Cyprus airline admits crash plane had problems in past

The Cypriot airline whose plane crashed in Greece at the weekend killing all 121 people on board admitted Tuesday the aircraft involved had prior cabin pressure problems but insisted it met safety standards.
"In Helioss six-year history, we have only experienced one incident of decompression on our aircraft," Helios Airways said in an Internet statement.
"We can confirm that the aircraft that experienced the decompression problem was the aircraft that was involved in this accident," it said.
Helios, the island's sole private carrier, said the aircraft was flying from Warsaw to Larnaca and landed in accordance with normal procedures, "under the circumstances".
It said the aircraft had been cleared by Cyprus's air accident investigators and Britain's Civil Aviation Authority. "The maintenance of the aircraft was not questioned at any time by the authorities," the statement said.
The airline has come under intense pressure over its handling of the disaster, with angry relatives of the mostly Greek Cypriot victims appearing in the local media to demand an explanation for the crash and slow response.
Helios managing director Demetris Pantazis, who said the Warsaw flight incident happened in December 2004, called for people to stop spreading rumours and "let the experts find out exactly what happened". "The pilot would not have risked his life if the plane was not safe. We have nothing to hide, safety has always been our priority concern, it was never about saving money," Pantazis told CyBC state television.
Mystery surrounds the cause of Sunday's crash, the worst in Cyprus' history, amid reports of a sudden and catastrophic lack of oxygen in mid-flight that may have killed most of the passengers and crew before impact.
The pilots of two F-16 jets scrambled to intercept the incapacitated plane reported seeing its co-pilot slumped over, apparently unconscious, and the pilot not in his seat, while the cockpit's oxygen masks were "activated."
The Boeing 737 aircraft circled for about 90 minutes before making a turn towards Athens and, according to a senior Greek government source, crashing probably due to having run out of fuel.
Helios said the German pilot, Marten Hans Jergen, 50, from Berlin, had more than 17,000 hours of flying experience while his co-pilot Pambos Charalambous, 40, from Nicosia, had at least 7,000 hours of flying time. Jergen's body is still missing.