5 ms·

That seems like a good solution. Why did the crew of the Helios flight not do that?

• zimpenfish 13y ago
  Someone mentions further down in the comments that they did - just after an "unexplainable" two hours. Presumably it was far too late for any remedial action by that time.
  • mikeash 13y ago
    Almost immediately after the fellow finally gained entrance to the cockpit, the plane ran out of fuel. So your "presumably" is completely correct.
    • zimpenfish 13y ago
      You'd feel a right bloody idiot at that point.
      • mikeash 13y ago
        I'd be too busy trying to fly the now-gliding plane to worry about anything like that. I'd certainly curse my stupid luck while riding the escalator up to heaven though.
• Udo 13y ago
  It's been assumed that one flight attendant on the Helios crew eventually managed to open the cockpit door and he did sit down at the controls (this is according to observations made by the fighter jet escort). It's likely that he was the only one still alive on the plane by that time - certainly he was the only one being conscious - and that was because he must have used a portable oxygen canister instead of the integrated ones in the cabin. However, he was unable to gain control of the aircraft at this point, probably because he was too severely handicapped by oxygen deprivation. His being alive was already vastly improbable and sadly it wasn't enough to save everyone. In a similar scenario, everybody onboard the Malaysia Air flight might have been dead or in a coma for the entire duration of the emergency, so it probably wouldn't have made any difference if the cockpit door could be opened from the cabin or not (which might turn out to be a misguided concern anyway since there's a cabin crew access code).