RELATIVES of the Helios victims wept in court yesterday as the Greek fighter pilot who witnessed the 2005 crash told how he saw the cockpit of the ill-fated Boeing 737 shooting off “like a meteorite” when the plane hit the ground on its belly.
In a harrowing and vivid account of the doomed airliner’s last moments, Panayiotis Athanasopoulos, the pilot of one of two Greek F-16 fighter jets sent to intercept the Helios flight, transfixed the courtroom with a description of how air steward Andreas Prodromou had stared hopelessly at him through the cockpit window just before his last-ditch attempt to pull the Boeing up minutes before it crashed into a hillside at Grammatiko, outside Athens.
Athanasopoulos was the last person to see the Helios steward alive and his testimony brought to life the tragedy of the flight’s last moments, reducing many of those in the court to tears.
The Greek pilot told the court that as Prodromou grappled with the controls of the doomed airliner he had pointed his index finger in a downwards direction when Athanasopoulos signalled him.
Athanasopoulos said he was initially flying alongside the Boeing at 34,000 feet and had flapped the fighter plane’s wing – a signal telling the Helios pilot to follow him. The Helios flight was in a holding pattern and should have responded the same way as the fighter jet, indicating it was complying, he said.
“That is what I expected to see from the Boeing but I did not,” Athanasopoulos said.
He then went closer for a better look and reported back to his base that he could not see anyone in the captain’s seat, while the co-pilot was slumped forward in his chair.
The passenger cabin was dark but from the light going through the windows he could see the oxygen masks had been deployed and two people were wearing them, the court heard.
Athanasopoulos said he signalled the two people without response.
The Greek fighter pilot said the Boeing began to lose altitude and at that moment he saw someone with a blue shirt and a waistcoat entered the cockpit. He took the captain’s seat and put on the headphones while taking the controls.
The steward Prodromou, 25, who managed to gain some altitude, had had some pilot training in the past.
Athanasopoulos tried to draw Prodromou’s attention with gestures, which at some stage the steward noticed because he turned and stared at the fighter pilot.
The Greek pilot signalled Prodromou to land but instead, the steward merely pointed downward with his right index finger, the Greek pilot said.
He then “looked ahead and did not look towards me again as the plane went down,” Athanasopoulos said.
Athanasopoulos said the aircraft levelled before the crash, hitting the ground at Grammatikos, on its belly. The aircraft slid for a bit before the fuselage started falling apart.
The cockpit then broke off from the rest of the aircraft and “shot away like a meteorite,” Athanasopoulos said.
It was the worst disaster in Cypriot aviation history leaving 121 passengers and crew dead.
The defendants in the trial – Andreas Drakos, chairman of the board of Helios, Demetris Pantazis, chief executive officer, Ianko Stoimenov, (former) chief pilot, Giorgos Kikidis, operations manager; and Helios Airways as a legal entity – face 1,190 charges – 238 each – of manslaughter and causing the death of 121 people through a reckless act.
Manslaughter carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
They have all pleaded not guilty.
The trial continues tomorrow with the cross examination of Athanasopoulos by the defence.
