Hellenic Air Force F-4 Phantom crashes during airshow in Athens - Two crewmembers killed

The Wing Commander, originally from Pyrgos and father of one child, was the son of an airman. The Squadron Leader was originally from Patras. Three days of mourning have been declared across the Armed Forces.

EKAV emergency crews rushed to the crash site, while Defence Minister Nikos Dendias hurried back to Athens from the Thessaloniki International Fair. President of the Hellenic Republic Konstantinos Tasoulas is also returning to Athens, postponing his attendance at an event in Methoni, in the southern Peloponnese.

The pilots belonged to the 117th Combat Wing, based at Andravida in western Greece. The two Hellenic Air Force officers did not have time to activate their ejection seats.

It all happened at around 3pm, during the Athens Flying Week airshow in Tanagra, when the two-seat Phantom (F-4) aircraft crashed.

The authorities have no evidence that the aircraft’s ejection mechanism was activated. So far, there is no information from the team that has rushed to investigate. Two ambulances and two vehicles from EKAV, Greece’s National Emergency Aid Centre, responded immediately to the crash site, where a fire broke out straight away.

Footage from the airshow captured the moment the Phantom went down. One witness described seeing the F-4 Phantom II crash during the Athens Flying Week display, noting that no parachutes were visible and that the aircraft hit the ground while coming out of a turn.

The aircraft crashed shortly after beginning its display, with hundreds of people watching from close by.

According to witnesses, the jet appeared to be emitting smoke before it went down, and the same accounts say it suddenly began losing altitude before crashing.

According to the same sources, the aircraft broke in two and fires broke out at two separate locations.

Those present at the scene were left in shock, while event organisers immediately began evacuating the area.

Two people injured by debris from fatal Phantom crash
Wreckage from the F-4 Phantom, the Hellenic Air Force jet that crashed in Tanagra, central Greece, on the sidelines of the Athens Flying Week air show, was found scattered far from the crash site, in an accident that killed both officers on board.

Pieces of the aircraft have turned up at several points around the area, including near the buildings and warehouses of a factory close to where the jet came down.

At the same time, two people were injured by fragments from the aircraft and taken to Chalkida Hospital for initial treatment, according to reports.

All evidence being gathered for the investigation
Military personnel at the scene are now focused on collecting the wreckage, so that all the material needed for the technical inquiry can be gathered.

The aim is to move all the evidence to a secure location, so that experts can later carry out a detailed analysis and establish the exact causes of the tragedy.

The history of the Phantom in the Hellenic Air Force
The F-4 Phantom II is one of the most iconic fighter aircraft in aviation history. It is a two-seat, twin-engine, multi-role American-built fighter, designed to carry out air superiority, interception, bombing and reconnaissance missions.

The first F-4s rolled off the production line in the early 1960s, while the Hellenic Air Force took delivery of its first Phantoms in 1974, under the Peace Icarus defence programme.

Although it belongs to the second generation of supersonic fighters, the F-4 gained a new lease of operational life through extensive modernisation. A total of 36 Greek Phantoms were upgraded with modern electronic systems under the Peace Icarus 2000 (PI2000) programme, extending their operational service and enabling the use of modern weapons.

Today, F-4E Phantoms operate from the 117th Combat Wing at Andravida Air Base, where they form the main equipment of the 338th Squadron, known as “Aris” (Ares).