Helios XVI

The aircraft involved, manufactured in 1998, was a Boeing 737-300 registered as 5B-DBY. The aircraft was powered by two CFM International CFM56-3C1 engines. It was scheduled to leave Larnaca at 09:00 and fly to Prague Ruzyně International Airport, with a stop off at Athens International Airport, where it was due to arrive at 10:45. hired by Helios for holiday flights, who had been flying for 35 years (previously for East German airline Interflug from 1970 to 1991) and had accrued a total of 16,900 flight hours, including 5,500 hours on the Boeing 737. The first officer was Pampos Charalambous (Greek: Πάμπος Χαραλάμπους), a 51-year-old Cypriot pilot who had flown exclusively for Helios for…

The aircraft's flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) were sent to the Bureau of Enquiry and Analysis for Civil Aviation Safety in Paris. The CVR recording enabled investigators to identify Prodromou as the flight attendant who entered the cockpit to try to save the plane. While Prodromou was a trained pilot, he was never trained on a Boeing 737. Prodromou's mayday hails were only weakly heard, as the 737's radio was still tuned to Larnaca ATC and he was unable to find the correct frequency for Athens ATC. As a result, none of his hails were received. Prodromou's voice was recognized by colleagues who listened to the CVR recording. Many of the bodies recovered were burned…

The Discovery Channel Canada/National Geographic Channel TV series Mayday featured the accident in a season-four episode titled "Ghost Plane". The CBS series Ghost Whisperer featured a two-part special called "Free Fall" and "The One", where a passenger plane is flying around in the air due to everyone on board having died from a lack of oxygen. These episodes were broadcast on 27 April and 5 May in 2006, eight months after the accident. The 2020 novel Lost Love Song by Minnie Darke adapted the accident as a plot device. In the novel, a fictional Australian airliner crashes in the ocean, but almost all other circumstances are the same.