays of emotion in public, Tsolakis admits:
“This thing has drained us, both mentally and emotionally.”
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