A pair of top European air safety experts are back in Brussels to sift through Civil Aviation records and determine whether departmental deficiencies were partly to blame for the Helios disaster.
Jean Paul Henrotte from the Aviation Safety Unit of the European Commission’s Directorate-General of Transport and Francois Janvier, from the European Aviation Safety Agency’s (EASA) Quality and Standardisation Directorate wrapped up their two-day fact-finding mission for their appraisal of the Civil Aviation Department.
Henrotte and Janvier came at the invitation of the government keen to demonstrate its resolve to dispel the cloud of mystery surrounding the Aug. 14 crash of flight ZU 522 that killed 121 passengers and crew.
“The two experts travelled to the island at the request of the Cyprus government to see how EU and Cypriot authorities can better work together on air safety issues and to determine whether the EU can offer any expertise,” a spokesman from EASA’s Cologne headquarters told The Cyprus Weekly.
Although the organisations the experts represent have neither the mandate nor the authority to mete out blame for the crash, it’s understood their conclusions would be poured over by police investigators conducting a parallel criminal probe.
This is in line with President Tassos Papadopoulos’s repeated pledge to get to the bottom of the crash ]with the help of EU experts and bring those responsible to justice.
Duel purpose Despite early confusion over the purpose of their trip, Communications Minister Haris Thrassou said the experts’ visit was in no way a precursor to a crash probe either substituting or displacing the official, Greek-led investigation.
Thrassou said the evaluation would serve the dual purpose of offering crucial insight into what deficiencies could have contributed to the crash and of ensuring no other air catastrophe befalls the island again.
“First we have to discover if responsibility (for the crash) should also weigh on the Civil Aviation Department, but primarily to enable authorities to prevent any similar incidents in the future,” Thrassou told state radio.
Thrassou said the EU experts were briefed on CAD operations and were granted full and unfettered access to all documents and individuals they deemed necessary to get a complete picture of the department’s inner workings.
After talks with CAD top brass on Wednesday and a courtesy call to Papadopoulos at the Presidential Palace, Henrotte and Janvier yesterday met with officials from the air accidents and incidents investigation committee.
Committee Chief Costas Orphanos said the two collated information to determine “what has to happen” to keep the department’s operations meeting stringent EU standards.
“The aim is to forestall the situation from ever resulting in catastrophic events,” said Orphanos.
Orphanos said he exchanged views with the experts on what assistance his committee would lend to its Greek counterpart.
The experts will pour over the data in Brussels with the assistance of EU colleagues to draw up recommendations on what needs to be fixed, overhauled or upgraded in light of persistent reports that an understaffed CAD had previously proven incapable of carrying out mandatory air worthiness checks on Cypriot-registered aircraft.
Henrotte and Janvier were also told of new legislation making the investigation of all aircraft-related incidents obligatory.
Orphanos said the legislation would also carry a “no-blame policy” to protect whistle-blowers from potential persecution.
However, air transport licensing chief Charalambos Hadjigeorgiou said on state radio yesterday the EU experts would get nowhere because they would be fed information from CAD and ministry officials “hiding the truth”.
The EU experts declined to comment on their visit, but Thrassou said they would be welcomed back any time they required a more in-depth look into the island’s air safety bodies and their procedures.