At 11:30 a.m. on August 14, 2005, two Greek military fighter pilots soared high above Athens, Greece. Their mission was to investigate a distressing situation involving Helios Airways Flight 522, a Boeing 737 commercial airplane. This flight, which had departed from Cyprus at 9:00 a.m. with 121 people on board, was supposed to have landed in Athens 45 minutes earlier. Instead, it was eerily circling above the city, unresponsive to air traffic control.
Shortly after takeoff, Flight 522’s pilots stopped responding to air traffic controllers. Concern mounted that the plane might have been hijacked and could crash into a populated area. To prevent a potential catastrophe, Greek authorities scrambled two fighter jets to intercept the plane and assess the situation.
When the fighter pilots reached the aircraft, they observed no visible signs of external damage, fire, or smoke. To investigate further, they maneuvered alongside the Boeing 737 and peered into the windows. What they saw was both baffling and tragic: all the oxygen masks inside the cabin had dropped, and the passengers appeared unconscious, slumped over in their seats.
The fighter pilots then turned their attention to the cockpit, hoping to spot the crew. Instead, they found no pilots at the controls. The oxygen masks in the cockpit had also been deployed, but the seats were empty. To their surprise, a lone individual—clearly not a pilot—was in the cockpit. Wearing casual clothing and not a uniform, this man looked out at the fighter jets and waved.
Before the fighter pilots could react, the man began gesturing downward with his finger. Moments later, the plane started its descent.
To understand what led to this moment, it is necessary to rewind to just before 9:00 a.m. on the same day. Before takeoff, the crew conducted routine safety checks on Flight 522 but failed to notice a critical error: a pressurization control knob had been set to the wrong position by maintenance personnel. This oversight would prove fatal.
The misconfigured knob caused a lack of breathable air inside the aircraft. Shortly after takeoff, alarms sounded, and oxygen masks dropped. The cabin quickly lost pressure, and the pilots, along with the passengers, lost consciousness.
Among the passengers, one person remained conscious: 25-year-old flight attendant Andreas Prodromou. Trained in aviation and working toward becoming a pilot, Andreas recognized the severity of the situation. Instead of using the oxygen masks, which had a limited supply, he connected himself to an emergency oxygen tank.
Realizing that the pilots were incapacitated and the aircraft was flying in circles on autopilot, Andreas made the courageous decision to enter the cockpit. After moving the unconscious pilots aside, he attempted to take control of the plane.
As the plane ran out of fuel, it left its holding pattern and began an automatic descent. Despite Andreas’ efforts, he lacked the training to land a Boeing 737. Understanding the gravity of the situation, Andreas chose to act selflessly. He banked the aircraft away from Athens, steering it toward an unpopulated hillside to avoid mass casualties on the ground.
At 12:03 p.m., Flight 522 crashed into the hills near Grammatiko, Greece. All 121 people on board, including Andreas, perished. However, thanks to Andreas’ heroic decision, no one on the ground was harmed.