NationStates Jolt Archive

I don't understand this.. people may have already been dead before the plane crashed... the oxygen failure must of been horrific... I've heard also bad things about 737s... and how they have one of the worst safety records as a whole..

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050814/ts_nm/crash_greece_dc_17;_ylt=AgtB3T8XW3dG5lrLG7lqEBlRv20B;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

ATHENS (Reuters) - A Cypriot [737] airliner that crashed in Greece may already have been a flying tomb when it plunged to earth with some of the 121 people aboard already either dead or unconscious, early indications suggest.

Sunday's crash, the worst air disaster in Greece and the worst involving a Cypriot airline, perplexed aviation experts astounded by what appeared to have been a catastrophic failure of cabin pressure and or oxygen supply at 35,000 feet -- nearly 10 kilometers (six miles) up, higher than Mount Everest.

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I'm surprised by the lack of coverage on this forum...

Well, the flying tomb bit is just a tad creepy and disconcerting...

I heard about this when I signed into MSN Messenger this morning, but forgot to check out the link.

My guess would be either decompression or a slow atmosphere leak at altitude. Don't forget that at higher altitudes above 10000 feet the air is much thinner..we may be looking at a catastrophic failure of the internal air system.

The fact both pilots had passed out means that they were not aware of the leak...this has a parallel in a previous Soyuz mission where the capsule made a perfect splashdown, they opened the capsule to find all three astronauts dead.

It can happen.

Yes, and I heard of the numerous problems in 737s in the past... and it was quite frightening that they called it a flying coffin. Some people were conscious and were trying to retake control of the plane.. one guy even sent a text message on his cell phone to his cousin... telling everything was really cold on the plane. So yes, decompression is what happened.

...god reading that text message is just devastating.

Definitley gave me chills

"Two charred bodies were still hugging each other," he said.

Oh .... my .....

Not a nice way to die, suffocate then get incinerated in plane crash.