Commission of Inquiry for air crash

Former Head of Cyprus Department of Civil Aviation DCA) Flight Operation Division Stelios Andronikou claimed today that those responsible for the administration of the Department did not give all the support they should to employees, to complete their training within a short period of time.

Testifying today before the Commission of Inquiry into the causes of the air crash in August 2005 near Athens, killing all 121 passengers and crew on board, Andronikou said that from the day that he assumed his duties at the DCA he had repeatedly suggested that trainings should take place both for him and other members of the staff, something which happened ‘much later and after many efforts on our part.’

Andronikou said he resigned from the DCA in August 2005 for reasons explained to the Head of the department long before the air crash.

He said the level of training of the Cypriot inspectors was about 70%.

Andronikou added that the DCA had an agreement with United Kingdom and adopted the advices of the relevant British Authority adding that ‘in the majority of cases, when some serious decisions had to be taken, we were absent’.

According to Andronikou, in cases of serious findings, DCA Director talked with the British Adviser about what the Department would do.