Grounded: Helios Airways
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ค. 2024
- We're still in Cyprus for this latest episode of Grounded where we take a look at the infamous Helios Airways. Founded in 1999 as the first independently owned airline in the country, Helios would operate a mix of charter and scheduled flights from across Europe to Cyprus. The airline would sadly be mostly remembered for the crash of Helios Flight 522, aka "The Ghost Flight" which crashed in 2005. Following the tragedy Helios would rebrand as Ajet but despite their best efforts could not shake the ghost of Flight 522 and would cease operations towards the end of 2006. This episode gives the full story of the rise and fall of Helios Airways, so sit down, strap in and hit play...
I have tried to be particularly sensitive regarding Flight 522 but it really did need covering as it was a key part of the airline's downfall, if you do wish to skip then it begins at 09:33 and ends at 14:08
I mention a few airlines in this episode which I have previously covered in this series, those episodes are listed below.
*Eurocypria
Established by the state owned flag carrier Cyprus Airways, Eurocypria were a leisure airline with a mission to bring more tourists to the island nation. Having begun with a fleet of Airbus A320s Eurocypria would eventually split from Cyprus Airways and switch to a fleet of Boeing 737s. After some turbulent years in the early to mid 2000s things took a turn for the worse with their rescue package being opposed by the European Commission which ultimately saw Eurocypria Grounded, permanently
• Grounded: Eurocypria A...
*Sabre Airways
Sabre were a UK based charter airline, launched in controversy due to its foundation coinciding with the collapse of Ambassador Airways. Sabre were a key figure in the running of the infamous Peach Air, one of Europe's first operators of the "Next Generation" Boeing 737-800. Following its acquisition by the Libra Holidays Group, Sabre would rebrand as Excel Airways and grow into one of Europe's largest travel companies. Sabre were instrumental in helping Helios get off the ground by providing technical support for the Helios 737-800 fleet.
• Grounded: Sabre Airways
*Excel Airways
Following their successful re-branding from Sabre Airways, Excel Airways would grow to become one of Europe's largest travel companies. This episode looks at how Excel grew and how the seeds of their own destruction were sewn...
• Grounded: Excel Airways
*XL Airways
After a management buyout the XL Leisure Group was the UK's 3rd largest travel company and things looked good but all was not as it seemed.... This episode looks at the collapse of XL Airways UK.
• Grounded: XL Airways
** Contents of this Video **
00:00 Intro
00:22 Helios Airways established
02:31 First flight & early routes
03:17 Libra Holidays
04:41 737NG arrives
05:32 Steady growth
06:14 737-300 arrives
06:43 Summer 2004
08:17 Summer 2005
09:33 Helios Flight 522
14:08 The aftermath
14:39 Re-branding required
15:58 Ajet is born
18:08 Ajet winds down
20:36 So What Went Wrong?
23:18 Outro
I really appreciate any comments and feedback on this or other episodes as well as suggestions for future episodes. Believe me, if I say that your airline is "on the list", it really is :) Check back to see future episodes or better yet, subscribe to catch them as they land and as always, thanks for watching!
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My wife and I booked a holiday to Paphos in either January 2000 or, more likely, 2001. (memory problems). We turned up at Gatwick and were ushered aboard a Helios 737. Despite us both working at LGW we had never heard of Helios and wondered what the heck the trip would be like. It started with the Captain telling us that we would be delayed due to a problem with the nosed leg oleo, guess it just needed a little pump up. We spent a happy 30 minutes watching the worried look on the other passengers faces. We wondered if it would have been more prudent for the Captain to have not gone into too much detail although, with us both working at City Flyer Express pumping up an oleo seemed quite minor. A normal take off and climb to altitude sitting in a comfortable blue leather seat with very good legroom, then the complimentary drinks arrived followed by some (can't remember what it was) dinner. We had to remind ourselves that this was a charter flight, it was better than things I had suffered on some rather large scheduled airlines. To say we were impressed was an understatement. As a result of this flight, I followed the progress of Helios with some interest, and really wished them well; then that accident, very sad. I did wonder whether they could exist for very much longer afterwards because, in small companies, morale could crumble. Helios, we enjoyed our time in your company and you gave a superb service that many larger carriers should have been striving towards. Thankyou.
Thanks for your comment :) It seemed like you had a very good trip :)
Amazing episode, and a very interesting story. And what you said about every Cypriot knowing someone on that flight is sadly true... This accident traumatized many people about aviation. Great content in your channel, cannot wait for a "Grounded: Cyprus Airways" episode!
ευχαριστώ Konstantinos :) I am very happy that you are enjoying my videos, I am working on a Cyprus Airways episode along with many, many more :)
The dual purposed aural takeoff configuration warning system doubling in-flight as a cabin altitude warning with intermittent loud beeps obviously had spooked the insufficiently trained Helios crew who should have KNOWN this and instinctively reacted to such "memory item" on their emergency checklist.
Boeing could have full-proofed the cabin altitude portion of this dual purposed warning system by including VOICE generated prompts "Cabin Altitude" or "Oxygen" between the beeps which would preclude having first to think and then interpret this critical warning.
The Lockheed L1011 TriStar had featured such a voice generated aural warning "Oxygen, Oxygen" between cabin altitude warning beeps which had immediately told us, without having to think, that the cabin had climbed above 10,000 feet after a cargo door seal had ruptured.
Indeed, the L1011 was way ahead of its time, I often wonder what civil aviation would be like had Lockheed stayed in the sector.
Great as always! Cheers!
Thank you :)
Great quality as ever. I’m really impressed by the amount of research you do, it must take ages!
Thank you :)
Yes it can vary between a few weeks to a few months, that's why my schedule is so varied as I don't have a stash of completed scripts. One thing I have learned over these past 3 years is that there is no such thing as an "open and shut" case, in-fact some of the hardest ones to do first appeared to be a "I can write this in a day" type of thing ;)
@@ExpoAviation I can imagine that, for some of them, it’s like opening Pandora’s box!
Good Vid - always from better to best
Thank you, I appreciate that :)
Fantastic video chap!
Thank you :)
Great video as always! I still wonder where Helios Airways would be now if the fatal flight 522 wouldn't have happened
Thank you. Yes it is an interesting one, if 522 hadn't have happened then they would not have been facing immense court costs and negative publicity, they could have continued to grow (they were due to receive another 737 which was cancelled after the accident). Though I do think that they would probably have merged with EuroCypria a few years down the line. It would depend on how much Libra were willing to pump into it.
around 10 months, ago, i became extremely interested in this crash and helios airways in general
i found many interesting things, such as an image of the board in prague saying that Helios 522 was cancelled,
images of puke bags, tickets and brochures from the airline
and it's sort of like going back to the early 2000s, which gives a highly eerie vibe given the airline's fate.
hI!! could you tell me where you found the photos of the tickets and bags thank you.
Thanks for another top video Phil!
Are you looking into Monarch or the mess that was TCX?
Thank you, I'm glad you enjoyed it :)
Yes I am working on both, TCX will be covered as part of the huge story arc going back to pretty much BEA Airtours... As for Monarch, Yep I'm working on them two - I have two boxfiles full of financial reports and other documents to sift through whilst trying to follow the money...
@@ExpoAviation It be great to restore some memories with a airline that created holidays for hundreds of years
Yes i Somehow Missed this episode //.. also i somehow did not know about this one...crashing Its amazing that this flight and history of that aircraft went without any Red Flags..thanks
Consider the find a nice little bonus ;) If it wasn't for the crash they would have been almost entirely forgotten :/
Fantastic
Thanks Alex :)
Recently found this channel great vids! I suggest Jetsgo airlines as a grounded topic
Thank you, I'm glad you are enjoying them and thanks for the suggestion, JetsGo have been on my to-do list since Royal... I might bring that one nearer the top of the pile :)
@@ExpoAviation Can't wait i've already watched most of the grounded episodes
Could you do an episode on Air Cal or PSA please ?🙂
Yep, I'm working on both :)
That is quite the story….very sad!
Indeed :/ Thanks for watching :)
I watched the Air crash investigation Of Helios 522 and I couldn’t sleep After I watched it But still Nice video
Thanks, I had to cover the crash as it was a huge part of the airline's downfall but I really didn't want to go into too much detail, I hope you manage to sleep tonight :)
@@ExpoAviation Thank you but I think I can sleep tonight :)
You’ve got to give credit to the flight attendant Andreas, who tried his best to save Helios flight 522, but sadly to no avail.
Indeed, better to have tried and fail rather than wait for the inevitable.
Should do another Cypriot airline Cobalt Air.
Yeah they are on my to-do list :)
It's sad that all Boeings 737, even the -MAX, is missing an EICAS (Engine Indication and Crew Alerting System) warning system. It's an oldtimer of the 60s just look at the overhead panel nearly the same since the -100, -200.
Yep, I used to work on the 737-300/400 and 800/900ER and they are very similar. An EICAS would surely have prevented the crash of British Midland flight 92 as it would clearly have showed which engine had failed and thus the pilots would have shut down the correct one but even back in the 1980s it was about avoiding costly type rating training :/
Please do an episode on Thomas Cook!
Hi, yes I am working on Thomas Cook and their very long history (which is why it has been taking a while).
@@ExpoAviation ahh ok. Can't wait. When can we expect to see it?
I'd say later this year, I've got to cover about 7 airlines to tell the whole story rather than jump to the end :)
Small carriers from third world countries are especially hazardous like the egyptian carrier Flash. In desparation they might offer a slightly lower price. But is it worth it?
I wouldn’t call Cyprus “third world”, far from it
Is it worth it? For the most part, no.
I know what you are saying, especially so with the case of Flash (who will be covered soon). I think calling Cyprus 3rd world is a bit harsh though, I couldn't go into too much detail in the video as it was going on for far too long but the official accident report revealed several cases of the exact same thing happening (albeit where the crew eventually figured it out before succumbing to hypoxia) with airlines including Aer Lingus, Ryanair and several airlines in the USA which were not named.
One thing to remember is that when booking a package holiday, the tour operator will have arranged the flights so it's not always down to the folks who bought the tickets. That said, usually the flight info is available before completing the purchase. On paper though, Helios were fairly reputable, they had a good safety record and a young fleet...
cyprus is by no means 3rd world
what is 3rd world, i mean, if you think about, there are rich and poor parts of almost every country
What about the Helios Flight 522?
I don't understand, it's covered in the episode with the fallout of the crash being the reason for the airline changing name and branding to aJet.
Please do BEA (British European A\irways)
Thanks for the suggestion, I will be touching on them when I do BEA Airtours as part of the Thomas Cook series but might be able to cover BEA itself too :)
Head quarter larnaca not limssol
I absolutely hate how the only thing on TH-cam can be seen when you search helios airways is 1 crash.. i love this airline and fly it on vatsim but people cant shut up
Yes there are some airlines where most of the info on them is simply about a crash, particularly Helios but also Flash. This is one of the reasons why I try to tell the history and only touch on the crashes.
Punctuation and grammar is something you might wish to focus on before you bury your head in sim flight, m8.