sushka 2005.08.17 0 0 17351 Flight attendant Andreas Prodromou appears to be the one who tried unsuccessfully to land the doomed Helios Airways plane at Athens' �Eleftherios Venizelos� International Airport. It appears according to relevant news reports on the Athens newspapers TO VIMA and Eleftheros Typos, that based on evidence gathered by the Greek authorities and information provided by the airline, Andreas Prodromou was one of the two male flight attendants on board who managed to remain conscious and tried to regain the control of the plane when he found out that the captain was not in the cockpit and the co-pilot was unconscious on his seat. The airline informed the Greek government that Andreas Prodromou had taken pilot courses for small airplanes in Britain and had a very good picture of the airplane's flying condition. According to press reports, the mistake made by the 25-yearold flight attendant was that he did not put on the headphones to receive instructions either by the F-16s or the control tower at �Eleftherios Venizelos�. However, he made a move that under certain conditions it could have proved to be lifesaving for the passengers. Namely, he deactivated the autopilot and tried to activate the procedure of automatic airport approach by gradually lowering the plane and cutting speed. The F-16 pilots reported that a second individual was also present in the cockpit possibly, air stewardess Luisa Vouteri. But it was already too late. The plane suddenly lost altitude when its fuel tanks were emptied after flying for 3 hours and a few seconds later it crashed at Grammatikos near Athens. According to Eleftheros Typos, Charis Charalambous, Andreas Prodromou's girlfriend, was also an air stewardess and a member of the doomed airplane's crew.