The trip to Athens Flying Week 2026
This is such a difficult post to write. The events on the Saturday Afternoon at Tanagra Air Base are well known to all in the Aviation Community, the pain is still real and still raw. I’ve witnessed aircraft crashing before but this one hit home. Only a couple of hours before the tragic incident I was speaking with the crew and joking with them about the previous day’s display.
Friday is practice day and I had taken my place, with many others, inside the grandstand area. We were treated to some amazing performances but the team from 338 Mira had stolen the show in their Phantom. It was possibly the best demo I had ever seen by a Phantom, scrap that, it WAS the best demo I’d seen.
Yes, they’d busted the crowd line, but in that glorious early evening light that Tanagra glows in, the Phantom looked just splendid.
I have been extremely privileged to get limited access on base at Andravida and off base with 338 Mira and the last of the Hellenic Air Force F-4’s. One day I will be able to publish all my photos and video’s from those trips, but that will have to wait. So the tragic events of that day in September will stay with me and many others for the rest of our lives.
Athen Flying Week displays the best of the Hellenic Air Force, the Greeks have every reason to be proud of an extremely professional and capable service. The F-4 display was scheduled for early afternoon, soon after the UAE Al Fursan team had performed in their new Hongdu L-15’s and their screaming engines.
The Phantom rolled and it seemed that everyone stopped to look at the runway. Thundering into the sky Ble lifted his machine from the ground and roared into the pattern for the start of the display. As per the previous day the crew took the plane to the south of the base and then passed directly over crowd centre, burners fully lit and climbing to the east.
Out of the climb, they carried on over towards Dilesi and turned in to make their approach. I was stood next to my good friend Aled and we watched. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion. Aled said, he’s low. It seemed the Spook was very low into the turn. I thought it’s ok as I knew the ground dipped down towards the sea and was sure the plane would re-appear. Only when we saw the resulting fireball did we know that it wouldn’t.
Gasps and cries from the crowd, everyone was in shock from the tragedy we had just witnessed.
Even this long after the incident it’s hard to put it into words how I felt. I’d only been speaking and joking with them a few hours earlier, what were their colleagues feeling? Life does come at you so hard sometimes.
We had to pass the crash site on our way back to our villa, you have to admire the professionalism of the Greek Fire and Rescue teams as they fought multiple fires from the crash. We stopped to watch the Canadair’s, the Firebosses and the Skycranes work hard to extinguish the blazes. I can’t say how highly they should be respected for the dangerous and vital work they carry out during the hot months in Greece.
In 2024 we had the please of having ‘Wizzo’ Dimitrious Petrou as our group chaperone. He was also with us at Phancon 2026, from my pictures from that event I only noticed he had a Pink Floyd DSOM patch on his arm, I wished I had spoken with him longer as we probably had a similar musical taste.
Blue skies Ble, Blue Skies Petrou. You will never be forgotten.
