![]() "What troubles us is that the automatic pilot was functioning up to a certain point, and then it was disengaged, possibly by human action," Tsolakis said. ![]() More than an hour later, it changed course again and later crashed north of Athens. But it was flying at 34,000 feet and turned south into a holding pattern over the island of Kea after passing over the airport. The chief investigator, Akrivos Tsolakis, told The Associated Press on Thursday that an air traffic control diagram showed the plane flew on automatic pilot to Athens' international airport. The coroners said they expected test results to indicate whether those on board the plane had inhaled carbon monoxide.Īutopsy results on 26 bodies identified so far have shown that some passengers and at least four crew members - including the co-pilot - were alive, but not necessarily conscious, when the plane went down. Investigators already have sent one of the "black boxes" - the flight data recorder - to France for analysis.Ī team of six coroners was conducting toxicology tests on some of the 118 bodies recovered from the crash site. Greece's deputy fire chief, Andreas Kois, said that missing parts of a voice recorder were found near the burned wreckage. Investigators also have been examining whether a sudden decompression sucked oxygen out of the cabin and cockpit and rendered those on board unconscious. "I don't know and can't rule out" that something else could have been responsible, Koutsaftis said. There has been speculation that an electrical fire or some other cause could have flooded the cabin with carbon monoxide or another gas. "We are still doing tests for other gases, poisons, drugs and alcohol."Įarlier tests showed that at least 26 people on the flight were still alive when it crashed. "This was the fastest test and the most secure," he said after meeting Justice Minister Anastasios Papaligouras. Koutsaftis said a few more days were needed to run the toxicological tests. The plane flew on autopilot before crashing. ![]() More tests were being conducted to determine what could have rendered crew and passengers aboard the Helios Airways Flight ZU522 from Larnaca, Cyprus, unconscious during the flight. ATHENS, Greece - Carbon monoxide did not knock out some of the passengers and crew of a Cypriot airliner before it crashed in the Greek mountains, coroners said Friday, deepening the mystery as to what caused the disaster that killed all 121 people on board.įillipos Koutsaftis, chief coroner of Athens, said tests were carried out on the remains of the co-pilot, three female flight attendants, an infant and an adult who were on the flight that went down Sunday about 25 miles north of the Greek capital. ![]()
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