Hello all, I did my very best to ensure that this story was told in a respectful and accurate way, and you can find all sources in a public post over on my Patreon: bit.ly/39RFEqd. That said, I’m not a pilot, and I don’t speak Greek, so I’ve relied on people to translate technical info/a whole other language. If anything doesn’t seem quite right, let me know, and I can always add any major corrections here. I'd be interested to hear your theories on Andreas - I know that this is a horrific situation to be in, and we will never, EVER know what he was dealing with up there, but for the life of me I still can't understand why he didn't enter the cockpit until the last moments given that he a) had oxygen, b) had the access code? The ONLY thing I can imagine is that he somehow incapacitated himself but even still, one of the oxygen canisters wasn't used so it just doesn't make sense to me.
Can you put documentary aboit helious and malyasia mh most two mysterious tragedy of the CENTURY 40 1.30 minutes in fulk hd documentary can you post?? All people died in helios?? Soo sad one most horrible fligts ever
One of my friends is a commercial pilot for a major airline for another country. He says if he doesn’t know a certain pilot that he is paired with, there is concern that the other person could be crazy or suicidal. He strongly feels that the malayasian flight that disappeared is most likely due to suicidal tendencies. Based on what I’ve seen from the constant training and reviewing he has to do for his job, I feel it’s unlikely a pilot would be that incompetent and something far more sinister is at play.
Helios disaster shocked all of us in Greece,yeah the f16 pilot voice was in despair and shock, years after photos from first respond crews on the crash sight leaked in daily motion,I made the mistake from curiosity to look on it, huge mistake,some still haunt me till today, rip
Well this two f16 pilots could have saved many lives had they land their jet-fighter on top of the airplane and apply downward pressure from their jet-fighter to descend the airplane. It is clear that they never thought about this.
@@SoulRocketMan They never thought of this because it is quite possibly one of the stupidest ideas ever. I can see no scenario where that would work or help the situation at all.
That flight attendant was a hero. He fought through barely being conscious and tried his best to save everyone. Unfortunately heroes don’t always succeed RIP flight 522
@@williamsstephens So in your world an attemt for control is, by definition, control? Hope you dont drive your car by the same definition😉 Its just the inaccurate narrative that he controlled the aircraft away from Athens that gets to me.
@@speedbird9313 the comment didnt mention the innacurate narrative that he controlled the aircraft away from Athens, so i dont know why youre bringing that up. This also is not the same as driving a car. Attempting to level it off is control, which for all you know, is what the comment was referring to.
I will never complain about a flight being late for take-off ever again. It's moments like these when you really have to respect the care and attention that your pilots give before, during, and after your flight.
It was a schock for everyone here in Greece, the fact the cypriot passengers were Greek as well made it sadder, there were some conspiracy theories the first days that the f16 actually brought it down by missile because it was heading towards populated area in Athens but of course it didn't happen it just crashed, the worst scenario it would be though the plane to have a course to Athens and then the f 16 would have no other option..
Perhaps it was exactly the amount of experience they had that led to their demise. After hundreds of flights, complacency becomes the biggest danger of them all.
It may be apparent to some - but likely not all who don't speak Greek. The fighter pilot calling out the mayday and describing the last moments before impact was most definitely crying and trying to hold back tears. He was fumbling just ever so slightly in his wording of what was going on. Poor guy, he really really was distraught.
Thank you 🙏 Before I had it translated to English it was bad enough. But when I could understand the words I had the worst feeling in the pit of my stomach for a few days. The pilot is professional and economic with his words, but the way he says it, that crack in his voice - that says everything you need to know.
I'm Greek and when this happened the entire country froze in horror. Andreas is a hero in our hearts and will always be. May they all rest in peace. I just hope no one suffered.
They kinda got drunk and then really high feeling them sleeping. They knew nothing. They felt nothing. They were all, already very hypoxic. The flight attendant is a hero. He tried so hard. 😢
@@speedbird9313are you a whore ? Because you seeking attention in every comment where andreas has been complimeted ? I guess you are the typical nerd who can't see someone else spirit . Hope you get better in mentality
@@MarmotStarpax I wouldn't call it ''their'' incompetence as much as it was the check up engineer's. As stated many times in the video, the pilots were getting more and more disorientated because of the lack of oxygen. Their brains literally started to become even less able to think and realize what was happening.
@@blenderboy1900 u do a check up on a plane and forget to switch something back to it’s original setting which what caused this whole thing…but it’s not his fault?!
Poor Andreas! He joined the crew the last minute and was the last to be conscious. While everyone else was spared the minutes before the crash, he was witness to the entire horror.
No his girlfriend join the last minit. She was air hostess too. She exhange shift with other air hostess because Andreas arange 2 days in Prague for both of them. That day Helios Airlines first destination was Athens and then Prague.
Yeah and I'm sure he tried his best to save everyone, it was just not enough this time, I can't imagine the feeling of he realized that he can't do anything more and save everyone.
@@teijaflink2226 It’s possible he was thinking of saving anyone or anything during the ordeal, but I think the reality may have set in much sooner than the end, making it hard not to realize that most people were likely already dead, as they had suffered hypoxia or anoxia for so long by the time he was in the cockpit
As a pilot I can say there is no excuse for what happened. They should have already known that a cabin pressurization test had been performed, so verifying that the pressurization switch was in the auto mode should have been a no brainer. Secondly, as soon as the alarm sounded, they should have not made assumptions as to what caused the alarm, but realized what the actual reason for the alarm was. As for the maintenance person that performed the pressurization test, he should have returned it to the auto mode. If the pilots had performed a proper preflight check this never would have happened.
Also The alarm should clearly display that the plane had no pressure and not a possible mix up with ground problem that confused the pilot. All and all tragic
@@pecfreeyeah, like the alarm sounding the same but indicating different things depending on timing is an accident waiting to happen. Even if timing *should* make what it means clear, there’s no reason to not further distinguish them. Planes already have all kinds of verbal warning sounds so there could have been a voice that said out loud what the issue was
@@notNajimi the sounds for technical failures are the same for the majority of failures on most aircraft. It’s simply not possible to have a different sound for everything. The sound usually required the crew to check what failure the alarm has gone off for.
Like, they should have physically felt their own blood oxygen start dragging at about 9000 feet and getting progressively worse from there. There's a window where you won't be too mentally loopy but still feel like your lungs aren't filling. I can't figure out how they were cruising the equivalent elevation of Mount Kilimanjaro, ascending into the Everest death-zone without realizing their lungs were acting weird.
Shout out to Andreas who even when suffering from Hypoxia and barely conscious still tried to save everyone. And that poor pilot, who’s voice cracked made me cry
@@MorrisPV when he realised there was nothing he could've done, he tried to direct the plane to somewhere without any people. that is not self preservation
There is something oddly terrifying (in a sci-fi horror / psychological thriller kind of way) thinking about an airplane flying itself for so long while everyone inside is dead. It's just it's a strange feeling to think about.
What's sadder to think about is that they were all most likely still alive, just unconscious... I can't imagine what Andreas would have felt in his last moments, stumbling to the cockpit in his hypoxic state through a plane full of lifeless bodies, the only one still conscious.
Cattysplat Not likely from that relatively short exposure to relatively low altitude. 34k feet is guaranteed unconsciousness, but does not mean death right away.
@@PTANV-x2g You’re joking right??🤦🏻♂️ Consciousness is lost above 25000ft, and if you are in a hypoxic environment for a while it will cause coma and eventually death.
I just started crying when the F-16 pilot voice cracked ...and Andrea's trying to save, either the plane or choosing a safe crash site so no more ppl would be hurt. I live In Cyprus and was a teenager when this happened...it was and still is an awful tragedy
One of my friends lost his sister on that flight. This crash fascinated me and I've watched many documentaries about it. Such a tragic and yet stupidly avoidable accident...
@@un4xttv948 I think the f-16's shot it down because they wanted to shut down helios company. I cant see how 2 pilots would have taken off without making sure the pressurization switch is on auto...and why did the flight attendant not alert the cockpit when the oxygen masks dropped ? why did andreas not enter the cockpit earlier to revive the pilots and possible save the plane ? how did he even know the code especially during that amount of time of hypoxia which makes you forget things ? many disturbing questions
Wow, that’s a pretty harsh accusation. You’d have to have a heart of stone to be able to deliberately shoot down a full commercial 737. I’ve watched lots of these types of commentaries on air accidents and the one thing common to the majority is human error, often multiple incidences by multiple people per crash. After all of them I’m left with a bunch of ‘why the hell …’ questions. Having said that, you sound knowledgeable on this particular incident, I know nothing about the politics going on with Helios at the time. Who wanted to shut down Helios and why?
@@Gencturk92 Just... shut up. Pls shut the fuck up with your dumbass theories. You're not cool nor enlightened to accuse innocent people for something they didn't do. You're not some sort of genius internet detective that knows shit that everybody else doesn't know. All you're doing is disrespecting all of these crash victims who lost their lives for turning this tragedy into some shitty conspiracy.
Andreas is the most heroic figure in this story. He may not have succeeded in saving everyone, but the strength and bravery to lift himself up when he must have been getting weaker and more disoriented by the moment and still try is far from nothing
@@bsangel93I’ve read different articles and watched other videos about the crash. I don’t think there was any evidence that he changed the plane’s flight path. But that doesn’t make him less of a hero.
I was serving my military duty (which is mandatory in Greece) in 2005 and I was stationed at the airbase those F16s were scrambled from.I was on duty that day and remember even today the comotion during those tragic moments.When the pilots came back they were inside a room to debrief and provide information on what they had witnessed.they stayed there for hours.late at night me and a colleague brought food to the pilots and other hellenic air force officers in the room along wih some beverages.I ve only had a 2 second glimpse on the pilots before being pushed out of the room but that look they had and that eyes still haunt me today
Must of been truly awful for them. I keep reading rumours that they shot them down, I assume that’s just nonsense? Is it true local paratroopers had to recover the bodies?
God only knows what went through Andreas' mind when he realised he was the ONLY one moving on that plane..true horror. Some people suffer such tragic fates..
Truly horrifying. He knew death was coming and he couldn't do anything. What's worse is that he could see the Greek F-16 that were following the plane, he waved at them and they saw him - but they couldn't do anything
God is great and greatly to be feared. HE IS NOT the soft mushy god that a great deal of the modern preaching is all about, if any of it is about God at all. He created the world. He created mankind. Only in Him is the COMPLETE power over life and death. He sent His only Son to die for our sins, that we might receive by His grace alone, justification, adoption, and sanctification. For a sinner defying His power, you are in a dangerous position. You are condemned to hell, to BURN in everlasting flames of fire in a pit of groaning and gnashing of teeth. If God saves you and you become a Christian, I'm sure you've heard of the glory of heaven?People die for their sins in one way or another, in this life or that to come. If you are a "good" person according to the law of the world than there might be a little bit of hope for you, if my God sees fit to send His Spirit to open your eyes that you may see. Believe and repent of your sins, turn from your wicked ways and He will hear you and be merciful to you. What is your name? Tell me and I will pray for you with all my heart. May He bless you and keep you when you turn to Him. ~Evelyn
I'm guessing that Andreas might have regained consciousness when the plane reached a breathable altitude again and was able to reach the oxygen? It's hard to say, but it's incredibly tragic that there was absolutely nothing he could've done at that point. He is still a hero in my book.
Nope..he was conscious at 34000ft before the left engine flamed out..He could have done enough to save the flight, but so could any of the other cabin crew members aswell🤷🏻♂️
@@Lingboysc2 You wouldnt suddenly just regain consciousness after several hours unpressurized at cruise altitude. He stayed conscious with use of portable oxygen bottle(s). What he did we’ll never know🙄
@@speedbird9313 That's exactly why the timeline doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't seem to be brought up in any of the reports though. How can someone sit there for hours, conscious, with access to the cockpit? It's a real mystery.
@@Abstract I know, its really weird🙄There were three (of a total of four) portable oxygen bottles found to be opened. I know his girlfriend (also flight attendant on the flight) also was alive, so maybe they tried to help others? And perhaps the aisle was partly blocked by some unconscious passenger which they had to climb over, and perhaps the cockpit door also was blocked🤔 Hard to imagine really🙄
God, I remember this. I live in Athens. I was home alone when this happened, a very scared teenager, who knew way too much about airplane crashes due to my father, a retired air force officer who had survived a horrific one. My area was right in the path of the plane. It was awful, not knowing if the plane was going to come down right on top of us. My parents, out of town, racing to come home in case of the worst. When they got home it was after the plane had crashed, just 10 klm away from where I live. My parents crushed me in a hug and my father was crying. He never cried like that. My father was very broken up about the whole thing. It took him a long time to get over it. He saw himself in Andreas and in the pilots and the passengers. It woke up painful memories for him. He became very invested in the accident and reached out to all contacts he had for information. I learned a lot about the early stages of the investigation through this grapevine of military folks. We met one of the F-16 pilots of that day by chance, years later. The accident came up in conversation. The poor guy was still affected, I can only imagine how horrified he must have been up there, watching it happen helplessly. I was very relieved to see that he was doing alright and had likely gotten some much-needed help. My heart went out to Andreas when I read about what he did. Some part of me is certain that he saved my life, my home, and those of other people living in my area. We were right in the original path of the plane. If he hadn't been there, the plane might have slammed right into our mountainside. Who knows how many more could have died. Thank you for covering this so seriously and somberly. Thank you for not turning it into a sensationalist piece. Your work is incredible.
Omg so emotional! Why they never shared the recording on the blackbox do you know? I wonder why he was the only one concious and not any other coworkers. Also idk why others seems to blame Andreas. I feel so bad for him. I hope his family found peace afyer all those years😔
this is truly the most horrifying story of a plane crash I've ever heard. nothing is more terrifying than human error in a time where your life is dependent on someone else's choices
Andrea likely being the only one awake on that plane at the time of the crash was just wow. I’ve gotten pretty hardened emotionally from listened listen to a bunch of true crime and these types of videos but when it said someone was awake, and they said Andrea was aware enough to both acknowledge the pilot and later said he said mayday onto the radio brought me to tears.
I know everybody is mad at Andreas for not taking control over the plane sooner But I think at the end of the day he was just confused and scared. His bravery for still trying to save the plane is admirable.
@@starcherry6814 Podromou was probably incapacitated at least partially. He was also probably trying to help the passengers - one third children - stay alive by sharing the remaining oxygen bottles. He was not a commercial pilot - he was only training on small propeller general aviation aircraft - so he had basic knowledge but nowhere near enough to have been able to control a B737, even had he got into the cockpit early in the unfolding disaster.
@@starcherry6814No, mad at any of the flight attendants who didnt contact the flight deck a few minutes after the mask drop because the aircraft was still in a climb, and thats mainly on the chief flight attendant.
@@starcherry6814Why would anybody be mad at him? He was not a commercial pilot and he wasn't trained to pilot a Boeing 737.Still he tried to best of his abilities to keep it afloat until he couldn't. He was the ultimate hero who made a colossal sacrifice. It's the pilots and the airlines itself who should be blamed. I am sorry I know the pilots died too but had they taken their jobs seriously, this might not have happened.
At the start of the video I thought to myself “I bet that ground engineer feels awful for turning that switch” but after seeing how many procedural mistakes the pilots made I don’t blame dude in the slightest. This was 100% on the pilots.
And even worse, the ground engineer got a year in prison. Imagine going to prison for an entire year for forgetting to flip a switch. That man was not a danger to society and therefore there was absolutely no reason to keep him in prison.
What do you mean you don’t blame him in the slightest!? If he didn’t do it, their incompetence wouldn’t have reared its head! If he turned it back on they’d have had a safe flight, or had been able to land with enough oxygen
I cried when they showed photos of the victims. My wife's dad died in a plane crash years ago. She hasn't been the same since. This kind of tragedy destroys more lives than those taken on the flight.
I feel so bad for the flight attendant, I’m assuming he passed out then woke back up and just was trying to get the plane down to live but could barely breathe, Then the pilots having to witness that.. Horror.
Andreas broke my heart.. that poor guy. He was the last conscious person left, and tried to save everyone. It failed.. but he’s still a hero. I hope he and the others aboard the plane (except for the idiot that got fired and somehow still worked as a pilot) are resting in peace..
If something as simple as a misturned switch can take down a plane, you think they'd design it in a way that the plane wouldn't be able to take off if the switch is in the wrong position.
Well the misturned switch didn't take the plane down - actually it didn't touch the plane at all. It simply took out the passengers. The plane crashed ultimately due to fuel exhaustion.
The auto pilot was on, the auto pressure system was off. The pilots failed to turn on the auto pressure system, but not the auto pilot. The pilots also ignored the warnings, and also failed to follow procedures. There were several opportunities to stop this, it wasnt just one thing.
Did we watch the same video? Soooo much went wrong in this case, there were so many moments where a responsible pilot would’ve caught onto the error yet every opportunity was missed
The worst of this scenario is that had the B737 been going to crash into central Athens, the F16 pilots may have had the dreadful order to shoot it down before it killed hundreds more.
I learned about this on my cabin crew course... such a sad tragedy. I can't believe Andreas was able to walk around the cabin even with the effects of hypoxia, that's crazy... waking up to the entire cabin unconscious and quiet save for the alarms blaring must've been horrifying. aircrew should NEVER assume an alarm or something going wrong inside the plane is just a blare or defect.
Last month I was on the Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore back home to Ahmedabad, India. We boarded and were told they would be a delay due to a "technical difficulty" with the aircraft. We were deplaned after about 45 minutes and told they would switch the aircraft. Eventually the flight took off 2.5 hours later, on what was presumably a different aircraft. It might have been nothing, could have been something. Nevertheless I appreciate Singapore Airlines and the entire crew for switching the plane.
This channel is criminally underrated. The content, editing and narration is just top tier. I've just finished watching all three videos in one go. Subscribed and excited to see what topic will be covered in future videos!
@@Lovicide She's only one person doing RUclips in her spare time. That said, I desperately wish she would do more videos more often! The quality is amazing.
I understand the complains about the number of videos, but I would prefer the channel to choose quality over quantity. So many channels sadly sacrifice quality just to produce videos weekly.
17:57 gave me the chills !! You can hear the ditress and fear in the pilots voice when he saw the plane crash. What a amazing video !! Had me engaged the whole time.
Gosh, what an absolutely horrific event. I so feel for Andreas... to be in that weakened and confused state desperately trying to guide the plane to safety. It sounds truly nightmarish - knowing you and everyone else is in danger and trying to fight against your brain shutting down in order to save lives. That poor guy. And those fighter pilots watching this all unfold while unable to do anything to stop it. The whole thing is just awful. RIP to those who died and I hope all those who witnessed this tragedy find peace.
Family from our town in Cyprus was on that flight. A mother, father and their young daughter. At the last moment, their young son said he wanted to stay with his grandparents. So the parents permitted him to. Now their house stands empty for the boy when he grows up. The grandparents still regularly tend to the gardens. 😞 My family and I flew back to London on this day. I remember hearing the news as we were waiting to leave for the airport. Very scary when something is close to home.
I've watched this video a few times now, and every single time I tear up hearing that F-16 pilot's voice crack as he shouts "Mayday Mayday!" What a heart breaking story. Thank goodness incidences like this are rare, but it's still very scary to think about how one little mistake can ruin so many lives.
Sometimes having too much experience isn't a good thing. It makes people cut corners and get sloppy. How tragic and as horrible as it is to say, it's good that most of the passengers were unconcious. My heart goes out to the families, and to the fighter pilots and ground crew who must have felt so much hopeless desperation.
@@spellcheck5393 Automation is the only reason that plane stayed up in the air for that long. Otherwise, it would have crashed soon after that conversation with Alan when the pilots lost consciousness.
There's so many preventable aspects of this horrible tragedy but the the worst part is at 7:30. Even if they somehow arrive at the conclusion that this is a glitch (after they missed the item on two separate checklists), every pilot learns to don their oxygen mask IMMEDIATELY when they hear that sound. Even if it had to be a glitch for some reason, they needed to put on their oxygen masks and then check their instruments and figure everything out. There's no excuse for this except possibly poor training.
Have you ever met Greek men? They’re both too laid back and think they’re right about everything. That’s the perfect combination to ignore rules in place for safety
you guys should do the sewol ferry tragedy. this was about the sinking of MV sewol, a bunch of sophomore students who went on a trip from the route incheon to jeju in south korea, the boat began to tilt to the side. over 300 people died on that day the ferry sank. It's absolutely dreadful and so sad to hear about, when there were rescue divers going in to retrieve the bodies, they found two students whose hands were tied together, and later found out that they were a couple, who wanted to at least pass together. Absolutely heart breaking.
The videos taken by some of the students are chilling… especially the one with the girl who jokes that they’re being left there to die. She wasn’t wrong. The captain was one of the first to be rescued. It’s so upsetting
This channel would be an amazing choice to cover that story. There's a great video by Horror Stories about it (although be warned if you watch it, it starts with several minutes of footage of the victims that is incredibly hard to watch). He did a great job on it and I think Real Horror would be able to expand on it in a very tasteful way. It's a horrible event but this channel has enough tact to do it justice.
People really thought that it was sunk by some South Korean, Japanese, American, french, or even Israeli submarine?? Im pretty sure these massive vessels have strong operating procedures to the point that would be impossible almost. It would make sense if it was a North Korean submarine, but Korean/Japanese/American/French sounds almost nonsensical since their as computerized and driven by procedure as most things military are.
I've seen a lot of videos on this crash but I'd never heard the recordings before. The absolute fear in the F-16 pilot's voice as he says "Mayday mayday" is heartbreaking. I hope he got counseling, too. I can imagine the amount of ptsd from something like this would be intense.
It astounds me that the engineer who turned the air pressure switch off has never been in prison. How is that possible? He turned a cabin air pressure switch off on his first day on the job and never got thrown into a jail cell!? Unreal. The pilots shouldn't have skipped the checks but what are the chances of a first day newbie turning off the air pressure switch off for no reason whatsoever? It's frightening stuff because we simply do not know if it was accidental or on purpose.
@@actresstobe I want to point out that he did not turn the air pressurization system "on" or "off". He turned from auto to manual to perform the check as said at 2:37. So with that he didn't turn it "off" or do it without reasons, he was doing as it is needed to perform the check. He did forgot to turn it back to auto after and that was what he did wrong.
@@dreamtonics_en and that 'forgetfulness" should get him imprisoned. And don't forget, he just ignore the pilot bizzarre respond and just leave instead of keep contacting the pilot.
@@actresstobe That isn’t known. The video states it like it’s a fact that he left it on manual, but in reality we do not know. We also don’t know that the pilots didn’t check it. Read different accounts. Alan was just used as a scapegoat for Boeing’s incredibly stupid design. Why the hell would the same alarm be used for something that is a non issue and something that could get everybody killed?
They criticize the pilots for rushing through check lists, but I'm going to guess that their industry is just like mine, where you're told to do everything in the checklist, but also get it done impossibly fast. You'll get fired for taking too long before you get fired for skipping checklist items.
I get what you are saying but there are too many examples of rushing through things causing crashes in aviation. I'm guessing most if not all airlines would rather be a little late as opposed to crashing a plane. Especially Helios as I believe this was one of only two planes they owned. Most likely culprit is "cuts corners at work" guy trying to make himself look like the best and fastest. Everyone can relate to working with that type of guy.
When I was a student pilot, we were sent into a hypoxia-simulation chamber. That was one of the scariest experiences I've had. We were given easy mathematics tests to do like 1+4, 2+2 etc. while sitting in the chamber while it simulated climbing in altitude. We were given notes to write the answers down. When it got to only 10,000 ft. AGL, I remember the quiz was something easy like 5+5, I wrote 10 in the paper and started to feel light headed. I signalled my instructor to put me in oxygen mask. After a couple of minutes I felt better and the instructor just pointed in my answer sheet. The answer I wrote was unintelligible, just scribbles when I remembered writing 10. That was harrowing as hell for me hoping to be a pilot one day
@@AbstractI can second his experience, I’ve been into a hypoxia chamber twice in my career. Once as part of my military training, and then as a part of military to civilian flight crew training. Both times, I felt fine, at most a little bit like I’d stood up too quickly. I didn’t feel impaired; it was only afterwards that the realisation dawned of how serious the situation was. First one, like the commenter above, I was asked to do simple maths; in my case, it was a basic fuel calculation. Something I could do in 30 seconds normally. I thought I was doing fine, if a little light headed. Afterwards, when looking what I’d written, it was 80% unintelligible and even the bits I could read, were completely inaccurate to the point that the turbines wouldn’t have even spooled up. Second time was a deeper hypoxic state test. We were instructed to take our jackets off, remove our ties, place our O2 masks on, and that was it. Simple right? Wrong. I was trying to remove my shoe instead of my jacket, I hadn’t managed to put my mask on with an effective air seal, and I forgot about my tie. One of the other trainees took off his trousers. Seriously, Useful consciousness is really nebulous when you cannot tell you are already running out of time. It’s made me incredibly fastidious about ensuring all the metrics are correct. The one time I needed it, was when an altitude warning triggered on the panel in front of me, I had my mask on in seconds. Ironically and happily, it was an erroneous error and not a depressurisation event.
@@Quietcomet I think they’re usually chill because yelling/speaking panickly just causes people to panic and in turn maybe make worse decisions as they fail to think rationally
For some reason, every single time I hear the sounds of the audible plane warnings as the plane is about to crash ( 16:25 ), my eyes tear up and I have this feeling of deep helplessness in me. I have heard it on a previous RUclips video of a similar crash as well, and it has to be one of the scariest sounds I have ever heard. The fact that the flight attendant would have had to listen to the warnings, knowing he could do nothing, knowing that death is inevitable, it is truly terrifying... Rest in peace, to everyone who lost their lives that day.
Can't imagine what the F -16 pilots and controller went through in those moments. I had tears in my eyes listening to them witness the plane crash. Thank you for covering this incident, I would love to see more videos from this channel!
As a Greek Cypriot i remember this day like it was happened yesterday! It was a devastating day! The old lady who lives in the same building as me had her son and his wife on that plane! I used to see him a lot visiting his mother and he looked like a good man. Rest in peace to all the innocent victims , such a tragedy to lose your life like that! May God bless us all.
I was on a different plane at the same airport that day. I was staring at that plane as it took off while in my seat waiting for mine to take off. It was surreal. My phone was going crazy once I landed back in London everyone didn't know if that was the plane I was on with my dad. Very shocking to watch the news once I got back.
@@D-Thang_ There are more than pilots to blame. Ultimately it is the Captain responsible, but had the ground engineer Irwin, not left the pressurization switch on Manual - this would not have happened. The airline Helios is also to blame for neglecting to properly vet their air crews - they should not have hired a Captain who had been fired for negligence only a few months prior.
I was on the very next flight from Helios after this crash . Everyone was telling me don't take the flight but I still did on the basis of lightning never strikes twice . Although to be honest with you I've never been so scared in all my life , not just me but all the passengers , you could've cut the atmospher inside the plane with a knife it was so intense .
I'm glad your Helios flight was safe. Actual lightning does repeatedly strike in the same places as on previous occasions all the time; maybe not always during the same storm, but do at a later time. It's unpredictable. "Lightning never strikes twice in the same place" is a weird saying, with no basis in fact.
The chance of something happening (or not) is the same every time. It doesn’t depend on what happened the last time. If you flip a coin ten times in a row and it comes up heads every time, the chances of it being tails next time is still 50/50. It’s always 50/50. The coin and the universe don’t “know” what happened on the last flip or that the coin is due for coming up tails. Of course an airline flight isn’t a coin or lightning. But since most crashes are due to pilot error there’s no reason to expect that pilots will be better at being pilots right after a crash. They might be paying more attention but they also might be more stressed or distracted because of what happened, and they aren’t going to get better trained or better skilled because another plane just crashed. And on the other hand if the crash was due to a mechanical problem, a crash the day before will have no effect on that either.
I actually feel so bad for the F-16 Pilot's who has to watch the passenger planes crash into the ground knowing there's nothing they can do... They'll never forget the sight of that crash...
I’ve watched many airline crash docs/videos, including Helios 522 (the ghost plane), & this was by far the most detailed & compelling presentation I’ve heard of this disastrous & tragic story. As you articulated the events that occurred in flight, it felt as if you took us back to that day on the plane. I know this has been said many times before, but please continue posting videos. I understand it’s time-consuming & a lot of work, but you have a natural talent & eye for this. I’m a huge fan!! Thank you!!!😊
Agree this report was the best coverage. Only wished that that annoying drone sound effect was not added - the tragedy is horrific enough without the added cheap sound effect.
Absolutely heartbreaking hearing the F-16 pilot watching the crash. The only blessing here is that all of those innocent people were unconcious when the plane crashed. What a horrible incident this was, and so avoidable.
@@speedbird9313 My comment was a joke, normally I would assume your comment was too. But judging by some of your other comments on this channel, I'm sceptical. Could you confirm?
just want to say, you're doing an amazing job! I know you have life outside these videos and it's just you and you gotta pay your bills. but the absolute great A work you do! amazing! you won't ever have to work again if you keep this up. pure talent!
@@speedbird9313 yep, he was no doubt suffering the effects of hypoxia whilst the rest of the passengers and crew no doubt were in comas from lack of oxygen. To come from the cabin to the flight deck……and try and help. That’s strength……
@@karenlindley.9756 But today the cockpit doors are reinforced to prevent terrorists from entering. Just like Germanwings - if the pilot is unconscious or suicidal theres no way to barge in.
Corrections: 06:30 - the last half an hour of the CVR, not the last few hours. 13:44 - this is not a real photo, but included on the FAA website as a legitimate photo for some reason. 21:32 - a take off warning alarm is not a "minor alarm", since it could lead to a rejected take off if there's still time. Neither alarm is good news.
Thank you for the corrections. The Take Off Config warning is certainly not a minor issue. In this case the aircraft was warning of the pressurisation switch incorrectly set for takeoff. However the B737 used the same warning alarm for two different things and the Captain fixated on the wrong perceived problem.
This story was very well told, and the narrator has a beautiful voice! More than one airplane crash has been caused by pilots rushing through safety procedures because of their schedules…
It is important to notice that is believed that when Andreas noticed that he couldn't flight the plane, he moved the controls and the plane as best he could away from buildings and into a remote location since the plane had a high likelihood of crashing over the town.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but he didnt divert, the autopilot disconnects after an engine loose power. There is actually no evidence of any control of the aircraft except from an attempt to level it of before impact. The holding pattern is anyway pretty far from downtown Athens.
God, that part of the audio that Andreas would've heard in his last moments... It made me sick to my stomach, my eyes teared up. As potentially the only person aware of what was happening, I can't even imagine the feeling of helplessness he would've experienced. I can only hope hypoxia saved most of the victims from the fear of knowing that you'll die at any moment.
The takeoff configuration warning is anything but "relatively minor" Its saved lives many times and it's absence/malfunction has contributed to the lose of lives in the past It is there to warn the crew that the aircraft is not configured correctly for takeoff Not having the plane configured correctly such as flaps and slats etc is deadly and has taken lives many times
Literal chills dude, the last audio conversation is heart breaking to listen to. R.I.P to all the passengers. Plane crash cases are always so scary and sad.
I have watched multiple flight breakdowns from reputable channels of this incident yet this is the most detailed and comprehensive video of this flight incident I have ever seen.
I remember when this was on TV, live. I was in Greece myself at that time.... we sat on the couch and couldn't believe our eyes. I still remember how scary that was, thinking about the suffocation... I asked my mom (I was 12 back then) why the fighter jets didn't do anything to help? With a simply reply from her like "Because they can't do anything". That's just frightening... My mom has been flying to Greece with 2 airplane trips for 21 years. Never anything bad as that happened...and I'm grateful. But you never know.....ugh
This accident is so terrifying to me, much more than other plane crashes. Just the idea of a ghost flight going up and round with all these unconscious people inside, and then just one person being awake and desperately trying to do something but failing, while the two f16 pilots watched without being able to do anything... the voice of the f16 pilot breaking, the last sounds that andreas hear being those plane warnings, idk it's all just so chilling. the sequence of errors here is just insane, how could the pilots continually ignore so many warnings... like it was so tragically preventable
We will never know what truly happened in that plane but one things for certain, Andreas' family should be proud of his effort. Somehow he fought oxygen loss and was able to remember how to get into the cockpit and seemingly was the only person able to do so. Tried his best under the very dark and trying circumstances. I think if only he had a little bit more air, his brain wouldve saved them all.
What's sad to me how he must have felt trying to put all his effort into saving a plane full of dead passengers, including his partner. All in an effort to save people on the ground. What an amazing person.
@@AlexHurleyMusicThe report said most of the passengers were alive at the time of the crash but in a coma, probably not reversible. Maybe he realized they were as good as dead, or maybe he was too impaired to even think about it.
I used to enjoy cockpit visits before each flight. Now I'm too scared to do it. I'm worried that I'll hear arrogance or complacency in the pilot/copilot's voice and spend the flight terrified that they overlooked one VITAL thing like these two did.
The distress and panic in that F-16 Pilots voice after witnessing what he did made me really choke up and tear up a little. I cannot imagine. RIP to all lost.
That cracking and stuttering in the F-16 pilot's voice is what broke me and made the tear dam break. I was already fighting the lump in my throat at hearing what Andreas that beautiful, brave, heroic man would have heard in his final moments. But the utter despair and grief in that pilot's voice was heart-wrenching. I can't imagine the trauma of watching that unfold in front of you and being completely powerless to stop it. The smallest, tiniest mercy is that the passengers were asleep and were killed instantly. They didn't have to experience that crippling dread of knowing they were doomed, watching the ground rapidly come closer and closer. Mercifully, those inmocent people would have been oblivious and dreaming and never felt the pain and terror. Andreas was truly a courageous and admirable person, I'm sure his family through the grief felt such pride and love for him for trying so, so hard to save that plane.
Something about Andrea using his fleeting moments of ability to try in vain to save everyone strikes me so much. Especially with what was happening to his body, he must've fought to keep himself going isn't easy
I believe this is a perfect example of the butterfly effect, small changes to a system will eventually overcome leading to inherit improbability such as a crash. My deepest condolences to all of the survivors of this tragic crash and may this serve as a reminder that checklists are something to be taken seriously every time. There is no shortcut to safety, especially when your life is on the line. 😢
The thing with the butterfly effect is that we always look at it in the past. Look at the one error he did a month ago that today led to such a tremendous accident. The way we should look at it is that our actions today could have a lasting effect on the world, so we have to be diligent
In aviation crash investigations it’s called the Swiss cheese effect. It always takes more than one thing to go wrong to cause a crash, the holes in the Swiss cheese need to line up. In this case the holes included the engineer failing to move the switch, the pilots falling to notice when they should have, the pilots failing to follow procedure when the warning sounded, the airline failing to check new hire references, etc.
My daughter told me about this video, so as an aviation geek, I instantly took a look - I told my daughter it was the one about hypoxia, & she was completely unsurprised by my instant recognition 👌 The Cockpit Voice Recorder would have only had the last 60-30 minutes of recording, but the Flight Data Recorder will have kept the data for the entire flight. The tragedy of this is that if they had figured out that the cabin was not pressurising & requested to descend below 10,000ft everyone would have come round & they could have worked it out & got to the ground safely. I remember being angry when I heard this because it was so needless & avoidable. Thank you for covering it so sensitively ❤
I've read about this flight, and what caused its demise, many times. However this is the first time I've heard the CVR of the F-16 pilots watching the crash happen in real time. The raw emotion in his voice was pretty haunting, and I especially feel for him.
@@cz5576 Shock? A mask drop in the cabin is a shock for a flight attendant? Get real. But you are right, not to be blamed, but not to pay homage to either.
That is absolutely heartbreaking. Thinking about the panic that flight attendant must’ve been feeling trying his best to weakly salvage the plane to safety… chilling.
What's so heartbreaking about this is the chief steward had a pilot's licence and his own oxygen supply, but the very security measures put in place after 9/11 to try and prevent further tragedies meant he couldn't get into the cockpit until it was too late...
"It meant he couldnt get into the cockpit before it was to late?" How do you figure?🤔 "And his own oxygen supply?" Its not like he brought it on the flight😉 He wasnt the chief steward by the way.
If the door had been locked he wouldn’t have been able to get back in, period. There was that horrible Germanwings crash where the suicidal pilot locked the other one out, who couldn’t even get back using an axe while he was fully conscious.
If I was a passenger on that plane I definitely would have known what was happening as soon as the oxygen masks dropped and I woulda gone into the cockpit and landed the plane in a large open field smh
And landed the plane? Why? If you went to the cockpit after a passenger oxygen mask drop the pilots would have landed the plane themselves 🤷🏻♂️ The FAs would have really shouted at you tho😆
The picture at 13:43 is really unsettling because it's a picture of the real plane taken from one of the F-16s It's not some artist rendering. and you know that everyone in that plane is unconscious and it's minutes away from crashing...
So many deaths are caused by negligence, it makes me so incredibly angry because the loss of life could be prevented if people did their due diligence. But some people are simply too lazy, too inconsiderate, or too incompetent to care.
please keep making this stuff, it’s horrifying but you bring light to these tragedies without holding back- but you also don’t go overboard with crazy details like some other channels. i just appreciate how straightforward your content is- it’s incredible and i subbed on the spot, i hope you grow like crazy, you deserve it
What amazes me the most is that the technician who worked on the pressure issue and obviously was thinking the switch is in the wrong position didn't alarm anybody and went home.
Are you relating to the question over the radio? That is just something he claimed, there is no recording of that. So he probably wasnt thinking about it at all.
@@speedbird9313I think they are talking about the British mechanic contractor they hired for 6-month stint. He changed the air pressure cabin switch from automatic to manual, didn't mention it, and when about his life. He's not even mentioned again after that. It is genuinely his fault that this whole thing happened.
@@jakevendrotti1496 1. Not a mechanic, a technician 2. There is nothing called the "air pressure cabin switch" in a B737. You mean the "pressurization selector switch". 3. Genuinely his fault? Well that is debatable. This accident would not have happened with that switch in auto. But it is something that is both easy to see during checklists, and easy to find/check during troubleshooting, which is why the conclusion of the Accident Review Board was gross pilot error. Its highly likely they didnt even check the logbook.
I don't usually tear up or cry for tragedies, usually they fascinate me and hurt my heart more than anything. But this one had me sobbing, the sounds of the plane warning that it was approaching terrain, the panic in the fighter pilot's voice, the smoke billowing from the wreckage. All of it is soul crushing. Bless every soul lost that day.
As a Greek and as someone who knows a number of pilots in our Air Force, that mayday call was heartbreaking. Greek fighter pilots - due to our abnormal relations with Turkey - are some of the only ones in NATO with consistent combat experience. They are trained to be defenders of the nation and people in every sense. To have watched innocent people die and to hear him crying over the radio denotes the sound of a man who broke in that moment. It is one thing to watch that happen as a normal bystander, and another to watch when you're a trained pilot who has probably seen combat at some point. He was trained to defend those who died in front of him, and he could do nothing. It's soul-crushing just to think of what that does to you.
This documentary is just like the host's voice. Hauntingly beautiful. May the souls rip and let this serve as a reminder of the stakes that are at hand regarding safety in airline operations.
Imagine what Andreas was going through. Barely concious, practically blind, unable to think, going off of whatever energy you have left and just being overloaded with alarms. Spending your lasts moments like this while just hearing "TERRAIN, TERRAIN, PULL UP, PULL UP, SINK RATE, WHOOP WHOOP, PULL UP, SINK RATE, TERRAIN, WHOOP WHOOP, SINK RATE, PULL UP, TERRAIN, TERRAIN" over and over, without end. He's definetly having beers and steak with JAL 123's pilots, Swiss Air 330's captain and that dude on UA 93 in Heaven. Fly sky high, champion. 🕊️🕊️
i cant stop thinking about how andreas spent his last moments trying desperately to save the plane and everyone on board while he probably knew in his disoriented state it was futile especially because he had no training. may everyone RIP
Totally horrific. He had some training in general aviation (small propeller aircraft) but nowhere near enough to have been able to take control of a B737 - especially in an oxygen deprived and panicked state of shock. Maybe, just maybe had he gotten into the cockpit early, using his oxygen canisters and he knew about and saw the incorrectly set pressure switch there might have been a chance for one of the crew to revive and save the aircraft - but that of course is a big Maybe and unfortunately not the case.
@@rainscratch 1.He actually held a single propeller CPL.. 2.Oxygen canisters is a different name for oxygen generators😉 3. Cabin crew usually have no idea where to find the pressurization mode selector. 4. If he, or any other of the cabin crew had done their job the cockpit would have been notified while they still were conscious.
@@speedbird9313You're assuming that the impaired pilots would have answered a call from the cabin in their states. For all we know they did try to contact the cockpit.
@@BirdieRumia They had radio communication before and after, so yes, that is what I am assuming. Did you do any research at all before posting?🤔 And they didnt, otherwise they would have known about the mask drop.
Everyone makes mistakes. They forgot about one little switch that is almost always already in the correct position. It's just when pilots make a mistake, it can be fatal. They have so much to keep track of, its incredibly difficult to do everything perfectly.
@@I_am_a_cat_ but these pilots were literally incompetent and they ran through safety tests. their job is to guarantee a safe flight. dont feel bad for them, feel bad for the poor people who lost their lives, not the idiot pilots who caused it all.
@@lexaes11 oh for sure. I definitely feel much more for the poor passengers. I can only imagine what they felt.. I can also understand that people make mistakes though. Sucks that one little mistake like this would cost so many lives. They definitely should have been more thorough 10000%
The same thing happened to golfer Payne Stewart's Lear jet over America. I think many pilots get complacent in the pre-flight check list as they've done it so many times before. May the all rest in peace.
The fear in the voices of the pilots truly resonated with me. I remember the first time I watched an aircraft crash. It stays with you. Those of us in aviation know, every wrench you turn, every time you service that plane, it could be life and death for someone else. It's a grievous shame this happened, but it's important that it's remembered.
Hard to believe this was 18 yrs ago. I flew Helios with my family the year before this happened, I would have only been 13. We all recall there being something wrong with the air circulation on the flight. Never found out what plane we were on but none of us would be surprised if it was the same one.
Oddly enough, I find your voice both unsettling but relaxing at the same time. I always count on these sort of videos to sleep at night, so I hope more get made down the line! Anyways, great work on this one! I love how much you get into detail on these cases and leave no loose ends when talking about it, as some channels do. Now it’s time for bed, thanks again!
Disappointed that I’ve already finished watching the only three videos on your channel. I want… wait… no, I NEED more of these ASAP! Videos like these (you being my new favorite content creator) are what get me through my 10 hour nightshifts! You’ve gained a subscriber here! Keep up the awesome work!! 🎉😊❤
You get called to a grim scene where u see a 100+ people passed out or incapacitated, no pilot, heading towards the ground at 400 mph… that’s nightmare fuel for those f-16 pilots
The video says the adults would’ve lost consciousness first…..All I can think about is how confused and scared those kids must have been when the adults lost consciousness and they didn’t know what was going on. Breaks my heart so much 💔 absolutely DEVASTATING!
The alarms and the robot voice saying pull up and terrain is horrifying. I can’t imagine how scary that must have been for him in his already highly impaired state.
Hello all, I did my very best to ensure that this story was told in a respectful and accurate way, and you can find all sources in a public post over on my Patreon: bit.ly/39RFEqd. That said, I’m not a pilot, and I don’t speak Greek, so I’ve relied on people to translate technical info/a whole other language. If anything doesn’t seem quite right, let me know, and I can always add any major corrections here.
I'd be interested to hear your theories on Andreas - I know that this is a horrific situation to be in, and we will never, EVER know what he was dealing with up there, but for the life of me I still can't understand why he didn't enter the cockpit until the last moments given that he a) had oxygen, b) had the access code? The ONLY thing I can imagine is that he somehow incapacitated himself but even still, one of the oxygen canisters wasn't used so it just doesn't make sense to me.
Hey this was awesome. Looking forward for more😊
Even I was thinking the same. Y dint the pilots discuss or inform. This is like clueless n a mess. Killing so many lives. Sad
Can you put documentary aboit helious and malyasia mh most two mysterious tragedy of the CENTURY
40 1.30 minutes in fulk hd documentary can you post??
All people died in helios?? Soo sad one most horrible fligts ever
@@guilost4943 Helios 522 isnt mysterious..
One of my friends is a commercial pilot for a major airline for another country. He says if he doesn’t know a certain pilot that he is paired with, there is concern that the other person could be crazy or suicidal. He strongly feels that the malayasian flight that disappeared is most likely due to suicidal tendencies. Based on what I’ve seen from the constant training and reviewing he has to do for his job, I feel it’s unlikely a pilot would be that incompetent and something far more sinister is at play.
I feel bad for the F-16 pilot who witnessed the crash. From the recording, you can tell how horrified he is.
Helios disaster shocked all of us in Greece,yeah the f16 pilot voice was in despair and shock, years after photos from first respond crews on the crash sight leaked in daily motion,I made the mistake from curiosity to look on it, huge mistake,some still haunt me till today, rip
That emotion in the pilots voice in the recording brought tears to my eyes. My heart hurts for him.
Well this two f16 pilots could have saved many lives had they land their jet-fighter on top of the airplane and apply downward pressure from their jet-fighter to descend the airplane. It is clear that they never thought about this.
Poor guy he sounded helpless
@@SoulRocketMan They never thought of this because it is quite possibly one of the stupidest ideas ever. I can see no scenario where that would work or help the situation at all.
That flight attendant was a hero. He fought through barely being conscious and tried his best to save everyone. Unfortunately heroes don’t always succeed RIP flight 522
Sorry to burst your bubble, but there is no evidence of any control of the aircraft except for an attempt to level it of before impact.
@@speedbird9313 An attempt to level off is, by definition, control.
@@williamsstephens So in your world an attemt for control is, by definition, control?
Hope you dont drive your car by the same definition😉
Its just the inaccurate narrative that he controlled the aircraft away from Athens that gets to me.
@@speedbird9313 the comment didnt mention the innacurate narrative that he controlled the aircraft away from Athens, so i dont know why youre bringing that up. This also is not the same as driving a car. Attempting to level it off is control, which for all you know, is what the comment was referring to.
@@nicdavis5673 Do you muppets know each other?? To attemt to control something is of course not controlling something🙆🏻♂️🤦🏻♂️
I will never complain about a flight being late for take-off ever again. It's moments like these when you really have to respect the care and attention that your pilots give before, during, and after your flight.
This is the one!!!
Bullshit
Indeed! Thank you, engineers, for making extra EXTRA sure.
I mean if it is late due to being serviced and checked then yes, but sometimes companies are just too greedy for their own good
@@eirschu8973 oh shut up dude
The fighter pilot’s voice crack made me cry, I can’t imagine having to watch this slowly unfold while you’re helpless from another plane
It was a schock for everyone here in Greece, the fact the cypriot passengers were Greek as well made it sadder, there were some conspiracy theories the first days that the f16 actually brought it down by missile because it was heading towards populated area in Athens but of course it didn't happen it just crashed, the worst scenario it would be though the plane to have a course to Athens and then the f 16 would have no other option..
same :( this is so sad
So sad.. how helpless he must have felt.. his voice trembled- brought me to tears.
Same, I really felt his horror and fear.
Same.
Perhaps it was exactly the amount of experience they had that led to their demise. After hundreds of flights, complacency becomes the biggest danger of them all.
good point
Agreed
There are old pilots, bold pilots, but not a lot of old bold pilots. -someone smart
It does sound like neither of them was very careful or professional.
Yes very good point
It may be apparent to some - but likely not all who don't speak Greek.
The fighter pilot calling out the mayday and describing the last moments before impact was most definitely crying and trying to hold back tears. He was fumbling just ever so slightly in his wording of what was going on. Poor guy, he really really was distraught.
it’s so sad, i couldnt imagine what it’s like to be in his position feeling so helpless :(
Not to mention that during all that happening, he had to stay focussed as he had a plane to operate and to land himself.
That's heartbreaking. I hope he's doing well now, I can't imagine going through that sort of pain.
He probably suffer from PTSD afterwards.
Fighter pilot sounded like a goddamn DEI hire.🤣
Those F-16 pilots WATCHED a passenger jet crash. What a heavy, heavy thing to witness.
Also this channel is amazing, please keep making content.
I cant even fucking imagine the feelings they would have had, and/or still deal with today
Omg. I cried when the pilot’s voice broke knowing what was about to happen.
Thank you 🙏 Before I had it translated to English it was bad enough. But when I could understand the words I had the worst feeling in the pit of my stomach for a few days. The pilot is professional and economic with his words, but the way he says it, that crack in his voice - that says everything you need to know.
@@Sunny-xc9kv on a level that voice break shook me to my core 😭
@@FlowPYT That part really shook me. That and it seemed like they may have had a chance for a bit.
I'm Greek and when this happened the entire country froze in horror. Andreas is a hero in our hearts and will always be. May they all rest in peace. I just hope no one suffered.
yeah because it happened the day before the greek national holidays and when helios company wanted to shut down
@@Gencturk92Stop it🤨🤦🏻♂️
They kinda got drunk and then really high feeling them sleeping. They knew nothing. They felt nothing. They were all, already very hypoxic. The flight attendant is a hero. He tried so hard. 😢
@@speedbird9313are you a whore ? Because you seeking attention in every comment where andreas has been complimeted ? I guess you are the typical nerd who can't see someone else spirit . Hope you get better in mentality
I hope not, but they must have been sleeping. At least, I hope so.
It’s astounding how many chances the pilots had to fix this error before it became fatal, and failed to each time
incompetence everywhere 😤
Also the engineer who made the check up
@@MarmotStarpax I wouldn't call it ''their'' incompetence as much as it was the check up engineer's. As stated many times in the video, the pilots were getting more and more disorientated because of the lack of oxygen. Their brains literally started to become even less able to think and realize what was happening.
@@notinterestedd it wasn't the engineers fault
@@blenderboy1900 u do a check up on a plane and forget to switch something back to it’s original setting which what caused this whole thing…but it’s not his fault?!
Poor Andreas! He joined the crew the last minute and was the last to be conscious. While everyone else was spared the minutes before the crash, he was witness to the entire horror.
No his girlfriend join the last minit. She was air hostess too. She exhange shift with other air hostess because Andreas arange 2 days in Prague for both of them. That day Helios Airlines first destination was Athens and then Prague.
Yeah and I'm sure he tried his best to save everyone, it was just not enough this time, I can't imagine the feeling of he realized that he can't do anything more and save everyone.
@@teijaflink2226 It’s possible he was thinking of saving anyone or anything during the ordeal, but I think the reality may have set in much sooner than the end, making it hard not to realize that most people were likely already dead, as they had suffered hypoxia or anoxia for so long by the time he was in the cockpit
@@teijaflink2226I guess he was hypoxic by then.
He was probably experiencing reality as a dream, and couldn't really make much sense of anything.
Terrifying! Condolences to all the families foreal
As a pilot I can say there is no excuse for what happened. They should have already known that a cabin pressurization test had been performed, so verifying that the pressurization switch was in the auto mode should have been a no brainer. Secondly, as soon as the alarm sounded, they should have not made assumptions as to what caused the alarm, but realized what the actual reason for the alarm was. As for the maintenance person that performed the pressurization test, he should have returned it to the auto mode. If the pilots had performed a proper preflight check this never would have happened.
Well thanks for this Captain Obvious.
Also The alarm should clearly display that the plane had no pressure and not a possible mix up with ground problem that confused the pilot. All and all tragic
@@pecfreeyeah, like the alarm sounding the same but indicating different things depending on timing is an accident waiting to happen. Even if timing *should* make what it means clear, there’s no reason to not further distinguish them. Planes already have all kinds of verbal warning sounds so there could have been a voice that said out loud what the issue was
@@notNajimi the sounds for technical failures are the same for the majority of failures on most aircraft. It’s simply not possible to have a different sound for everything. The sound usually required the crew to check what failure the alarm has gone off for.
Like, they should have physically felt their own blood oxygen start dragging at about 9000 feet and getting progressively worse from there. There's a window where you won't be too mentally loopy but still feel like your lungs aren't filling. I can't figure out how they were cruising the equivalent elevation of Mount Kilimanjaro, ascending into the Everest death-zone without realizing their lungs were acting weird.
Shout out to Andreas who even when suffering from Hypoxia and barely conscious still tried to save everyone. And that poor pilot, who’s voice cracked made me cry
Self preservation is a natural instinct, not heroism...
@@MorrisPVbro what benefit are you getting from commenting this 5 times
@@cherridwan The knowledge that I'm pissing you off... 🤣
@@MorrisPV when he realised there was nothing he could've done, he tried to direct the plane to somewhere without any people. that is not self preservation
@gameboylady5552 Where is your evidence for this, as the official report apparently makes no mention of such action, meaning it's hearsay...
There is something oddly terrifying (in a sci-fi horror / psychological thriller kind of way) thinking about an airplane flying itself for so long while everyone inside is dead. It's just it's a strange feeling to think about.
What's sadder to think about is that they were all most likely still alive, just unconscious... I can't imagine what Andreas would have felt in his last moments, stumbling to the cockpit in his hypoxic state through a plane full of lifeless bodies, the only one still conscious.
@@keiretsu1 They may have been alive but definitely brain damaged/brain dead.
there's a movie about this. Flight 7500
Cattysplat Not likely from that relatively short exposure to relatively low altitude. 34k feet is guaranteed unconsciousness, but does not mean death right away.
@@PTANV-x2g You’re joking right??🤦🏻♂️ Consciousness is lost above 25000ft, and if you are in a hypoxic environment for a while it will cause coma and eventually death.
I just started crying when the F-16 pilot voice cracked ...and Andrea's trying to save, either the plane or choosing a safe crash site so no more ppl would be hurt.
I live In Cyprus and was a teenager when this happened...it was and still is an awful tragedy
One of my friends lost his sister on that flight. This crash fascinated me and I've watched many documentaries about it. Such a tragic and yet stupidly avoidable accident...
@@un4xttv948 I think the f-16's shot it down because they wanted to shut down helios company. I cant see how 2 pilots would have taken off without making sure the pressurization switch is on auto...and why did the flight attendant not alert the cockpit when the oxygen masks dropped ? why did andreas not enter the cockpit earlier to revive the pilots and possible save the plane ? how did he even know the code especially during that amount of time of hypoxia which makes you forget things ?
many disturbing questions
Wow, that’s a pretty harsh accusation. You’d have to have a heart of stone to be able to deliberately shoot down a full commercial 737. I’ve watched lots of these types of commentaries on air accidents and the one thing common to the majority is human error, often multiple incidences by multiple people per crash. After all of them I’m left with a bunch of ‘why the hell …’ questions. Having said that, you sound knowledgeable on this particular incident, I know nothing about the politics going on with Helios at the time. Who wanted to shut down Helios and why?
@@un4xttv948 most of them seem to be as a result of silly mistakes that combined with more silly mistakes eventually lead to absolute carnage 🙁
@@Gencturk92 Just... shut up. Pls shut the fuck up with your dumbass theories. You're not cool nor enlightened to accuse innocent people for something they didn't do. You're not some sort of genius internet detective that knows shit that everybody else doesn't know. All you're doing is disrespecting all of these crash victims who lost their lives for turning this tragedy into some shitty conspiracy.
Andreas is the most heroic figure in this story. He may not have succeeded in saving everyone, but the strength and bravery to lift himself up when he must have been getting weaker and more disoriented by the moment and still try is far from nothing
He saved the people on the ground for sure.
I feel bad for him but he ultimately did nothing. He was just unforunate enough to be awake.
@Randy.Bobandy no he tried. A pathetic coward like you sitting on your fat ass did nothing
@@bsangel93I’ve read different articles and watched other videos about the crash. I don’t think there was any evidence that he changed the plane’s flight path. But that doesn’t make him less of a hero.
I was serving my military duty (which is mandatory in Greece) in 2005 and I was stationed at the airbase those F16s were scrambled from.I was on duty that day and remember even today the comotion during those tragic moments.When the pilots came back they were inside a room to debrief and provide information on what they had witnessed.they stayed there for hours.late at night me and a colleague brought food to the pilots and other hellenic air force officers in the room along wih some beverages.I ve only had a 2 second glimpse on the pilots before being pushed out of the room but that look they had and that eyes still haunt me today
Must of been truly awful for them. I keep reading rumours that they shot them down, I assume that’s just nonsense? Is it true local paratroopers had to recover the bodies?
@@AIAvionics have
@@hayrigulle1730really? Playing grammar Police in such an event?
@@pawloiox2585 I'm sorry you're right but that one is getting out of hand these days
Source: trust me bro 😂
God only knows what went through Andreas' mind when he realised he was the ONLY one moving on that plane..true horror. Some people suffer such tragic fates..
Truly horrifying.
He knew death was coming and he couldn't do anything.
What's worse is that he could see the Greek F-16 that were following the plane, he waved at them and they saw him - but they couldn't do anything
God? what God?
@@xozuri the God that made you. Gave you life.
@@roximusmaximus195 I'm pretty sure that imaginary *god* that your referring to didn't give me life lmao 😆 😂 🤣
God is great and greatly to be feared. HE IS NOT the soft mushy god that a great deal of the modern preaching is all about, if any of it is about God at all. He created the world. He created mankind.
Only in Him is the COMPLETE power over life and death.
He sent His only Son to die for our sins, that we might receive by His grace alone, justification, adoption, and sanctification. For a sinner defying His power, you are in a dangerous position. You are condemned to hell, to BURN in everlasting flames of fire in a pit of groaning and gnashing of teeth. If God saves you and you become a Christian, I'm sure you've heard of the glory of heaven?People die for their sins in one way or another, in this life or that to come. If you are a "good" person according to the law of the world than there might be a little bit of hope for you, if my God sees fit to send His Spirit to open your eyes that you may see. Believe and repent of your sins, turn from your wicked ways and He will hear you and be merciful to you. What is your name? Tell me and I will pray for you with all my heart. May He bless you and keep you when you turn to Him. ~Evelyn
I'm guessing that Andreas might have regained consciousness when the plane reached a breathable altitude again and was able to reach the oxygen? It's hard to say, but it's incredibly tragic that there was absolutely nothing he could've done at that point. He is still a hero in my book.
Nope..he was conscious at 34000ft before the left engine flamed out..He could have done enough to save the flight, but so could any of the other cabin crew members aswell🤷🏻♂️
@@speedbird9313 how was he conscious? And what was he doing the entire time? Just sitting there while all of the passengers were passed out?
@@Lingboysc2 You wouldnt suddenly just regain consciousness after several hours unpressurized at cruise altitude.
He stayed conscious with use of portable oxygen bottle(s).
What he did we’ll never know🙄
@@speedbird9313 That's exactly why the timeline doesn't make sense to me. It doesn't seem to be brought up in any of the reports though. How can someone sit there for hours, conscious, with access to the cockpit? It's a real mystery.
@@Abstract I know, its really weird🙄There were three (of a total of four) portable oxygen bottles found to be opened. I know his girlfriend (also flight attendant on the flight) also was alive, so maybe they tried to help others?
And perhaps the aisle was partly blocked by some unconscious passenger which they had to climb over, and perhaps the cockpit door also was blocked🤔 Hard to imagine really🙄
God, I remember this. I live in Athens. I was home alone when this happened, a very scared teenager, who knew way too much about airplane crashes due to my father, a retired air force officer who had survived a horrific one. My area was right in the path of the plane. It was awful, not knowing if the plane was going to come down right on top of us. My parents, out of town, racing to come home in case of the worst. When they got home it was after the plane had crashed, just 10 klm away from where I live. My parents crushed me in a hug and my father was crying. He never cried like that.
My father was very broken up about the whole thing. It took him a long time to get over it. He saw himself in Andreas and in the pilots and the passengers. It woke up painful memories for him. He became very invested in the accident and reached out to all contacts he had for information. I learned a lot about the early stages of the investigation through this grapevine of military folks. We met one of the F-16 pilots of that day by chance, years later. The accident came up in conversation. The poor guy was still affected, I can only imagine how horrified he must have been up there, watching it happen helplessly. I was very relieved to see that he was doing alright and had likely gotten some much-needed help.
My heart went out to Andreas when I read about what he did. Some part of me is certain that he saved my life, my home, and those of other people living in my area. We were right in the original path of the plane. If he hadn't been there, the plane might have slammed right into our mountainside. Who knows how many more could have died.
Thank you for covering this so seriously and somberly. Thank you for not turning it into a sensationalist piece. Your work is incredible.
Omg so emotional! Why they never shared the recording on the blackbox do you know? I wonder why he was the only one concious and not any other coworkers. Also idk why others seems to blame Andreas. I feel so bad for him. I hope his family found peace afyer all those years😔
this is truly the most horrifying story of a plane crash I've ever heard. nothing is more terrifying than human error in a time where your life is dependent on someone else's choices
The helpless terror of the F-16 pilots as they watched the disaster unfold was absolutely heartbreaking.
Imagine being able to see the many passengers passed out or only barely conscious in their seats.
120 souls heading into death.
Andrea likely being the only one awake on that plane at the time of the crash was just wow. I’ve gotten pretty hardened emotionally from listened listen to a bunch of true crime and these types of videos but when it said someone was awake, and they said Andrea was aware enough to both acknowledge the pilot and later said he said mayday onto the radio brought me to tears.
I know everybody is mad at Andreas for not taking control over the plane sooner
But I think at the end of the day he was just confused and scared.
His bravery for still trying to save the plane is admirable.
@@starcherry6814 Podromou was probably incapacitated at least partially. He was also probably trying to help the passengers - one third children - stay alive by sharing the remaining oxygen bottles. He was not a commercial pilot - he was only training on small propeller general aviation aircraft - so he had basic knowledge but nowhere near enough to have been able to control a B737, even had he got into the cockpit early in the unfolding disaster.
@@starcherry6814No, mad at any of the flight attendants who didnt contact the flight deck a few minutes after the mask drop because the aircraft was still in a climb, and thats mainly on the chief flight attendant.
@@starcherry6814Why would anybody be mad at him? He was not a commercial pilot and he wasn't trained to pilot a Boeing 737.Still he tried to best of his abilities to keep it afloat until he couldn't. He was the ultimate hero who made a colossal sacrifice. It's the pilots and the airlines itself who should be blamed. I am sorry I know the pilots died too but had they taken their jobs seriously, this might not have happened.
same it's all incredibly sad
This is TV level content. I’m extremely impressed at how well you were able to tell this story.
TV sucks
Tv?? RUclips surpassed TV years ago. Tv……..ok boomer
Yes anyone know the name of the narrator? Love her voice
@@fa9183 The' narrator' is the person making the video??
@@thesilentone3687 It isn't.
At the start of the video I thought to myself “I bet that ground engineer feels awful for turning that switch” but after seeing how many procedural mistakes the pilots made I don’t blame dude in the slightest. This was 100% on the pilots.
FR, why is no one else saying this…
@@pd7484everyone is saying this, the crew incompetence is staggering
@@pd7484 are you raising your voice at me?
And even worse, the ground engineer got a year in prison. Imagine going to prison for an entire year for forgetting to flip a switch. That man was not a danger to society and therefore there was absolutely no reason to keep him in prison.
What do you mean you don’t blame him in the slightest!? If he didn’t do it, their incompetence wouldn’t have reared its head! If he turned it back on they’d have had a safe flight, or had been able to land with enough oxygen
I cried when they showed photos of the victims. My wife's dad died in a plane crash years ago. She hasn't been the same since. This kind of tragedy destroys more lives than those taken on the flight.
What flight was her dad on?
Different flight ..but he died by plane crash too
@@GreenEnvy. Flight 175. That was a sad day, they didn't know he was organised like that
I feel so bad for the flight attendant, I’m assuming he passed out then woke back up and just was trying to get the plane down to live but could barely breathe, Then the pilots having to witness that.. Horror.
No. I believe he had found additional supplemental oxygen, therefore remaining conscience longer than everyone else
Andreas broke my heart.. that poor guy. He was the last conscious person left, and tried to save everyone. It failed.. but he’s still a hero. I hope he and the others aboard the plane (except for the idiot that got fired and somehow still worked as a pilot) are resting in peace..
Self preservation is a natural instinct, not heroism...
@@MorrisPV What a sad outlook in life, I bet you’re just so fun at parties
@@MorrisPVcry more
@gomillust I don't consider reality a sad outlook... 🙄
@@MorrisPV You are right but you are an a$$hole too.
If something as simple as a misturned switch can take down a plane, you think they'd design it in a way that the plane wouldn't be able to take off if the switch is in the wrong position.
But, then again there’s two pilots so two opportunities for such a thing to have been picked up on. 🤕
Right? The plane can fly itself and do loop maneuvers but can’t automatically pressurize even though it knows what altitude it’s at? Shit is crazy
Well the misturned switch didn't take the plane down - actually it didn't touch the plane at all. It simply took out the passengers. The plane crashed ultimately due to fuel exhaustion.
The auto pilot was on, the auto pressure system was off. The pilots failed to turn on the auto pressure system, but not the auto pilot. The pilots also ignored the warnings, and also failed to follow procedures. There were several opportunities to stop this, it wasnt just one thing.
Did we watch the same video? Soooo much went wrong in this case, there were so many moments where a responsible pilot would’ve caught onto the error yet every opportunity was missed
That poor F-16 pilot must have been absolutely devastated, feeling so helpless and just having to watch it all
The worst of this scenario is that had the B737 been going to crash into central Athens, the F16 pilots may have had the dreadful order to shoot it down before it killed hundreds more.
@@rainscratch yeah that's true
The fighter pilots should have used their grappling hooks on the 737 to fly the plane back to an airport safely.
@@legitbeans9078 Dude..🙆🏻♂️🤪🤦🏻♂️
@@legitbeans9078 Nah, they only use those to fell AT-ATs.
I learned about this on my cabin crew course... such a sad tragedy. I can't believe Andreas was able to walk around the cabin even with the effects of hypoxia, that's crazy... waking up to the entire cabin unconscious and quiet save for the alarms blaring must've been horrifying. aircrew should NEVER assume an alarm or something going wrong inside the plane is just a blare or defect.
He used portable oxygen bottle(s), which you also learned about on your cabin crew course😉
Last month I was on the Singapore Airlines flight from Singapore back home to Ahmedabad, India. We boarded and were told they would be a delay due to a "technical difficulty" with the aircraft. We were deplaned after about 45 minutes and told they would switch the aircraft. Eventually the flight took off 2.5 hours later, on what was presumably a different aircraft.
It might have been nothing, could have been something. Nevertheless I appreciate Singapore Airlines and the entire crew for switching the plane.
This channel is criminally underrated. The content, editing and narration is just top tier. I've just finished watching all three videos in one go. Subscribed and excited to see what topic will be covered in future videos!
They sat on the success of the first video too long. Only three videos is wack
@@Lovicide She's only one person doing RUclips in her spare time. That said, I desperately wish she would do more videos more often! The quality is amazing.
It only has 4 videos. Lol
Ik this channel only has like 4 vids but it's quality over quantity
I understand the complains about the number of videos, but I would prefer the channel to choose quality over quantity. So many channels sadly sacrifice quality just to produce videos weekly.
17:57 gave me the chills !! You can hear the ditress and fear in the pilots voice when he saw the plane crash.
What a amazing video !! Had me engaged the whole time.
Gosh, what an absolutely horrific event. I so feel for Andreas... to be in that weakened and confused state desperately trying to guide the plane to safety. It sounds truly nightmarish - knowing you and everyone else is in danger and trying to fight against your brain shutting down in order to save lives. That poor guy. And those fighter pilots watching this all unfold while unable to do anything to stop it. The whole thing is just awful. RIP to those who died and I hope all those who witnessed this tragedy find peace.
Family from our town in Cyprus was on that flight. A mother, father and their young daughter. At the last moment, their young son said he wanted to stay with his grandparents. So the parents permitted him to. Now their house stands empty for the boy when he grows up. The grandparents still regularly tend to the gardens. 😞
My family and I flew back to London on this day. I remember hearing the news as we were waiting to leave for the airport. Very scary when something is close to home.
😢 poor kid
I've watched this video a few times now, and every single time I tear up hearing that F-16 pilot's voice crack as he shouts "Mayday Mayday!" What a heart breaking story. Thank goodness incidences like this are rare, but it's still very scary to think about how one little mistake can ruin so many lives.
I know, that hurts my heart too.
Same
Sometimes having too much experience isn't a good thing. It makes people cut corners and get sloppy. How tragic and as horrible as it is to say, it's good that most of the passengers were unconcious. My heart goes out to the families, and to the fighter pilots and ground crew who must have felt so much hopeless desperation.
It can but also it could help it’s like a double ege sword
Hopefully this stuff will get computerized soon
@spellcheck5393 it already is by a lot, these pilots just didn't follow the checklist that is there to ensure all of it works properly.
@@spellcheck5393 Automation is the only reason that plane stayed up in the air for that long. Otherwise, it would have crashed soon after that conversation with Alan when the pilots lost consciousness.
There's so many preventable aspects of this horrible tragedy but the the worst part is at 7:30. Even if they somehow arrive at the conclusion that this is a glitch (after they missed the item on two separate checklists), every pilot learns to don their oxygen mask IMMEDIATELY when they hear that sound. Even if it had to be a glitch for some reason, they needed to put on their oxygen masks and then check their instruments and figure everything out. There's no excuse for this except possibly poor training.
Or arrogance. When too much experience becomes deadly.
Have you ever met Greek men? They’re both too laid back and think they’re right about everything. That’s the perfect combination to ignore rules in place for safety
@@RelaxinghypnoasmrI'm assuming you've had a bad date or 2 with one or more greek guys lol.
If u know anything about hypoxia then u know it’s not quite that easy.
@@christerry1773 The cabin altitude warning rings at 10000 ft. That's not even nearly enough for serious hypoxia as far as I'm aware.
you guys should do the sewol ferry tragedy.
this was about the sinking of MV sewol, a bunch of sophomore students who went on a trip from the route incheon to jeju in south korea, the boat began to tilt to the side. over 300 people died on that day the ferry sank. It's absolutely dreadful and so sad to hear about, when there were rescue divers going in to retrieve the bodies, they found two students whose hands were tied together, and later found out that they were a couple, who wanted to at least pass together. Absolutely heart breaking.
The videos taken by some of the students are chilling… especially the one with the girl who jokes that they’re being left there to die. She wasn’t wrong. The captain was one of the first to be rescued. It’s so upsetting
This channel would be an amazing choice to cover that story. There's a great video by Horror Stories about it (although be warned if you watch it, it starts with several minutes of footage of the victims that is incredibly hard to watch). He did a great job on it and I think Real Horror would be able to expand on it in a very tasteful way. It's a horrible event but this channel has enough tact to do it justice.
All those MV roll on / roll off ferry’s disasters are brutal. Has to be the most dangerous class of ships ever made.
Yes, especially with the 9 year anniversary upcoming
People really thought that it was sunk by some South Korean, Japanese, American, french, or even Israeli submarine??
Im pretty sure these massive vessels have strong operating procedures to the point that would be impossible almost.
It would make sense if it was a North Korean submarine, but Korean/Japanese/American/French sounds almost nonsensical since their as computerized and driven by procedure as most things military are.
I've seen a lot of videos on this crash but I'd never heard the recordings before. The absolute fear in the F-16 pilot's voice as he says "Mayday mayday" is heartbreaking. I hope he got counseling, too. I can imagine the amount of ptsd from something like this would be intense.
No amount of counseling could erase that horrific memory.
Agree and same. I learned so much (extra) about this case from this video
Absolutely disgusting pilots, their arrogance with the pre flight checklist caused the death and horrible crash. This story makes me sick.
It astounds me that the engineer who turned the air pressure switch off has never been in prison. How is that possible? He turned a cabin air pressure switch off on his first day on the job and never got thrown into a jail cell!? Unreal. The pilots shouldn't have skipped the checks but what are the chances of a first day newbie turning off the air pressure switch off for no reason whatsoever? It's frightening stuff because we simply do not know if it was accidental or on purpose.
@@actresstobe I want to point out that he did not turn the air pressurization system "on" or "off". He turned from auto to manual to perform the check as said at 2:37. So with that he didn't turn it "off" or do it without reasons, he was doing as it is needed to perform the check. He did forgot to turn it back to auto after and that was what he did wrong.
@@dreamtonics_en and that 'forgetfulness" should get him imprisoned. And don't forget, he just ignore the pilot bizzarre respond and just leave instead of keep contacting the pilot.
@@actresstobe That isn’t known. The video states it like it’s a fact that he left it on manual, but in reality we do not know.
We also don’t know that the pilots didn’t check it.
Read different accounts. Alan was just used as a scapegoat for Boeing’s incredibly stupid design.
Why the hell would the same alarm be used for something that is a non issue and something that could get everybody killed?
@@Improperman him and the pilots. Agreed?
Listening to the F 16 Pilot helplessly yell Mayday as his voice cracked was heartbreaking.
They criticize the pilots for rushing through check lists, but I'm going to guess that their industry is just like mine, where you're told to do everything in the checklist, but also get it done impossibly fast. You'll get fired for taking too long before you get fired for skipping checklist items.
Well the pilot lot his previous job due to skipping safety checks, not for being tardy, so sounds like the former was a repeated issue with him.
I get what you are saying but there are too many examples of rushing through things causing crashes in aviation. I'm guessing most if not all airlines would rather be a little late as opposed to crashing a plane. Especially Helios as I believe this was one of only two planes they owned. Most likely culprit is "cuts corners at work" guy trying to make himself look like the best and fastest. Everyone can relate to working with that type of guy.
Sounds like nursing sometimes.
It's been improved in many airlines especially in Europe but it's still far from ideal in many places.
It does sound like management was bad at Helios. They hired a pilot with ni references, and they ignored repeated complaints!
When I was a student pilot, we were sent into a hypoxia-simulation chamber. That was one of the scariest experiences I've had.
We were given easy mathematics tests to do like 1+4, 2+2 etc. while sitting in the chamber while it simulated climbing in altitude. We were given notes to write the answers down. When it got to only 10,000 ft. AGL, I remember the quiz was something easy like 5+5, I wrote 10 in the paper and started to feel light headed. I signalled my instructor to put me in oxygen mask. After a couple of minutes I felt better and the instructor just pointed in my answer sheet. The answer I wrote was unintelligible, just scribbles when I remembered writing 10. That was harrowing as hell for me hoping to be a pilot one day
Damn, I watched a couple videos on that test and it really hit home. The idea of useful consciousness is really terrifying.
@@AbstractI can second his experience, I’ve been into a hypoxia chamber twice in my career. Once as part of my military training, and then as a part of military to civilian flight crew training. Both times, I felt fine, at most a little bit like I’d stood up too quickly. I didn’t feel impaired; it was only afterwards that the realisation dawned of how serious the situation was.
First one, like the commenter above, I was asked to do simple maths; in my case, it was a basic fuel calculation. Something I could do in 30 seconds normally. I thought I was doing fine, if a little light headed. Afterwards, when looking what I’d written, it was 80% unintelligible and even the bits I could read, were completely inaccurate to the point that the turbines wouldn’t have even spooled up.
Second time was a deeper hypoxic state test. We were instructed to take our jackets off, remove our ties, place our O2 masks on, and that was it. Simple right? Wrong. I was trying to remove my shoe instead of my jacket, I hadn’t managed to put my mask on with an effective air seal, and I forgot about my tie. One of the other trainees took off his trousers. Seriously,
Useful consciousness is really nebulous when you cannot tell you are already running out of time. It’s made me incredibly fastidious about ensuring all the metrics are correct. The one time I needed it, was when an altitude warning triggered on the panel in front of me, I had my mask on in seconds. Ironically and happily, it was an erroneous error and not a depressurisation event.
No way the dispatcher was just talking to the pilots and when they asked about the pressurization module they go silent. How tragic
He should've yelled and told him clearly what he needed to do and why.
It’s so strange why the dispatcher was so chill about it
Worse is the guy was an engineer so he knows what happens if that switch is not on auto. Why didn't he press more to make sure???
@@Quietcomet I think they’re usually chill because yelling/speaking panickly just causes people to panic and in turn maybe make worse decisions as they fail to think rationally
For some reason, every single time I hear the sounds of the audible plane warnings as the plane is about to crash ( 16:25 ), my eyes tear up and I have this feeling of deep helplessness in me. I have heard it on a previous RUclips video of a similar crash as well, and it has to be one of the scariest sounds I have ever heard. The fact that the flight attendant would have had to listen to the warnings, knowing he could do nothing, knowing that death is inevitable, it is truly terrifying... Rest in peace, to everyone who lost their lives that day.
One good thing is that it would have only been tragic for the one flight attendant.
It started with the mechanic not putting it back to auto
@@jaymes1 right?
Every time it plays in a video it is haunting I just can’t imagine how it feels to hear that yelling at you
Truly chilling
Can't imagine what the F -16 pilots and controller went through in those moments. I had tears in my eyes listening to them witness the plane crash. Thank you for covering this incident, I would love to see more videos from this channel!
me too i was 15 when it happened and still remember it till this day i can't believe that 121 people died cause of a stupid switch
@@greekanimefun What watch? Please tell me more about it.
@@EmptyRedBullCan Watch?🙄🤔
@@EmptyRedBullCan i said switch not watch
@@greekanimefun thanks for editing
As a Greek Cypriot i remember this day like it was happened yesterday! It was a devastating day! The old lady who lives in the same building as me had her son and his wife on that plane! I used to see him a lot visiting his mother and he looked like a good man. Rest in peace to all the innocent victims , such a tragedy to lose your life like that! May God bless us all.
I hope Andreas is remembered for his brave, valiant efforts.
Cyprus is Near turkey... But they
Old lady had his son and wife on the plane?
I pray for that woman 😢
@@zubval6224But they what?
I was on a different plane at the same airport that day. I was staring at that plane as it took off while in my seat waiting for mine to take off. It was surreal. My phone was going crazy once I landed back in London everyone didn't know if that was the plane I was on with my dad. Very shocking to watch the news once I got back.
The pilots failed miserably and it costed the lives of so many people. If only they checked that damned switch.
Oh man
@@D-Thang_ There are more than pilots to blame. Ultimately it is the Captain responsible, but had the ground engineer Irwin, not left the pressurization switch on Manual - this would not have happened. The airline Helios is also to blame for neglecting to properly vet their air crews - they should not have hired a Captain who had been fired for negligence only a few months prior.
@@rainscratch Mainly a gross pilot error.
@@D-Thang_ it's so infuriating
I was on the very next flight from Helios after this crash .
Everyone was telling me don't take the flight but I still did on the basis of lightning never strikes twice .
Although to be honest with you I've never been so scared in all my life , not just me but all the passengers , you could've cut the atmospher inside the plane with a knife it was so intense .
I'm glad your Helios flight was safe.
Actual lightning does repeatedly strike in the same places as on previous occasions all the time; maybe not always during the same storm, but do at a later time. It's unpredictable. "Lightning never strikes twice in the same place" is a weird saying, with no basis in fact.
The chance of something happening (or not) is the same every time. It doesn’t depend on what happened the last time. If you flip a coin ten times in a row and it comes up heads every time, the chances of it being tails next time is still 50/50. It’s always 50/50. The coin and the universe don’t “know” what happened on the last flip or that the coin is due for coming up tails.
Of course an airline flight isn’t a coin or lightning. But since most crashes are due to pilot error there’s no reason to expect that pilots will be better at being pilots right after a crash. They might be paying more attention but they also might be more stressed or distracted because of what happened, and they aren’t going to get better trained or better skilled because another plane just crashed. And on the other hand if the crash was due to a mechanical problem, a crash the day before will have no effect on that either.
I actually feel so bad for the F-16 Pilot's who has to watch the passenger planes crash into the ground knowing there's nothing they can do... They'll never forget the sight of that crash...
I’ve watched many airline crash docs/videos, including Helios 522 (the ghost plane), & this was by far the most detailed & compelling presentation I’ve heard of this disastrous & tragic story. As you articulated the events that occurred in flight, it felt as if you took us back to that day on the plane.
I know this has been said many times before, but please continue posting videos. I understand it’s time-consuming & a lot of work, but you have a natural talent & eye for this. I’m a huge fan!! Thank you!!!😊
Agree this report was the best coverage. Only wished that that annoying drone sound effect was not added - the tragedy is horrific enough without the added cheap sound effect.
Absolutely heartbreaking hearing the F-16 pilot watching the crash. The only blessing here is that all of those innocent people were unconcious when the plane crashed. What a horrible incident this was, and so avoidable.
@@Gencturk92
Grim as fuck
1:06 they crashed
Thank you, Sherlock👍🏻🤪
@@speedbird9313 My comment was a joke, normally I would assume your comment was too. But judging by some of your other comments on this channel, I'm sceptical. Could you confirm?
@@cessnacitation-x👍😝
@@speedbird9313👍🏾😮💨🤪😆😆
@@cessnacitation-x The sentence; "they crashed" is a joke? Yeah, sure..
just want to say, you're doing an amazing job! I know you have life outside these videos and it's just you and you gotta pay your bills. but the absolute great A work you do! amazing! you won't ever have to work again if you keep this up. pure talent!
Thank you so much 🙏
Masterpiece!
What a hero that steward was……the strength it must have taken him to just make it into the cabin with little air and try and figure it out. Bless. X
Strength?🤔🙄🤷🏻♂️
@@speedbird9313 yep, he was no doubt suffering the effects of hypoxia whilst the rest of the passengers and crew no doubt were in comas from lack of oxygen. To come from the cabin to the flight deck……and try and help. That’s strength……
@@karenlindley.9756 But today the cockpit doors are reinforced to prevent terrorists from entering. Just like Germanwings - if the pilot is unconscious or suicidal theres no way to barge in.
@@karenlindley.9756
Speedbird is trolling.
@@speedbird9313 malaka
Corrections:
06:30 - the last half an hour of the CVR, not the last few hours.
13:44 - this is not a real photo, but included on the FAA website as a legitimate photo for some reason.
21:32 - a take off warning alarm is not a "minor alarm", since it could lead to a rejected take off if there's still time. Neither alarm is good news.
Thank you for the corrections. The Take Off Config warning is certainly not a minor issue. In this case the aircraft was warning of the pressurisation switch incorrectly set for takeoff. However the B737 used the same warning alarm for two different things and the Captain fixated on the wrong perceived problem.
@@rainscratch "In this case the aircraft was warning of the pressurization switch incorrectly set for takeoff"?🤔
@@rainscratch You know thats not a thing, right?
This story was very well told, and the narrator has a beautiful voice! More than one airplane crash has been caused by pilots rushing through safety procedures because of their schedules…
The production value is waaaay above the vast majority of these kind of channels, thank you and keep these rolling it's great
It is important to notice that is believed that when Andreas noticed that he couldn't flight the plane, he moved the controls and the plane as best he could away from buildings and into a remote location since the plane had a high likelihood of crashing over the town.
Sorry to burst your bubble, but he didnt divert, the autopilot disconnects after an engine loose power. There is actually no evidence of any control of the aircraft except from an attempt to level it of before impact. The holding pattern is anyway pretty far from downtown Athens.
@@speedbird9313Dude you gotta be autistic. You are all over this comment section, nitpicking details with a pretentious attitude.
Touch grass. Jesus.
God, that part of the audio that Andreas would've heard in his last moments... It made me sick to my stomach, my eyes teared up. As potentially the only person aware of what was happening, I can't even imagine the feeling of helplessness he would've experienced. I can only hope hypoxia saved most of the victims from the fear of knowing that you'll die at any moment.
The takeoff configuration warning is anything but "relatively minor"
Its saved lives many times and it's absence/malfunction has contributed to the lose of lives in the past
It is there to warn the crew that the aircraft is not configured correctly for takeoff
Not having the plane configured correctly such as flaps and slats etc is deadly and has taken lives many times
Literal chills dude, the last audio conversation is heart breaking to listen to. R.I.P to all the passengers. Plane crash cases are always so scary and sad.
I have watched multiple flight breakdowns from reputable channels of this incident yet this is the most detailed and comprehensive video of this flight incident I have ever seen.
I remember when this was on TV, live. I was in Greece myself at that time.... we sat on the couch and couldn't believe our eyes. I still remember how scary that was, thinking about the suffocation...
I asked my mom (I was 12 back then) why the fighter jets didn't do anything to help? With a simply reply from her like "Because they can't do anything".
That's just frightening...
My mom has been flying to Greece with 2 airplane trips for 21 years. Never anything bad as that happened...and I'm grateful. But you never know.....ugh
i hope u and yr mum always stay safe. x
It’s a lot safer for your mum to travel in a plane than in a car. Try not to worry!
This accident is so terrifying to me, much more than other plane crashes. Just the idea of a ghost flight going up and round with all these unconscious people inside, and then just one person being awake and desperately trying to do something but failing, while the two f16 pilots watched without being able to do anything... the voice of the f16 pilot breaking, the last sounds that andreas hear being those plane warnings, idk it's all just so chilling.
the sequence of errors here is just insane, how could the pilots continually ignore so many warnings... like it was so tragically preventable
We will never know what truly happened in that plane but one things for certain, Andreas' family should be proud of his effort.
Somehow he fought oxygen loss and was able to remember how to get into the cockpit and seemingly was the only person able to do so. Tried his best under the very dark and trying circumstances. I think if only he had a little bit more air, his brain wouldve saved them all.
I saw a heartbreaking interview with Andreas' father. Indeed he was a proud father, and the family was profoundly changed forever.
What's sad to me how he must have felt trying to put all his effort into saving a plane full of dead passengers, including his partner. All in an effort to save people on the ground. What an amazing person.
@@AlexHurleyMusicThe report said most of the passengers were alive at the time of the crash but in a coma, probably not reversible. Maybe he realized they were as good as dead, or maybe he was too impaired to even think about it.
This was incredibly haunting. I’m literally sobbing at how sad and avoidable this whole situation was…keep making this amazing content omg thank you
I used to enjoy cockpit visits before each flight. Now I'm too scared to do it. I'm worried that I'll hear arrogance or complacency in the pilot/copilot's voice and spend the flight terrified that they overlooked one VITAL thing like these two did.
Pathetic
Wtf? You want more tragedy from this channel yet it makes you cry. Brainless
The distress and panic in that F-16 Pilots voice after witnessing what he did made me really choke up and tear up a little. I cannot imagine. RIP to all lost.
That cracking and stuttering in the F-16 pilot's voice is what broke me and made the tear dam break. I was already fighting the lump in my throat at hearing what Andreas that beautiful, brave, heroic man would have heard in his final moments. But the utter despair and grief in that pilot's voice was heart-wrenching. I can't imagine the trauma of watching that unfold in front of you and being completely powerless to stop it.
The smallest, tiniest mercy is that the passengers were asleep and were killed instantly. They didn't have to experience that crippling dread of knowing they were doomed, watching the ground rapidly come closer and closer. Mercifully, those inmocent people would have been oblivious and dreaming and never felt the pain and terror.
Andreas was truly a courageous and admirable person, I'm sure his family through the grief felt such pride and love for him for trying so, so hard to save that plane.
Something about Andrea using his fleeting moments of ability to try in vain to save everyone strikes me so much. Especially with what was happening to his body, he must've fought to keep himself going isn't easy
He used a portable oxygen bottle..so no super human powers involved🤪
@@speedbird9313 source?
@@trentonking5508 Seriously?! What do you think, that he walked around at FL340 in an unpressurized cabin? 😆
I believe this is a perfect example of the butterfly effect, small changes to a system will eventually overcome leading to inherit improbability such as a crash. My deepest condolences to all of the survivors of this tragic crash and may this serve as a reminder that checklists are something to be taken seriously every time. There is no shortcut to safety, especially when your life is on the line. 😢
The thing with the butterfly effect is that we always look at it in the past. Look at the one error he did a month ago that today led to such a tremendous accident. The way we should look at it is that our actions today could have a lasting effect on the world, so we have to be diligent
@avramcs I completely agree, we should use the butterfly effect to look forward not backwards.
In aviation crash investigations it’s called the Swiss cheese effect. It always takes more than one thing to go wrong to cause a crash, the holes in the Swiss cheese need to line up. In this case the holes included the engineer failing to move the switch, the pilots falling to notice when they should have, the pilots failing to follow procedure when the warning sounded, the airline failing to check new hire references, etc.
@@Sashazur I stand corrected then
My daughter told me about this video, so as an aviation geek, I instantly took a look - I told my daughter it was the one about hypoxia, & she was completely unsurprised by my instant recognition 👌
The Cockpit Voice Recorder would have only had the last 60-30 minutes of recording, but the Flight Data Recorder will have kept the data for the entire flight. The tragedy of this is that if they had figured out that the cabin was not pressurising & requested to descend below 10,000ft everyone would have come round & they could have worked it out & got to the ground safely. I remember being angry when I heard this because it was so needless & avoidable.
Thank you for covering it so sensitively ❤
I've read about this flight, and what caused its demise, many times. However this is the first time I've heard the CVR of the F-16 pilots watching the crash happen in real time. The raw emotion in his voice was pretty haunting, and I especially feel for him.
Andreas P tried to save them by going into the cockpit against incredible odds and he is a hero, despite the ending. 🕊️
Then why did he wait nearly three hours before entering the cockpit?
@@speedbird9313 shock? a whole load of factors could of prevented him from going in sooner. let’s not forget he is not to blame here
@@cz5576 Shock? A mask drop in the cabin is a shock for a flight attendant? Get real. But you are right, not to be blamed, but not to pay homage to either.
@@speedbird9313 shock is when the body is not getting enough oxygen to vital organs. so perhaps?
@@cz5576 You need to research hypoxia..😉 And he had portable oxygen bottle(s) that he used.
That is absolutely heartbreaking. Thinking about the panic that flight attendant must’ve been feeling trying his best to weakly salvage the plane to safety… chilling.
What's so heartbreaking about this is the chief steward had a pilot's licence and his own oxygen supply, but the very security measures put in place after 9/11 to try and prevent further tragedies meant he couldn't get into the cockpit until it was too late...
"It meant he couldnt get into the cockpit before it was to late?" How do you figure?🤔 "And his own oxygen supply?" Its not like he brought it on the flight😉
He wasnt the chief steward by the way.
@@speedbird9313 what a dumb comment
If the door had been locked he wouldn’t have been able to get back in, period. There was that horrible Germanwings crash where the suicidal pilot locked the other one out, who couldn’t even get back using an axe while he was fully conscious.
If I was a passenger on that plane I definitely would have known what was happening as soon as the oxygen masks dropped and I woulda gone into the cockpit and landed the plane in a large open field smh
And landed the plane? Why?
If you went to the cockpit after a passenger oxygen mask drop the pilots would have landed the plane themselves 🤷🏻♂️
The FAs would have really shouted at you tho😆
The picture at 13:43 is really unsettling because it's a picture of the real plane taken from one of the F-16s It's not some artist rendering. and you know that everyone in that plane is unconscious and it's minutes away from crashing...
it's not, unfortunately
So many deaths are caused by negligence, it makes me so incredibly angry because the loss of life could be prevented if people did their due diligence. But some people are simply too lazy, too inconsiderate, or too incompetent to care.
please keep making this stuff, it’s horrifying but you bring light to these tragedies without holding back- but you also don’t go overboard with crazy details like some other channels.
i just appreciate how straightforward your content is- it’s incredible and i subbed on the spot, i hope you grow like crazy, you deserve it
What amazes me the most is that the technician who worked on the pressure issue and obviously was thinking the switch is in the wrong position didn't alarm anybody and went home.
Are you relating to the question over the radio? That is just something he claimed, there is no recording of that. So he probably wasnt thinking about it at all.
@@speedbird9313I think they are talking about the British mechanic contractor they hired for 6-month stint. He changed the air pressure cabin switch from automatic to manual, didn't mention it, and when about his life. He's not even mentioned again after that.
It is genuinely his fault that this whole thing happened.
@@jakevendrotti1496
1. Not a mechanic, a technician
2. There is nothing called the "air pressure cabin switch" in a B737. You mean the "pressurization selector switch".
3. Genuinely his fault? Well that is debatable. This accident would not have happened with that switch in auto. But it is something that is both easy to see during checklists, and easy to find/check during troubleshooting, which is why the conclusion of the Accident Review Board was gross pilot error. Its highly likely they didnt even check the logbook.
Checklists are written in blood.
Love your videos, they're always so articulate and easy to follow! You deserve so many more subscribers!
There are only 3 of them.. Lol. All very well done though.
I don't usually tear up or cry for tragedies, usually they fascinate me and hurt my heart more than anything. But this one had me sobbing, the sounds of the plane warning that it was approaching terrain, the panic in the fighter pilot's voice, the smoke billowing from the wreckage. All of it is soul crushing. Bless every soul lost that day.
Man same. Cant say I cried but I eye’s definitely hurt
As a Greek and as someone who knows a number of pilots in our Air Force, that mayday call was heartbreaking. Greek fighter pilots - due to our abnormal relations with Turkey - are some of the only ones in NATO with consistent combat experience. They are trained to be defenders of the nation and people in every sense. To have watched innocent people die and to hear him crying over the radio denotes the sound of a man who broke in that moment. It is one thing to watch that happen as a normal bystander, and another to watch when you're a trained pilot who has probably seen combat at some point. He was trained to defend those who died in front of him, and he could do nothing. It's soul-crushing just to think of what that does to you.
άσε μας ρε εθνικι που τσουτσουριασες κιολας. ουστ
This documentary is just like the host's voice. Hauntingly beautiful. May the souls rip and let this serve as a reminder of the stakes that are at hand regarding safety in airline operations.
Imagine what Andreas was going through. Barely concious, practically blind, unable to think, going off of whatever energy you have left and just being overloaded with alarms. Spending your lasts moments like this while just hearing "TERRAIN, TERRAIN, PULL UP, PULL UP, SINK RATE, WHOOP WHOOP, PULL UP, SINK RATE, TERRAIN, WHOOP WHOOP, SINK RATE, PULL UP, TERRAIN, TERRAIN" over and over, without end. He's definetly having beers and steak with JAL 123's pilots, Swiss Air 330's captain and that dude on UA 93 in Heaven. Fly sky high, champion. 🕊️🕊️
Why would he be practically blind?🤔
@@speedbird9313 Because of vision loss from the Hypoxia.
@@Forgotmk Thanks, did know hypoxia could trigger that👍🏻
i cant stop thinking about how andreas spent his last moments trying desperately to save the plane and everyone on board while he probably knew in his disoriented state it was futile especially because he had no training. may everyone RIP
Totally horrific. He had some training in general aviation (small propeller aircraft) but nowhere near enough to have been able to take control of a B737 - especially in an oxygen deprived and panicked state of shock. Maybe, just maybe had he gotten into the cockpit early, using his oxygen canisters and he knew about and saw the incorrectly set pressure switch there might have been a chance for one of the crew to revive and save the aircraft - but that of course is a big Maybe and unfortunately not the case.
@@rainscratch
1.He actually held a single propeller CPL..
2.Oxygen canisters is a different name for oxygen generators😉
3. Cabin crew usually have no idea where to find the pressurization mode selector.
4. If he, or any other of the cabin crew had done their job the cockpit would have been notified while they still were conscious.
@@speedbird9313You're assuming that the impaired pilots would have answered a call from the cabin in their states. For all we know they did try to contact the cockpit.
@@BirdieRumia They had radio communication before and after, so yes, that is what I am assuming.
Did you do any research at all before posting?🤔
And they didnt, otherwise they would have known about the mask drop.
If you got a job that is dangerous, never fill in for the sick guy
What incompetence by the pilots. They were at fault for all of the lives lost.
Everyone makes mistakes. They forgot about one little switch that is almost always already in the correct position.
It's just when pilots make a mistake, it can be fatal.
They have so much to keep track of, its incredibly difficult to do everything perfectly.
@@I_am_a_cat_ but these pilots were literally incompetent and they ran through safety tests. their job is to guarantee a safe flight. dont feel bad for them, feel bad for the poor people who lost their lives, not the idiot pilots who caused it all.
@@lexaes11 oh for sure. I definitely feel much more for the poor passengers. I can only imagine what they felt..
I can also understand that people make mistakes though. Sucks that one little mistake like this would cost so many lives. They definitely should have been more thorough 10000%
@@I_am_a_cat_ ain't no mistake is that they was slow ash and didn't know why they were doing
@@soulaandefender uhuh
The same thing happened to golfer Payne Stewart's Lear jet over America. I think many pilots get complacent in the pre-flight check list as they've done it so many times before. May the all rest in peace.
The fear in the voices of the pilots truly resonated with me. I remember the first time I watched an aircraft crash. It stays with you. Those of us in aviation know, every wrench you turn, every time you service that plane, it could be life and death for someone else. It's a grievous shame this happened, but it's important that it's remembered.
what crash did you witness?
@@GreenEnvy. Unfortunately I am not at liberty to say.
@@HildegardActual I understand. Can you describe at all what you saw during the crash?
Nope. I signed a non-disclosure agreement.@@GreenEnvy.
Hard to believe this was 18 yrs ago. I flew Helios with my family the year before this happened, I would have only been 13. We all recall there being something wrong with the air circulation on the flight. Never found out what plane we were on but none of us would be surprised if it was the same one.
Oddly enough, I find your voice both unsettling but relaxing at the same time. I always count on these sort of videos to sleep at night, so I hope more get made down the line! Anyways, great work on this one! I love how much you get into detail on these cases and leave no loose ends when talking about it, as some channels do.
Now it’s time for bed, thanks again!
Disappointed that I’ve already finished watching the only three videos on your channel. I want… wait… no, I NEED more of these ASAP! Videos like these (you being my new favorite content creator) are what get me through my 10 hour nightshifts! You’ve gained a subscriber here! Keep up the awesome work!! 🎉😊❤
You get called to a grim scene where u see a 100+ people passed out or incapacitated, no pilot, heading towards the ground at 400 mph… that’s nightmare fuel for those f-16 pilots
The video says the adults would’ve lost consciousness first…..All I can think about is how confused and scared those kids must have been when the adults lost consciousness and they didn’t know what was going on. Breaks my heart so much 💔 absolutely DEVASTATING!
hi chat
The alarms and the robot voice saying pull up and terrain is horrifying. I can’t imagine how scary that must have been for him in his already highly impaired state.