PARTS OF the Boeing aircraft that crashed in Greece in 2005 killing all 121 people on board were produced as evidence yesterday at the start of the much-anticipated Helios trial in Nicosia
Some 20 black-clad relatives of the people who died in the August 14 crash, stood outside the courthouse in the morning, while police hauled in box after box of evidence and testimonies pertaining to the case.
The defendants, Andreas Drakos, chairman of the board of Helios, Demetris Pantazis, chief executive officer, Lanko Stoimenov, (former) chief pilot, Giorgos Kikidis, operations manager; and Helios Airways as a legal entity are facing close to 1,200 charges – 238 each – of manslaughter and causing the death of 119 people through a reckless act.
Manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment. They have all pleaded not guilty.
Chief Inspector Themis Arnaoutis, who has been part of the investigative team since day one submitted evidence as the four defendants sat side by side across the room, avoiding eye contact with the relatives, seated to their right.
Among the evidence submitted were testimonies from the defendants and various aircraft parts.
The parts included what the state claimed were the fatal aircraft’s flight data recorder and the memory of the cockpit voice recorder as well as the cockpit oxygen masks, the air-conditioning and ventilation panel, and the rear outflow valve.
Pantazis, silver laptop open in front of him, took notes from the start of the hearing and regularly conferred with defence lawyer Giorgos Papaioannou throughout yesterday’s procedure.
Stoimenov followed the hearing through an interpreter.
Papaioannou enquired about the handling of the evidence, since the aircraft parts had been handed over from Greece.
“We took all necessary measures for their packaging and transport to Cyprus,” Arnaoutis said.
He added that all the evidence had been recorded and packaged in co-operation with an aircraft engineer.
The defence also asked if the oxygen masks found belonged to the flight crew of the Boeing 737.
“DNA belonging to the co-pilot was found on one of the masks,” the police investigator said.
The defence then shifted its line of questioning and focused on the operation of the company and matters related to licensing, inspections and evaluations as well as the suitability of the pilots.
The case of the prosecution hinges on demonstrating that the company and its officers are liable for employing, and continuing to employ “inadequate and unfit” pilots.
The Attorney-general’s office’s angle is that the accident was caused by mistakes/omissions made by Captain Hans-Jurgen Merten and his co-pilot Pambos Charalambous, that they were unfit to fly, and that therefore it is the airline’s fault for allowing them to do so.
A subsequent fact-finding probe on the accident primarily blamed the two pilots, but also cited shortcomings within the airline as well as Cyprus’ Civil Aviation as latent, or underlying, reasons for the crash.
The crash report found that the airflow valve was set at a 14-degree angle from the manual position, allowing for partial pressurisation.
For this type of Boeing, it should have been set on auto before takeoff.
According to the report, on the night before the accident, airline engineers left the switch on manual, but on the fateful day the pilots apparently omitted to conduct the pre-flight checks.
The trial continues on December 1.
