Fighter pilots escape crash
Some 10 days after a fighter pilot was killed in a fatal plane accident, two flight operators ejected safely from their military jet yesterday moments before it crashed outside of a military airbase in Larissa, central Greece. The two-seater RF-4 Phantom reconnaissance plane was on a training flight when the two pilots abandoned the plane at 10.05 a.m. about eight kilometers, south of the airbase. An investigation has been launched into the causes of the accident as initial evidence points to a problem with the plane’s hydraulic system, a source said. The two pilots were unharmed but were taken to a military hospital for precautionary reasons. Defense Ministry sources have blamed the high workload imposed on fighter pilots and the limited resources for the large number of fighter jet crashes. On April 14, a pilot was killed when his Mirage 2000 fighter jet crashed in central Greece.
