Phantom Fall: Struggle for the Commander – Investigations Continue

The search for the 31-year-old Stathis Tsitlakidis, the pilot of the fatal Phantom F-4, which crashed on Monday morning in the Andravida maritime area while performing a training flight, is continuing unabated today.

The operation to locate Stathis Tsitlakidis is supported by three helicopters, floating vessels, men of the special forces of the Air Force, and an underwater drone. Surveys have already been carried out to a certain point of the seabed, with the result that areas have been excluded in which nothing significant has been detected.

The 31-year-old squad leader Stathis Tsitlakidis

Research is now focused on two points where the depth is great and exceeds 800 to 1.000 meters. For this reason, the oceanographic vessel "Nautilus" is expected to arrive, which has better equipment to be able to locate the rest of the aircraft. At the same time, during the day, searches were carried out in coastal areas from Katakolo to Pyrgos Ilia without any results.

As far as the conclusion about the tragic accident is concerned, it will not come out until after a thorough investigation that will follow.

What is a "low cost" flight

It is recalled that the Phantom went down while the two pilots were flying low. It is estimated that control of the aircraft was lost during the closed maneuvers carried out by the pair of two Phantoms that had taken off from the 117th Fighter Wing in Andravida, in the context of a low-seas exercise, should not be ruled out.

According to the SKAI report in the main news bulletin, these are exercises where the fighters fly at a very low altitude, almost above the surface of the sea. At low altitudes, fighters are detected very slowly by radar or may not be detected at all as they become almost invisible. In this way they can bypass enemy air defenses and reach their target undetected.

Source: skai.gr