"ZEUS" HAF Aerial Display Team to round off Thessaloniki celebrations

The team fills us with national pride and makes us proud at every national holiday. The members of the F-16 ZEUS Flight Team, are in Thessaloniki on 28 October, to take part in the celebrations that take place after the end of the military parade on Thessaloniki's coastal avenue.

The F-16 pilots not only impress with their maneuvers with the fighter aircraft, but also touch Hellenic souls with the messages they send from the cockpit. Who does not remember Squadron Leader Sotiris Stralis who called all the Greeks in a shuddering voice to hold up "their heads"?

The members of the ZEUS team will be again in Thessaloniki, on Sunday, for another show that will impress young and old, alike.

The ZEUS team

The F-16 demonstration team "ZEUS" displays HAF's airpower to the public and acts as ambassador for Greece, demonstrating the professionalism and the skills of all pilots in the Hellenic Air Force.

The team's goals are to boost morale within the Air Force, sister services and the Greek community, to inspire and recruit Greece's best to join the service, They strengthen public trust and confidence in the Hellenic Air Force and reinforce the quality of forces that Greece fields.

The team's callsign during the Demo Flights is "Zeus", representing the father of the Olympian Gods of Ancient Greek Mythology. The aircraft used for the performance of air shows is an F-16C Block 52+ .

Major Georgios Papadakis is the pilot of the F-16 "ZEUS" airplane during the Thessaloniki celebrations, this year.

He entered the Hellenic Air Force Academy, in 1999. In 2005, he was posted to 116 Fighter Wing and in 2006 he was posted with 335 Fighter/Bomber Squadron flying A-7E Corsair II aircraft. In 2007, he was transferred to 115 Fighter Wing flying F-16 Block52 + aircraft. Since 2008 he has served with 340 Squadron. He has logged more than 1700 flight hours, of which 1200 are on F-16 aircraft.