Featured Image Credit: Milos Bicanski/Stringer / Jasmin Merdan / Getty
In the summer of 2005, Greece experienced one of its worst aviation tragedies.
Helios Airways Flight 522 crashed into a hillside in Greece, killing all 115 passengers and six crew members on board.
The plane had been flying aimlessly in circles for hours on autopilot before the disaster struck.
Flight 522 had taken off from Larnaca, Cyprus, at 9am on 14 August, headed for Prague with a stopover in Athens.
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However, something went terribly wrong shortly after takeoff, and the aircraft found itself stuck in a holding pattern at 35,000 feet.
Fighter jets were sent to locate Flight 522 and soon saw that the first officer was slumped at the controls and the captain's seat was empty.
Inside the cabin, oxygen masks dangled from the ceiling in front of unconscious passengers.
But there was one person still awake. And that was flight attendant Andreas Prodromou.
Although Prodromou held a UK Commercial Pilot Licence, he wasn't qualified to fly the Boeing 737.
Still, he did everything he could to save the plane.
According to a July 2006 television documentary, blood samples found in the radar controls matched Prodromou’s DNA and also those of his girlfriend and fellow flight attendant Haris Charalambous.
This led investigators to conclude that the two flight attendants were trying to save the plane.
Though Prodromou’s efforts weren't enough to fully control the aircraft, he did manage to steer it away from Athens and avoid any ground casualties.
It was later determined that the crash was caused by a loss of cabin pressure, leading to hypoxia that knocked everyone on board unconscious.
The switch had been left in manual mode instead of automatic, which caused the aircraft to lose pressure during flight.
In his final moments, Prodromou pointed down to the fighter pilots who were helplessly watching the scene unfold before the 'ghost plane' crashed into a hillside near Grammatiko, Greece.
One of the fighter pilots' haunting words from the crash recently resurfaced online as he witnessed the whole event.
People have since praised and showed respect to the flight attendant for his heroic efforts on internet forum Reddit.
"He saved many lives that day. If it wasn't for his actions, so many homes in Athens could have been burned or destroyed," one user replied.
"He managed to reroute the plane from crashing into a populated area. He died a hero," another Reddit user added.
