Error by Pilots Led to 2005 Air Crash in Greece

Investigators yesterday cited human error as the main cause of the Helios Airways crash that killed all 121 passengers and crew near Athens last year.

The crash was the deadliest air disaster in the history of Cyprus and Greece.

The two pilots of the Cypriot 737-300 failed to competently operate controls regulating cabin pressure and misinterpreted a subsequent warning sign, which led to the August 14 crash of the plane on a hill north of the Greek capital, according to a report delivered to Greece's transport minister.

Maintenance officials left pressure controls on an incorrect setting, the report said, and the aircraft's manufacturer, Boeing, was cited for "ineffectiveness of measures taken in response to previous pressurisation incidents in the particular type of aircraft".

It also said that the direct causes of the crash were the crew's failure to recognise the pressurisation switch was in "manual" before take-off and not set to automatic, which would have allowed the cabin to pressurise by itself.

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