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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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Ioannis Blesias: A passion for fighter jets<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Blesias came from Epitalio in the regional unit of Ilia in western Greece.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Blesias leaves behind his wife and their five-year-old son.<\/p>\n The news plunged Epitalio into mourning as residents remembered the 40-year-old pilot and the family he leaves behind.<\/p>\n Dimitris Petrou remembered in Pramanta<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n Grief also swept through the mountain community of Pramanta in the Tzoumerka region, where Petrou\u2019s mother came from.<\/p>\n The mayor of Northern Tzoumerka recalled how Petrou would call his elderly grandmother, Stathoula, whenever he planned to fly over Pramanta.<\/p>\n He would tell her what time to come outside so she could watch him fly overhead and wave to her from the sky.<\/p>\n Petrou\u2019s mother, a retired teacher, came from Pramanta, while his father, a retired police officer, came from Polystafilo in the Preveza region.<\/p>\n The president of Polystafilo told the Athens-Macedonian News Agency that the entire area had been plunged into mourning.<\/p>\n Petrou\u2019s parents lived in Katsikas, Ioannina. The 37-year-old pilot had been preparing to baptise his five-month-old daughter.<\/p>\n Three days of mourning for the Armed Forces<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis also referred to the tragedy during his opening speech at the Thessaloniki International Fair.<\/p>\n Mitsotakis said the state, in coordination with the Speaker of Parliament, would stand alongside the pilots\u2019 families, with particular attention to the two young children they leave behind.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n