The search-and-rescue operations that were underway to locate the pilot of the F-4 aircraft, which crashed in Andravida on Monday morning (30/01), had a tragic outcome.
The Air Force General Staff confirmed the death of Efstathios Tsitlakidis.
The CAA statement:
“The Hellenic Air Force General Staff announces that today, Wednesday, February 1, 2023, search and rescue operations for the recovery of the pilot of the F-4E Phantom II aircraft were completed, Captain (I) Efstathios Tsitlakidis, 31 years old, following the plane crash of 30 January 2023, 25 nautical miles south of Andravida airport.
The collection and analysis of the findings confirmed his death.
Colonel (I) Sotirios Magotsios
CAA Press Spokesman”.
On Wednesday morning (01/02), the negotiations had restarted. surveys to locate the skipper in the Cyparissia Gulf, 8 nautical miles off Katakolon, with three helicopters, waterborne means and frogman team with the help of a robotic vehicle and an underwater drone is also used.
According to ERT information, it is estimated that at the crash site, the depth of the sea reaches up to 1000 meters with the morphology of the seabed presenting a a ravine more than 100 metres long.
The condolences of Kyriakos Mitsotakis
“The national grief is made even heavier by the news of the loss of Captain Efstathios Tsitlakidis, following that of Lieutenant Marios-Michael Touroutsika. The commander of our fighter was killed along with his co-pilot in the line of duty, serving his country. My thoughts are with the family of the flying Captain. The Air Force and all of Greece mourn. They mourn and honor.”, the Prime Minister wrote in a Twitter post.
The message of Alexis Tsipras
“I express my deep sorrow for the unfortunate loss of the pilot of the fatal F-4 of our Air Force, Captain Efstathios Tsitlakidis, who passed away in the line of duty.
My sincere condolences to his family and friends.”, wrote the president of SYRIZA-PS, Alexis Tsipras, on Twitter, expressing his sorrow for the death of the second pilot.
Visit of the Chief of the General Staff to the Captain's family
Earlier today, the family of the fatal Phantom captain had visited the Chief of the Armed Forces Konstantinos Floros, together with the Chief of the General Staff of the Air Force, Vice Admiral Themistocles Bourolias.
The leadership of the Armed Forces arrived in Drama to support the family of the captain, who until that moment was considered missing, while the search for him was ongoing.
According to the information of ertnews.gr Mr Floros had assured his family that every effort was being made to locate the captain in the maritime area of the accident.
On Thursday the funeral of Lieutenant
The co-pilot of the aircraft, Marios - Michael Touroutsikas, was found dead already in the first hours of the investigations, on Monday morning (30/01).
His funeral, according to what his father told ERT, will take place tomorrow, Thursday (02/02). At 10:30 the funeral service of Lieutenant Marios-Michael Touroutsika will be held at the church of Prophet Elias in Tripoli, Arcadia. The burial of the 29-year-old co-pilot of the Phantom will take place in the village of Pikerni, Arcadia.
Today, it is expected that the Recognition of the pilot, a procedure at which his father, Mr. Konstantinos Touroutsikas, will not attend, as he explained, “I don't want to remember him like that. I want to remember him as he was.”, stressing that “He wouldn't like to be called a hero, he said we have heroes in wartime. He had Eliakis as a role model.”.
The chronicle of the tragedy
The aircraft crashed on Monday morning (around 10:30) in marine area south of Andravida.
The two pilots advised that they would use the system automatic ejection and that they were going to abandon the aircraft.
From the very first moment a very large operation took place to locate them.
The downed aircraft belonged to 338 Squadron of 117 Fighter Wing and was performing a training flight.
The official announcement of the Air Force General Staff:
«On Monday 30 January 2023 at 10:30, an F-4 (two-seat) aircraft of 338M/117PM performing a training flight crashed in the sea area 25 nautical miles south of Andravida airport».
Old but modernised aircraft
The pilot and aviation accident expert, Mr. Pantelis Fragoulis and the aeronautical engineer Mr. Faidon Karaiosifidis, spoke to ERT and explained that although the fatal Phantom belonged to an older generation of aircraft, it was a fully modernised aircraft.
Mr Fragoulis stressed that “these aircraft, (in which the two men were) may be old-style, but they have been modernized over the years, very modern electronic systems have been introduced.”.
As he explained, “You should know that these aircraft and all aircraft, everything that flies in the air, are subject to major inspections. And when we say inspection of an aircraft, we mean that many, many, many key components are changed. And from there becomes a new aircraft“.
It is worth noting that this type of aircraft was first delivered to the country in 1972 and a second delivery took place in 1977. The date of receipt of the aircraft in question has not been specified.
Mr. Karaiosifidis agreed with the expert's words, stressing: “The F-4 Phantom is difficult aircraft. Consider that today we have fighters in service, the Rafale, which we are modernising, which, if the pilot becomes disoriented, he can enter into a manoeuvre that is dangerous, there is a way to press a button, the plane can come straight and level.
The F-4 Phantom is a plane designed in the ’50s, sophisticated in the early 1960s, most of whose systems are electromechanical, but any flying vehicle that an engineer signs off and releases and a pilot signs off and accepts for flight is safe. Unsafe planes do not fly, much less in Greece, in a NATO air force, in an air force which has the highest safety standard.’.
The possible scenarios of the tragedy - “All possibilities are open”
“All options are open.”, Mr. Karaiosifidis stressed the possible causes of the tragedy and added: “I could not rule out technical failure, an unforeseen event. Let me remind you that in the past we have had several incidents where we have lost planes literally by an unforeseen event. A large bird has collided with a single-engine plane, got into the engine, the engine blew up, but there was an abandonment of the aircraft.”.
On this point, he clarified the following: “All fighters have seats and guarded because it is impossible for the pilot to exit the aircraft in any other way at the high speed at which it flies. But the ejection and use of these seats does not ensure escape. That is, we have many cases where the low altitude, the attitude of the plane in ejection, the relative position with the ground results in the failure of this procedure.”.
“There's a chance they were ejected at the last minute», added the aeronautical engineer, among others. «Ejection to such heights (30 meters) theoretically sends the seats to a safe height to deploy the parachutes, but unfortunately we have seen too many incidents where the abandonment is not successful and if the information is correct - that we have a parachute in the water and dead the aircraft's weapons systems operator, namely the co-pilot - I fear that we may have such an incident.”.
Another possible scenario is the aircraft operator error, according to Mr Karaiosifidis. “Experienced operators make a mistake. Unfortunately it happens or a chain starts. Never a crash, an aircraft crash is never the result of a single cause, it's usually a combination. We start somewhere and to eventually crash the aircraft evolves in such a way that it is not a manageable situation.”.
In conclusion, Mr Fragoulis made it clear that there is no black box on these aircraft and added that “out of the wreckage we often find part of the cause. It is very difficult to investigate these cases because we have to take into account so many factors, even if we recover the aircraft, which is 1,000 metres deep at the point where it has crashed.”.
