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 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.
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: A
Yakovlev Yak-42 operating
Aerosvit Airlinesflight 241 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.
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]
March 20, 2024: A Hellenic Air Force F16 Block 52+ crashed at Psathoura Island near Chalkidiki for currently, unknown reasons during a training exercise. The pilot ejected and was rescued by HAF Super Pumas.