Okay, so what happened was the pilots didn't set the pressurization correctly so no air was being pumped into the plane (and there isn't enough at altitude for consiousness) so everyone pretty much passed out. The air force thought the plane was hijacked but they saw the purser with oxygen waving for help, but then his/her oxygen ran out and the plane kept going until it ran out of fuel and glided into the hill. Not a great way to go, but at least there was no pain or anything.
There were problems reported with the plane at London - Heathrow:
When the aircraft arrived from London Heathrow earlier that morning, the previous flight crew had reported a frozen door seal and abnormal noises coming from the right aft service door, and requested a full inspection of the door. The inspection was carried out by a ground engineer who then performed a pressurization leak check. In order to carry out this check, the pressurisation system was set to "manual", and was not set back to "auto" on completion of the test.
After the aircraft was returned into service, the flight crew overlooked the pressurisation system on three separate occasions: during the pre-flight procedure, the after-start check, and the after take-off check. During none of these checks did the flight crew notice the incorrect setting of the pressurisation system and did not set it back to "auto". The aircraft took-off at 9:07 with the pressurisation system still set to "manual", and the aft outflow valve partially open.
Two F-16 fighter aircraft from the Hellenic Air Force 111th Combat Wing were scrambled from Nea Anchialos Air Base to establish visual contact. They intercepted the passenger jet at 11:24 and observed that the first officer was slumped motionless at the controls and the captain's seat was vacant. They also reported that oxygen masks were seen dangling in the passenger cabin.
At 11:49, flight attendant Andreas Prodromou entered the cockpit and sat down in the vacant captain's seat. Prodromou held a UK Commercial Pilot License, but was not qualified to fly the Boeing 737. Crash investigators concluded that Prodromou's experience was insufficient for him to gain control of the aircraft under the circumstances.
In any case, he did not have time to save the stricken aircraft. Almost as soon as he entered the cockpit, the left engine flamed out due to fuel exhaustion, the plane left the holding pattern and started to descend. Ten minutes after the loss of power from the left engine, the right engine also flamed out, and just before 12:04 the aircraft crashed into hills near Grammatiko.
I would not want to go that way, in a fire, burned beyond recognition. If I have to go in a plane crash, let me be killed by the force of an explosive decompression where the upper vertebrae are separated from the base of the skull and life as you know it is over. Give me something fast and quick.
