Background
The aircraft involved in this incident was first flown on 29 December 1997 and had been operated by DBA until it was leased by Helios Airways on 16 April 2004 and nicknamed Olympia, with registration 5B-DBY. Aside from the downed aircraft, the Helios fleet consisted of two leased Boeing 737-800s and an Airbus A319-111 delivered on 14 May 2005. The aircraft had arrived in Larnaca from London Heathrow at 01:25 that morning.
The flight was scheduled to leave Larnaca, Cyprus, at 09:00 local time, to Prague via Athens. The scheduled arrival time in Athens was 10:45. Hans-Jürgen Merten, a 59-year-old German contract pilot hired by Helios for the holiday flights, was the captain. Pampos Charalambous, 51, a Cypriot who flew for Helios, served as the first officer. 32-year old Louisa Vouteri, a Greek national living in Cyprus, replaced a sick colleague as the chief purser.
Read more about this topic: Helios Airways Flight 522
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