I don't even understand the last paragraph...what was the source of the "poison gas?"
Is this a babblefish translation?
More here
http://www.canada.com/news/world/story.html?id=b4e6ddaa-8742-4c38-a429-ec56385efd05
The cause of the crash was unclear, but first indications were that it was apparently due to some type of technical problem - possibly decompression - and not terrorism.
The only piece of the plane that remained intact was the tail section of the jet and debris was strewn in a chasm and surrounding hills. Bits of human flesh, clothing, and luggage were scattered around the wreckage, which also started brush fires around the area.
That does bring up a point for consideration.
Since cockpit doors have been reinforced on most airlines, thus negating the use of guns or similar weapons, would the release of a noxious gas circulate into the cockpit as well as the passenger area?
Box cutters were the weapon of choice on 9-11-01. No one ever imagined that.
Could the release of a poisonous gas be a new terrorist weapon? What quantity and types would be the most probable to be used?
All dead.
Why hasn't anyone in the airline industry or in the airline regulation business suggested remotely-controlling civilian airliners? If the Soviets could fly Buran by wire, why can't others do it? Yes, it would introduce another security risk, but that sort of problem has already been solved. There was some research done into making aircraft fuel less explosive in the event of a crash, but that also got sidelined.
Was Benin Sevan on the plane?
I just read on Fox that the airplane was intercepted at 34,000 feet. The pilot of the F-16 stated that oxygen masks inside the cabin were deployed and that the pilot of the airliner was slumped over. The F-16 pilot further stated that he saw 2 people moving about inside. At 34,000 feet there isn't sufficient oxygen to sustain life for a long period of time.
http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=541
August 14, 2005, 3:18 PM (GMT+02:00)
Why was no lunch served aboard Helios airliner before it crashed? At what point were crew and passengers overcome?
This is one of the key questions asked by investigators led by Akrivos Tsolakis of the transport ministry in Athens into the causes of the Cypriot plane’s crash north of Athens en route from Larnaca to Prague. Cyprus and Greece are observing three days of mourning for the 121 victims who died in the disaster.
Another question relates to the two mystery people reportedly observed in the cockpit at moment of the communications break-off between the airliner and Larnaca control tower early in the fatal flight. Were they passengers trying to save the plane after the pilots were incapacitated? Or possibly hijackers making sure the plane would not survive the flight?
The passenger list as released by the Cypriot police includes 103 Greek-Cypriot nationals, many of Armenian origin, and 12 Greeks. The pilot was German and the rest of the crew Greek. Most are presumed Christians, but Muslims who form 18% of the Cypriot population may have been among them. That is the third key question whose answer awaits identification of all the bodies, some by
DNA testing which takes 10 days for results.
Helios president Andreas Drakos admitted that a depressurization problem had occurred on a Boeing 737 Warsaw-Larnaca flight last December but stressed that the plane had been checked by the British authorities in London and the manufacturers and declared airworthy.
According to the evidence of the Greek coroner, 12 of the victims were alive when the Boeing came down but may have fainted.
A former Helios engineer Kyriakos Pilavakis told the investigation that loss of cabin oxygen is a common event. He said the pilots had a big tank full of oxygen under their seats. It was not connected to the passengers’ supply. Pilavakis did not believe the disaster was caused by decompression.
The investigators have still to question the two Greek air force F-16 pilots on their visual impressions of the doomed plane just before it crashed into a mountain north of Athens. They earlier reported they saw one pilot slumped in his seat and the second absent, and oxygen masks dangling over the motionless passengers.
The flight recorders may answer some puzzling questions which prompted the Greek army chief to say a terrorist hijacking cannot ruled out and which sent Mediterranean airports on hijack alert. The fragmentation of the plane into small bits of widely scattered debris suggests a possible explosion.