They fought for Phantom until the last seconds: the story of Ioannis Blesias and Dimitrios Petrou

Ioannis Blesias and Dimitrios Petrou, two experienced pilots from the Hellenic Air Force’s 338 Squadron, were killed when an F-4E Phantom II crashed during Athens Flying Week in Tanagra.

Now experts are trying to reconstruct literally second by second their last flight.

The crash occurred on Saturday, September 5, in the first minutes of the F-4 Phantom demonstration.

According to official data from the Greek Air Force General Staff, the aircraft 338th Squadron, 117th Combat Wing crashed at 14:55 approximately three nautical miles southeast of Tanagra airbase.

Both crew members died – 40-year-old Ioannis Blesias And 37-year-old Dimitrios Petrou.

Over 1500 hours in the air

Both officers were considered experienced Phantom pilots.

According to Greek media, each of them had more than 1500 flight hours. The most trained crews of the squadron are selected to participate in such demonstration flights.

338 Ares Squadron is based at Andravida and remains the last Hellenic Air Force unit to continue operating the upgraded F-4E AUP Phantom II.

The demonstration program begins at a higher altitude, after which the crew gradually moves to lower passages, observing established safety restrictions.

Fatal right turn

The investigation is now focused on the final seconds of the flight.

During a right turn approximately two to three nautical miles from the runway, the Phantom performed a low pass with a high amount of roll and an increased vertical rate of descent.

Numerous videos show how the plane suddenly begins to quickly lose altitude.

According to preliminary reconstruction, the F-4 first hit a wooden power line pole and then collapsed. The debris scattered over a large area, which significantly complicates the work of the investigation commission.

Why didn’t they eject?

This is one of the main questions after the disaster.

The F-4 Phantom is equipped with ejection seats for both crew members. At the same time, experienced Air Force officers who analyzed the video recordings believe that at a certain moment the pilots theoretically could still have time to escape the plane in an emergency.

However, the ejection did not occur.

This is what gave rise to one of the most discussed versions now: the crew could deliberately continue to control the falling plane, trying to direct it to an area where there were no spectators or residential buildings.

Some former military pilots believe the nature of the plane’s trajectory is compatible with just such an attempt.

This version has not yet been officially confirmed. The Air Force Commission has not yet established either the cause of the loss of altitude or the motive for the crew’s recent actions.

There were thousands of people a few kilometers away

To understand the situation, this circumstance is of fundamental importance.

Athens Flying Week attracts thousands of spectators, and there are roads, businesses and populated areas in and around the airbase itself.

The plane eventually crashed in an industrial-agricultural area far from the bulk of the spectators.

Some of the debris fell onto the territory of the enterprise, two people were injured, but mass casualties among people at the air show were avoided.

That is why the version that the pilots, until the last seconds, tried to choose the least dangerous direction for the fall is now being discussed.

What former pilots say

Former military pilot and aviation expert Pantelis Frangoulis believes that during the last maneuver a loss of lift.

At such a low altitude, even a short-term loss of control leaves the crew only seconds.

Other experts do not rule out a technical malfunction or loss of thrust of one or both engines.

All these versions remain preliminary for now.

Investigators must determine whether there was a problem with the plane itself, or whether a combination of speed, roll, altitude and vertical descent led to a situation from which the crew was unable to recover the heavy F-4.

Cameras recorded almost the entire flight

Unlike many aviation accidents, the commission has a large amount of visual data.

The moment of the disaster was filmed by cameras from Athens Flying Week organizers, television crews and dozens of spectators.

In addition to video recordings, investigators are studying crew negotiations with the control tower.

They must show whether pilots reported a technical problem, cockpit warning or other emergency in the final seconds.

It is the combination of radio communications and frame-by-frame video analysis that should allow specialists to reconstruct the sequence of events.

Dimitrios Petrou: in a few days he had to baptize his daughter

Behind the military statistics of the disaster there are two human stories.

37 year old Dimitrios Petrou was closely associated with Pramanta in Dzumerka, his mother’s native village.

According to the head of the municipality of Northern Dzumerka, when Petru passed over Pramanta during flights, he would sometimes call his elderly grandmother in advance and tell her when to leave the house so that he could see his plane in the sky.

His father’s family roots are in Polistafilo in Preveza. The father of the deceased pilot is a former police officer, his mother is a former teacher.

A particularly tragic detail: On September 12, Dimitrios Petrou was supposed to participate in the baptism of his five-month-old daughter.

Ioannis Blesias: Experienced Phantom Officer

40 year old Ioannis Blesias also belonged to the most experienced pilots of the 338th squadron.

In the official Air Force report he is listed as Επισμηναγός – senior aviation officer.

Like Petru, he had more than 1,500 flight hours and years of experience operating the F-4 Phantom.

It was the level of training of both pilots that was one of the reasons why they were entrusted with participation in the demonstration program in front of thousands of spectators.

Three days of mourning

After the official confirmation of the death of the crew, the Minister of National Defense Nikos Dendias announced three-day mourning in the Greek Armed Forces – from September 5 to 7.

The crash was a new hard blow for the small community of Greek Phantom pilots.

In January 2023, 29-year-old Marios-Michael Thuroutsikas and 31-year-old Efstathios Tsitlakidis were killed when another F-4 crashed near Andravida.

The Athens News followed the rescue operation in detail at the time: “Greece: Air Force F-4 fighter crashed”and then reported searching for a co-pilot.

A passing era

The tragedy comes as the story of the Greek Phantom is nearing its end.

F-4s have served Greece since 1974. Over more than half a century, they have become one of the most recognizable aircraft of the national air force, but are gradually giving way to the Rafale, the modernized F-16 and the future F-35.

The Athens News previously reported how decommissioning of reconnaissance RF-4Eand about Greece’s plans to finally abandon the old Phantoms as part of the renewal of combat aviation.

Now two more names have been added to the history of the aircraft – Ioannis Blesias and Dimitrios Petrou.

Whether their latest actions were a conscious attempt to move the plane away from people must be determined by the commission. But something else is already known: both remained in the cockpit until the collision with the ground and continued to control the Phantom until the last seconds.

Source link