Loooking back on Helios Airways flight 522

On the 14th of August 2005 Helios Airways Flight 522, a scheduled international passenger flight from Larnaca Airport (LCA/LCLK) to Prague Havel Airport (PRG/LKPR) with a stopover in Athens-Elefthérios Venizélos International Airport (ATH/LGAV), crashed after ATC lost contact with the pilots operating the flight. It aircraft crashed near Grammatiko, Greece, killing all 121 passengers and crew on board. It is the deadliest aviation accident in Greek history.

An investigation into the accident by Greece's Air Accident Investigation and Aviation Safety Board (AAIASB) concluded that the crew had failed to notice that the cabin pressurization system was set to "manual" during takeoff checks. A ground engineer had (allegedly) set it to "manual" to conduct testing before the flight, but had forgotten to restore it to "auto" afterward. This configuration was subsequently missed by the crew during their pre-flight checks. This caused the plane to gradually depressurize as it climbed, and resulted in everyone on board suffering from critical hypoxia, resulting in a "ghost flight". The negligent nature of the accident led to lawsuits being filed against Helios Airways and Boeing, with the former also being shut down by the Government of Cyprus the following year.

Because the plane's autopilot was programmed for FL340 the aircraft continued to climb until leveling out at that altitude some 19 minutes after takeoff. At 09:37 the 737 entered the Athens FIR but no contact was established with the flight. Over Rodos at about 09:52 the airplane entered the UL995 airway. At 10:21 the airplane passed the KEA VOR, which is located about 28 nm south of the Athens airport. The airplane then passed the Athens Airport and subsequently entered the KEA VOR holding pattern at 10:38.

All efforts by Greek air traffic controllers to contact the pilots were futile. Around 11:00 two Greek F-16 fighter planes were scrambled from the Néa Anghialos air base. The F-16 pilots reported that they were not able to see the captain, while the first officer seemed to be unconscious and slumped over the controls.

At 11:49, the F-16's reported a person not wearing an oxygen mask entering the cockpit and occupying the captain's seat. The F-16 pilot tried to attract his attention without success.

At 11:50, the left engine flamed out due to fuel depletion and the aircraft started descending. At 11:54, two Mayday messages were recorded on the CVR.

At 12:00, the right engine also flamed out at an altitude of approximately 7100 feet. The aircraft continued descending rapidly and impacted hilly terrain.

Aircraft Details
Airline: Helios Airways
Code: ZU/HCY
Aircraft: Boeing 737-31S
Registration: 5B-DBY
Serial Number: 29099
Engines: 2 x CFMI CFM56-3C1
First Flew: 29/12/1997
Age: 7.8 Years

Malaysia Airline pilots to undergo mandatory drug screening

All 1,280 Malaysia Airlines pilots are to undergo regular mandatory drug screening as the airline launches a response to news that a second officer had been arrested in Indonesia on alleged drug smuggling charges.

Parent company Malaysia Aviation Group (MAG) declared that as an “immediate step,” it had begun the first phase of mandatory drug screening for all pilots across its airlines, starting with Malaysia Airlines.

In a strongly worded statement, the company said that “in addition, the Group will implement mandatory drug screening for all active pilots, complementing its existing random testing program”.

“The program will then subsequently be expanded to active cabin crew,” it added.

MAG stated that it will “conduct stricter screening” set to go “beyond industry practice”.

“Operational safety and crew fitness for duty are non-negotiable at MAG,” Captain Nasaruddin A. Bakar, CEO of MAG, said. “We take any breach of our safety standards seriously and have acted swiftly to enhance mandatory drug screening across our active pilots.”

Indonesian authorities allege that a Malaysia Airlines second officer arrived at Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport (CGK) with approximately 25 kilograms of ecstasy pills and methamphetamine concealed in their luggage.

Malaysia’s Civil Aviation Authority (CAAM) has opened a regulatory investigation in which it will examine whether all aviation security requirements were fully complied with before the pilot departed Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KUL).

The airline made it very clear that the pilot was travelling in the cockpit jump seat as an observer and was not the pilot flying the aircraft.

The individual had been off duty for two days preceding the incident and the aircraft was “operated safely at all times by two qualified operating pilots”.

“While this isolated incident does not reflect the professionalism of the overwhelming majority of our employees, we will continue strengthening our safeguards to maintain the confidence of our passengers and stakeholders,” Captain Nasaruddin A. Bakar added.

The company stressed that its “swift response reflects the high level of concern with which MAG views the recent incident” and that it “maintains zero tolerance for any form of misconduct”.

Looking back on Japan Airlines Flight 123

JAPAN AIR B787-9 JA865J (MSN 38138) 

 

Japan Airlines Flight 123 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Tokyo's Haneda Airport (HND/RJTT) to Osaka International Airport (ITM/RJOO). On the 12th of August 1985, the Boeing 747SR operating this route suffered a sudden decompression twelve minutes into the flight and crashed, killing 520 out of the 524 passengers. Flight 123 pushed back from gate 18 at 6:04pm and took off from runway 15L at Haneda Airport at 6:12pm. 

About 12 minutes after takeoff, while climbing through 23,900 feet at a speed of 300 knots, an unusual vibration occurred, then the aircraft had a rapid decompression, bringing down the ceiling around the rear lavatories, damaging the unpressurized fuselage aft of the plane, unseating the vertical stabilizer, and severing all four hydraulic lines. When the decompression occurred, the crew got indications of problems with the R5 door. In fact, the rear pressure bulkhead had ruptured, causing serious damage to the rear of the plane. A portion of its vertical fin, measuring 5 metres together with the section of the tailcone containing the auxiliary power unit (APU) were ripped off the plane. Due to the damage, the hydraulic pressure dropped, and ailerons, elevators and yaw damper became inoperative. Controlling the plane was very difficult as the airplane experienced Dutch rolls and phugoid oscillations (unusual movement in which altitude and speed change significantly in a 20-100 second cycle without change of angle of attack). 

Japan's Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission officially concluded that the rapid decompression was caused by a faulty repair by Boeing technicians after a tailstrike incident during a landing at Osaka Airport seven years earlier in 1978. A doubler plate on the rear bulkhead of the plane had been improperly repaired, compromising the plane's airworthiness. Cabin pressurization continued to expand and contract the improperly repaired bulkhead until the day of the accident, when the faulty repair finally failed, causing the rapid decompression that ripped off a large portion of the tail and caused the loss of hydraulic controls to the entire plane. 

The aircraft, configured with increased economy class seating, was carrying 524 people. Casualties of the crash included all 15 crew members and 505 of the 509 passengers. Some passengers survived the initial crash but subsequently died of their injury's hours later, mostly due to the Japan Self-Defense Forces' decision to wait until the next day to go to the crash site, after declining an offer from a nearby United States Air Force base to start an immediate rescue operation. It is the deadliest single-aircraft accident in aviation history. The aircraft was a Boeing 747-100 (Short Range) The Boeing 747 Series 100 was aircraft specifically configured for domestic flights with a high-density seating arrangement.

Aircraft Details
Airline: Japan Air
Code: JL/JAL
Aircraft: Boeing 747SP46
Registration: JA8119
Serial Number: 20783
Engines: 4 Pratt & Whitney JT9D-7A
First Flew: 28/01/1974
Age: 11Yrs 7 Mts

Spotting from Amberley Air Force base

With the military exercise Pitch Black wrapping up in Darwin on Friday, I decided to try my luck at Amberley yesterday. I left home early for the 40-minute drive and, within minutes of arriving, caught the first aircraft, a USAF Boeing KC-135R Stratotanker. Over the next two hours, more aircraft departed Amberley. Unfortunately, the weather turned, with heavy rain and very strong cold winds setting in, so I called it a day.

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE BOEING KC 135R STRATOTANKER
58-0104 (MSN 17849)

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE AIRBUS A330-200 MRTT 
A39-006 (MSN 892) 
EX QANTAS AIRCRAFT VH-EBH 

UNITED STATES AIR FORCE BOEING KC 135T STRATOTANKER
60-0342 (MSN 18117)

UNITED KINGDOM ROYAL AIR FORCE AIRBUS KC3 VOYAGER
ZZ332 (MSN 1275)

SPAIN AIR FORCE AIRBUS A330-202 MRTT
TK.24-03 (MSN 1700)

ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE BOEING C-17A GLOBEMASTER III
A41-209 (MSN 50185)

SPAIN AIR FORCE AIRBUS A330-202 MRTT
TK.24-02 (MSN 1710)

For those who don't know, Exercise Pitch Black is one of the most impressive military aviation exercises held in Australia, and Darwin is really the heart of it. The 2026 exercise has just finished, running from the 20th of July to the 7th of August 2026.

Pitch Black is the Royal Australian Air Force's major biennial multinational air-combat exercise. It started in 1981 as a relatively small air-defence exercise but has grown enormously.

The name "Pitch Black" is believed to come from the exercise's original emphasis on night-time flying over the vast, sparsely populated areas of northern Australia.

The scale today is remarkable:

• Around 100 aircraft attended
• About 2,500 personnel
• 21 participating nations
• Flying primarily from RAAF Base Darwin and RAAF Base Tindal
• RAAF Base Amberley in Queensland also provides important tanker and logistical support.

The 2026 participants included aircraft and personnel from countries including:

• 🇦🇺 Australia
• 🇺🇸 United States
• 🇯🇵 Japan
• 🇮🇩 Indonesia
• 🇵🇭 Philippines
• 🇰🇷 South Korea
• 🇮🇳 India
• 🇸🇬 Singapore
• 🇹🇭 Thailand
• 🇩🇪 Germany
• 🇫🇷 France
• 🇪🇸 Spain
• 🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea

There were also personnel from the UK, New Zealand, Canada, Malaysia, Brunei, Fiji, Finland and Sweden.

The 2026 deployment included aircraft such as:

• 🇦🇺 F/A-18F Super Hornet
• 🇦🇺 F-35A Lightning II
• 🇦🇺 EA-18G Growler
• 🇦🇺 KC-30A MRTT
• 🇺🇸 US military aircraft
• 🇯🇵 F-35A Lightning II — making its Pitch-Black debut
• 🇰🇷 F-16 Fighting Falcons
• 🇹🇭 Thai F-16s
• 🇵🇭 Philippine FA-50PH Golden Eagles
• 🇮🇩 Indonesian T-50I Golden Eagles
• 🇩🇪 Eurofighter Typhoons
• 🇩🇪 A400M Atlas

Horizon Air Dash 8 stolen from Seattle and then crashed

ALASKA (HORIZON) De HAVILLAND DASH 8 Q400 N427QX (MSN 4156)

On the 10th of August 2018, a Horizon Air Bombardier Q400 was stolen from Seattle–Tacoma International Airport (Sea–Tac) in Seattle, Washington. The perpetrator, 29-year-old Richard Russell, was a Horizon Air ground service agent with no piloting experience. After Russell performed an unauthorized takeoff, two McDonnell Douglas F-15 Eagle fighters were scrambled to intercept the aircraft. Sea–Tac air traffic control made radio contact with Russell, the sole occupant, who described himself as a "broken guy, got a few screws loose, I guess." About 1 hour and 15 minutes after takeoff, Russell died by intentionally crashing the aircraft on lightly populated Ketron Island in Puget Sound.

The 28-year-old airline ground-service agent at Seattle/Tacoma International Airport arrived at the airport for his work shift at 14:36 hours local time. At 19:15 hours he arrived in a tow vehicle at the Cargo 1 ramp, at the far north end of the airport close to the thresholds of runway 16L, C and R. He climbed aboard and started the engines before briefly exiting the aircraft in order to turn aircraft 180 degrees with the nose towards the airfield. At 19:32 the aircraft taxied away from the apron. A tower controller attempted to contact the aircraft, but it took off from runway 16C at 19:33 hours.
The aircraft then began maneuvering over Puget Sound and was seen to perform a split S, pulling up just above the water. During these maneuvers the person in control of the aircraft was in radio contact with air traffic control.

McDonnell Douglas F-15C Eagle fighter aircraft of the Oregon Air National Guard were dispatched and followed the aircraft.

At 20:46 hours the aircraft entered a significant sideslip with the control column in a position forward of neutral. The controls were pushed further forward and six seconds later, the aircraft impacted wooded terrain on Ketron Island, 40 km to the southwest of the Seattle/Tacoma Airport. Both wings broke off in the accident sequence and the fuselage came to rest inverted. The sole person on board the aircraft was killed.

Aircraft Information:

Airline: Alaska Airlines 

Code: AS/ASA

Operator: Horizon Air QX/QXE

Aircraft: de Havilland Canada DHC-8-402Q Dash 8

Registration: N449QX

Serial Number: 4410

Engines: 2 Pratt & Whitney Canada PW150A

Another close call at Sydney airport, this time cabin crew gets injured

Another near-miss at Australia's busiest airport is being investigated as the transport hub struggles with staff shortages.

A Jetstar flight, JQ402, preparing to depart Sydney Airport (SYD/YSSY) for the Gold Coast (OOL/YBCG) almost collided with a Qatar Airways plane at 7.23 am on Sunday. The Jetstar Airbus 320 with registration VH-VQJ (MSN 2703) pilot was forced to brake suddenly to avoid a collision with the Qatari plane on the tarmac. The Qatar Airways Boeing 777 with registration A7-BEU (MSN 65302) which was not carrying any passengers, was being towed by an aircraft tug and received minor damage.

A passenger was on another flight when she took a photo of the planes almost colliding. "I'm currently sitting on the tarmac at Sydney Airport 25 minutes after we were meant to leave, because two planes nearly collided on the tarmac," she said in a post on X.

A Jetstar spokesperson said their aircraft was following instructions from air traffic controllers when the pilots were forced to brake firmly as another aircraft came into "close proximity".

"We have commenced an investigation into the incident," the spokesperson said. An injured Jetstar crew member received medical attention at the scene. No passengers were injured. The Jetstar flight was cancelled, and passengers were re-booked on other services to the Gold Coast later on Sunday.

Air traffic control was reportedly operating under restricted hours between 6am and 8am on Sunday, reducing the number of flights arriving and departing due to staffing shortages. Sunday's incident followed delays to more than 150 flights passing through Sydney on Saturday as airport operations struggled due to a lack of personnel.

This is the second time there has been a near miss at Sydney airport in a few weeks. The other occurrence happened on the 27th of July 2026, when a Qantas Boeing 737 with registration VH-XZG (MSN 39371) was cleared to cross an active runway while a QantasLink Dash 8 Q400 with registration VH-QOC (MSN 4117) was completing its landing roll on the same runway. Although air traffic controllers identified the conflict before the aircraft entered the runway, the incident has renewed attention on operational safety and staffing challenges affecting Australia’s busiest airport.

The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) has classified the event as a breakdown in coordination and is examining how the conflicting clearances occurred.

Plane spotting from the new Fellowship Place

Malaysia Airlines has unveiled a stunning new livery inspired by the Mumbai Indians, and it arrived in Brisbane on Friday, but I missed it. Early yesterday morning, I found out it was making a return to Brisbane, so I jumped out of bed and rushed to the airport, determined not to miss this breathtaking livery again.

QANTASLINK EMBRAER E190AR VH-XVM (MSN 19000112)

CHINA SOUTERN AIRBUS A330-323 B-5965 (MSN 1593)
CZ381 ARRIVING FROM GOUNGZHOU (CAN) 11 YEARS

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA BOEING 737-8FE VH-VUQ (MSN 36606)
VA314 OFF TO MELBOURNE (MEL) 18 YEARS

QANTAS BOEING 737-838 VH-VXN (MSN 33484)
QF507 OFF TO SYDNEY (SYD) 24 YEARS

JETSTAR AIRBUS A320-232 VH-VQK (MSN 2651)
JQ929 ARRIVING FROM CAIRNS (CNS) 20 YEARS

JETSTAR AIRBUS A321-251NX VH-OYF (MSN 11529)
JQ57 OFF TO DENPASAR (DPS) 2 YEARS

AIR NIUGINI BOEING 767-341 P2-PXV (MSN 30341)
PX6 OFF TO PORT MORESBY (POM) 26 YEARS

QANTAS AIRBUS A330-202 VH-EBV (MSN 1365)
QF119 OFF TO AUCKLAND (AKL) 13 YEARS

ALLIANCE FOKKER 70 VH-NUO (MSN 11529)
VA1709 OFF TO GLADSTONE (GLT) 31 YEARS
FLYING FOR VIRGIN AUSTRALIA

GATEWAY TOLL BRIDGE

MALAYSIA AIRLINES AIRBUS A330-323 9M-MTM (MSN 1431)
MH134 OFF TO KUALA LUMPUR (KUL) 13 YEARS

QANTASLINK DASH 8 Q400 VH-QON (MSN 4218)
QLK362D OFF TO ROCKHAMPTON (ROK) 18 YEARS

KOREAN AIR BOEING 787-9 HL7209 (MSN 34818)
KE408 OFF TO SEOUL (ICN) 7 YEARS

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA BOEING 737-7K2 VH-NHW (MSN 39527)
VA1210 OFF TO CANBERRA (CBR) 14 YEARS

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA BOEING 737-MAX 8 VH-8VI (MSN 67039)
VA318 OFF TO MELBOURNE (MEL) 4 MONTHS

JETSTAR AIRBUS A321-231 VH-VWN (MSN 7438)
JQ813 OFF TO SYDNEY (SYD) 9 YEARS

QANTASLINK AIRBUS A220-300 VH-X4A (MSN 55253)
QLK1548 OFF TO HOBART (HBA) 2 YEARS

VIRGIN AUSTRALIA BOEING 737-8FE VH-YFY (MSN 41016)
VA1235 OFF TO ROCKHAMPTON (ROK) 9 YEARS

QANTASLINK AIRBUS A220-300 VH-X4C (MSN 55288)
QLK1253 OFF TO MELBOURNE (MEL) 2 YEARS

QUEENSLAND POLICE SERVICE BEECH KING AIR 360 VH-8TT (MSN FL-1293)

SINGAPORE AIRLINES AIRBUS A350-941 9V-SHA (MSN 254)
SQ256 OFF TO SINGAPORE (SIN) 7 YEARS

JETSTAR BOEING 787-8 VH-VKD (MSN 36229)
JQ9 OFF TO TOKYO (NRT) 12 YEARS

QANTAS AIRBUS A321-271NY VH-OGD (MSN 12668)
QF515 OFF TO SYDNEY (SYD) 6 MONTHS

CHINA EASTERN AIRBUS A330-243 B-6545 (MSN 1291)
MU715 ARRIVING FROM SHANGHAI (PVG) 14 YEARS

AIR NEW ZEALAND AIRBUS A321-271NX ZK-NNC (MSN 8573)
NZ142 OFF TO AUCKLAND (AKL) 7 YEARS

CHINA AIRLINES AIRBUS A350-941 B-18915 (MSN 179)
CI53 ARRIVING FROM TAIPEI (TPE) 8 YEARS

CATHAY PACIFIC AIRBUS 350-941 B-LRS (MSN 128)
CX165 ARRIVING FROM HONK KONG (HKG) 9 YEARS

EMIRATES AIRBUS A380-861 A6-EOL (MSN 186) 11 YEARS

CATHAY CARGO BOEING 747-867 B-LJB (MSN 392390

The Cathay Cargo queen arrived on Tuesday for its weekly stop, but a fuel leak kept it grounded. This marks the second week in a row a Cathay Cargo 747 has gone unserviceable in Brisbane. Word is, it’s expected to depart today.