Three communities across Greece dressed in black on Saturday as families, friends and residents mourned the deaths of two Greek Air Force pilots killed when their F-4E Phantom II crashed during the Athens Flying Week airshow.
Forty-year-old Flight Lieutenant Ioannis Blesias and 37-year-old Squadron Leader Dimitris Petrou died when their fighter jet crashed near Tanagra during an airshow flight.
According to the Hellenic Air Force, the F-4E Phantom II from the 338 Squadron of the 117 Combat Wing crashed at 2:55 p.m. on Saturday, September 5, about three nautical miles southeast of the 114 Combat Wing.
The aircraft had spent around two minutes in the air before it crashed during a right-hand turn. Authorities have not yet determined what caused the accident. A Hellenic Air Force investigation committee is examining the circumstances.
Ioannis Blesias: A passion for fighter jets
Blesias came from Epitalio in the regional unit of Ilia in western Greece.
He inherited his passion for fighter aircraft from his father, Alkis, a retired technician who had served with the 117 Combat Wing. His mother worked as an English teacher.
Blesias leaves behind his wife and their five-year-old son.
The news plunged Epitalio into mourning as residents remembered the 40-year-old pilot and the family he leaves behind.
Dimitris Petrou remembered in Pramanta
Grief also swept through the mountain community of Pramanta in the Tzoumerka region, where Petrou’s mother came from.
The mayor of Northern Tzoumerka recalled how Petrou would call his elderly grandmother, Stathoula, whenever he planned to fly over Pramanta.
He would tell her what time to come outside so she could watch him fly overhead and wave to her from the sky.
Petrou’s mother, a retired teacher, came from Pramanta, while his father, a retired police officer, came from Polystafilo in the Preveza region.
The president of Polystafilo told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency that the entire area had been plunged into mourning.
Petrou’s parents lived in Katsikas, Ioannina. The 37-year-old pilot had been preparing to baptise his five-month-old daughter.
Three days of mourning for the Armed Forces
Defence Minister Nikos Dendias declared three days of mourning across the Greek Armed Forces following the deaths of the two pilots. The mourning period will continue through Monday, September 7.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also referred to the tragedy during his opening speech at the Thessaloniki International Fair.
Mitsotakis said the state, in coordination with the Speaker of Parliament, would stand alongside the pilots’ families, with particular attention to the two young children they leave behind.
The deaths of Blesias and Petrou have brought grief to their home communities and across the Greek Armed Forces, as authorities continue investigating the circumstances surrounding the fatal Phantom crash.
