http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/12/19/cyprus.crash.reut/index.html Experts: Steward flew doomed plane ATHENS, Greece (Reuters) -- A flight attendant was in control of the Cypriot Helios Airways plane before it crashed on a Greek hillside on August 14, killing all 121 people on board in Europe's worst air disaster this year, experts said on Monday. Aviation experts said after re-enacting the doomed Boeing 737-300 flight from Larnaca in Cyprus to Prague, that the steward -- who had some flight training and used an emergency oxygen kit -- actually flew the plane for 10-12 minutes. "We have indications that (he) controlled the plane. He took a portable oxygen device and opened the cockpit door using a code," Seraphim Kamoutsis, head of the Greek investigations team, told a news conference after the simulation. Investigators are trying to work out what happened on the plane to render its two pilots unconscious, leaving the aircraft in the hands of the flight attendant before it crashed from lack of fuel. Until the simulation, it was not clear whether he managed to fly the plane or just grappled with controls. Re-enactments of flights are unusual, and Monday's flight in the depths of winter failed to match the clear, almost perfect flying conditions of the Sunday morning in August. Helios, a subsidiary of Britain's Libra Holiday Group, has defended its maintenance record, but disclosed the aircraft had previously had decompression problems. Decompression reduces oxygen supply and can lead to rapid loss of consciousness for those on board. The experts said they partially compressed the plane in an effort to mimic the conditions of the flight, but declined to give further details. The findings of the investigation are expected in February. "We got what we wanted from the flight," chief investigator Akrivos Tsolakis told the news conference. He did not elaborate. The Helios jet crashed into the Greek mountains after flying on autopilot for more than 2-1/2 hours. It is thought that the passengers, the majority of them Cypriots, were unconscious. Two Greek fighter jets scrambled to intercept what was then regarded as a "renegade aircraft" and saw the co-pilot slumped in the cockpit and a steward wrestling with the controls. The pilot was not seen. Relatives of the dead said they were still struggling to come to terms with their loss, a heavy blow to a small Mediterranean island with fewer than one million people. "Some say time heals all wounds. In our case the anxiety and waiting to find out what happened just opens wounds further," said relatives' representative Nicholas Yiasoumis. Relatives were not present at the re-enactment. Copyright 2005 Reuters. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Find this article at: http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/europe/12/19/cyprus.crash.reut/index.html __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com