Cyprus jet had issues in past, mechanic says

ATHENS, Greece – Investigators trying to determine why a Cyprus airliner crashed in the Greek mountains focused on reports of past technical problems, with a former airline mechanic saying Tuesday the jet lost cabin pressure last year because of an improperly sealed door.

Autopsy results indicated that dozens of people, including the co-pilot and a flight attendant, were alive when Helios Airways Flight ZU522 crashed Sunday near Grammatiko, 25 miles north of Athens, killing everyone on board. The body of the German pilot, who reportedly was not in the cockpit before the crash, has not been found.

Coroners hope test results will show if toxic gases rendered the people on board unconscious or whether the passengers and crew were knocked out by a sudden decompression of the cabin and cockpit at 34,000 feet.

Officials said they found only the exterior container of the cockpit voice recorder – one of two “black boxes” – from the plane, hampering investigative efforts.

The voice recorder’s internal components were ejected from the container when the Boeing 737-300 crashed, said Akrivos Tsolakis, head of the Greek airline safety committee.

“The only fortunate event in the investigation is that we have the flight data recorder,” Tsolakis said, adding that it would be sent to Paris today for decoding.

The plane was flying from Cyprus to Athens and was to have continued to Prague, Czech Republic. About 30 minutes after takeoff, the pilots reported problems with the air-conditioning system.

Also, Greek state TV quoted Cyprus’ transport minister as saying the plane had decompression problems in the past.The plane was manufactured in 1998 and delivered to Helios in April 2004, the company said.