List of aviation accidents and incidents in Greece

This is a list of aviation accidents and incidents that have occurred in Greece. ^[1]

• October 26, 1947: Douglas DC-4 on way from Istanbul to Athens crashes in Hymettus. 44 people died.
• December 21, 1948: Douglas C-47 of the Czech Airlines crashes in Kalamata with a death toll of 24.
• June 6, 1949: Douglas C-47 of the now defunct National Greek Airlines crashes in Athens. 22 people die.
• October 29, 1959: DC3 of the Olympic Airways crashes near Tanagra. 18 people are killed.
• October 12, 1967: De Havilland DH.106 Comet of the British European Airways crashes off Rhodes, killing 66 people on board.
• December 8, 1969: Douglas DC-6 of the Olympic Airways from Chania to Athens crashes in Keratea. 90 people are killed.
• January 12, 1970: Douglas C-47 of the Hellenic Air Force crashes in Vilia, resulting in the death of 23 people.
• October 21, 1972: NAMC YS-11 of the Olympic Airways crashes in Athens. 37 people are killed.
• July 19, 1972: BAC One-Eleven (this version) 501EX (G-AWYS) of British Caledonian (this version), overrun the runway of Kerkyra (Corfu) Airport during take off and came to a stop in the nearby lagoon. There were no fatalities directly related to the incident, but one elder lady died subsequently from heart attack probably due to the emotional stress. ^[2]
• September 6, 1973: Two Mirage V's of the Belgian Air Force crash into the Lefka Ori mountains within one minute of each other, killing their pilots.
• September 8, 1974: TWA Flight 841 crashes into the Ionian Sea. All 79 passengers and 9 crew members were killed.
• February 9, 1975: Transall C-160 of Luftwaffe crashes in Chania, killing 40 people.
• November 23, 1976: NAMC YS-11 of Olympic Airways from Athens to Kozani crashes under fog into a mountain near Sarantaporo. Fatalities 50. ^[3]
• October 7, 1979: A Douglas DC-8 Swissair Flight 316 lands at Athens Ellinikon International Airport, overshooting the runway and killing fourteen passengers. The plane touches down at too great a speed and too far along the runway for the pilots to use sufficient braking and reverse thrust.
• April 2, 1986: TWA Flight 840 is bombed on the way to Athens, sucking out 4 on board. The plane landed safely.
• August 3, 1989: Short 330 of the Olympic Airways from Thessaloniki to Samos crashes in the Kerketeus range of mountains. All 34 people on board are killed.
• February 5, 1991: The worst accident in the history of the Hellenic Air Force. Lockheed C-130H Hercules 748 crashes into Mount Othrys. 63 were reported killed.
• March 24, 1992: A Boeing 707-321C operated by Golden Star Air Cargo crashed into Mount Hymettus on approach to Athens-Ellinikon International Airport. All 7 people on board are killed.
• June 18, 1992: A Greek Mirage F-1 engaged in a dogfight to intercept Turkish F-16's crashes into the sea near Agios Efstratios killing its pilot, Lieutenant Nikolaos Sialmas.
• August 31, 1995: Antonov AN-26 of Force Aérienne du Mali crashes 2 nautical miles (3.7 km) north of Makedonia International Airport in Thessaloniki. 6 people die.
• January 31, 1996: Bell 212 helicopter of the Greek Navy flying a reconnaissance mission during the Imia crisis crashes over the islets (some speculating due to Turkish fire). The 3 Greek officers aboard the helicopter, Lieutenant Christodoulos Karathanasis, Lieutenant Panagiotis Vlachakos and Master Chief Petty Officer Ektoras Gialopsos died.
• December 17, 1997: Yakovlev Yak-42 of the Aerosvit Airlines crashes into the Pierian mountains in Central Macedonia. The exact spot of the crash was discovered 3 days later, cause of the bad weather conditions and the mountainous landscape. 70 people are killed. ^[4]
• December 20, 1997: Lockheed Hercules C-130 of the Hellenic Air Force crashes into Pastra Mountain near Tanagra, cause of bad weather conditions, killing 5 people. The military aircraft was due to transfer soldiers from Tanagra to Pieria, in order to take part in the operations for the discovery of the Ukrainian plane which had crashed 3 days earlier.
• September 11, 2004: The helicopter carrying Patriarch Peter VII of Alexandria along with 16 others (including journalists and three other bishops of the Church of Alexandria) crashes into the Aegean Sea while en route to the monastic community of Mount Athos, arguably after an explosion. None survived. The cause of the crash remains unknown. ^[5]
• August 14, 2005: After fears that it could crash in Athens' center, Helios Airways Flight 522 crashes in Grammatiko, killing all 121 people on board. This is the deadliest aviation accident in the history of Greece. ^{[6] [7]}
• May 23, 2006: A Greek and a Turkish F-16 collide in mid air off the island of Karpathos and crash in the Aegean. The Greek pilot, Captain Kostas Iliakis, is killed.
• October 3, 2006: Turkish Airlines Flight 1476 is hijacked in Greek airspace.
• December 5, 2007: A Hellenic F16 Block 52 in a nightly exercise in the Sporades archipelago with three other F-16 jets when it was lost by radars around 19.41h local time. The pilot Flight Lieutenant Athanasios Batsaras, 35 year-old, was killed. ^{[8] [9] [10]}
• August 26, 2010: Two Hellenic Air Force F-16's, a single seater and a two seater, collide mid air during a training exercise south of Crete, near Chrysi. The pilot of the single seater F-16, Captain Tasos Balatsoukas, is killed instantly. The pilots of the two seater F-16 eject, but Captain Sifis Anastasakis' parachute does not open. He was seriously injured and died three days later in the hospital. ^{[11] [12]}
• February 11, 2016: A Hellenic Navy Bell 212 helicopter crashes during a training exercise on the island of Kinaros, close to Amorgos.
• July 16, 2022: A Meridian Flight 3032, an Antonov An-12BK, carrying munitions from Serbia to Bangladesh, via Jordan, Saudi Arabia, and India, crashed near the city of Kavala in northern Greece, killing all eight people on board. ^[13]
• January 30, 2023: A Hellenic Air Force upgraded two-seated F-4E Phantom ΙΙ crashed in the Ionian sea at around 10:30 am, 25 nautical miles (46,3 Km) south of Andravida air base. The aircraft belonged to the 338th Fighter-Bomber Squadron of the 117th Combat Wing based in Andravida. The accident occurred during a training exercise with another F-4E that successfully returned to base, the aircraft that crashed was the No.2 of the flight formation. According to early sources, shortly before the crash the two pilots sent a distress signal that they would abandon the aircraft and use the ejection seats, later it was indicated that none of the pilots ejected from the aircraft. A large search and rescue operation involving helicopters and ships from the Hellenic Air Force, the Hellenic Navy and the Hellenic coast guard was set to find and rescue the pilots. Both the co-pilot Marios Michael Touroutsikas (29 years old) and the captain Efstathios Tsitlakidis (31 years old) were killed. It is still unclear what caused the crash but some speculate that it is due to a technical failure.
• 25 July 2023: A firefighter plane crashed in southern Greece on Tuesday as authorities battled fires across the country amid the return of a heat wave. The accident occurred on the island of Euboea and was broadcast on state television, which showed how the aircraft, which was flying at low altitude, disappeared behind a ravine before a fireball was seen moments later. "A Canadair Greek plane, with at least two people on board, crashed near Platanisto", a town in Euboea, spokesman Yannis Artopios said. The plane was among at least three other planes and a hundred firefighters in the fight against the flames that began on Sunday. After flying over the flames to fight them, he took a curve and ended up crashing the fireball after the plane crash. The two missing pilots were members of the Greek Air Force according to information from the Greek Defense Ministry, quoted by state television ERT, which published a video of the plane at the moment of crashing and disappearing behind a cloud of flames and black smoke. ^{[14] [15] [16] [17] [3] [18] [19]}

References

1. "Worst accident in Greece : 121". Bureau of Aircraft Accidents Archives. Archived from the original on 12 December 2007.
2. "Accident investigation report on 19 July 1972". Archived from the original on 12 February 2023.
3. "The air tragedy of Kozani". in.gr (in Greek). 23 November 2020. Archived from the original on 16 July 2023.
4. "Accident investigation report 17 December 1997". Archived from the original on 6 April 2022.
5. "Helicopter Crash Devastates the Greek Orthodox Church". 12 September 2004. Archived from the original on 19 August 2006.
6. "Cypriot jet crashes in Greece; 121 dead". CNN. 14 August 2005. Archived from the original on 13 September 2005.
7. "'No survivors' in Greek air crash". BBC Online. 14 August 2005. Archived from the original on 9 July 2023.
8. "F-16 Accidents & Mishaps for the Hellenic Air Force". Archived from the original on 15 July 2020.
9. "Turks find body after jet crash". 7 December 2007. Archived from the original on 23 September 2021.
10. "Air force officers are seen yesterday carrying the body of a 35-year-old pilot". 8 December 2007. Archived from the original on 19 September 2021.
11. "2 Greek F-16s collide in mid-air". Archived from the original on 27 November 2013.
12. "Greek F-16 Collision: 2nd Pilot dies;Collision-Scenarios; Equipment". 29 August 2010. Archived from the original on 6 March 2016.
13. "Eight crew members killed in Ukraine cargo plane crash in northern Greece". Reuters. 17 July 2022. Archived from the original on 17 July 2022.
14. Skoularakos, Vasilis (30 January 2023). "Έπεσε F-4 Phantom της Πολεμικής Αεροπορίας, νότια της Ανδραβίδας - Αγνοούνται οι χειριστές". newsbomb.gr (in Greek). Archived from the original on 31 January 2023.
15. Newsroom, Law & Order (30 January 2023). "Πολεμική Αεροπορία: Έπεσε μαχητικό F4 στη θάλασσα νότια της Ανδραβίδας" (in Greek). Archived from the original on 8 February 2023.
16. "Ελλάδα: Πτώση μαχητικού F-4 Phantom - Σε εξέλιξη έρευνα για τους χειριστές". sigmalive.com (in Greek). 30 January 2023. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023.
17. "Πολεμική Αεροπορία - Ανδραβίδα: Δεν πρόλαβαν να εγκαταλείψουν το F-4 οι χειριστές του". protothema.gr (in Greek). 30 January 2023. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023.
18. "Πτώση Αεροσκάφους F-4E Phantom II - ΑΤ003/2023". haf.gr (in Greek). Hellenic Air Force. 30 January 2023. Archived from the original on 30 January 2023.
19. "Both pilots die after Greek firefighting plane crashes". euronews.com. Euronews. 25 July 2023. Archived from the original on 25 July 2023.