The Chinook helicopter crashed over the Aegean Sea on Saturday , September 11, 2004, in the northern Aegean Sea , near the Halkidiki Peninsula. The plane crash killed all 17 people on board: a delegation of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria , headed by Patriarch of Alexandria and all of Africa Peter VII , flying to Mount Athos , and five crew members.
| Chinook helicopter crash over the Aegean Sea | |
|---|---|
 Helicopter CH-47SD Greece | |
| General information | |
| date | September 11, 2004 |
| Character | Crashed into the sea |
| Cause | Hydraulic system failure due to non-compliance with flight procedures and defective materials (presumably) |
| A place |  Northern Aegean , 5.5 miles from the Halkidiki Peninsula [1] |
| Dead | 17 (all) |
| Aircraft | |
| Model | Boeing CH-47SD |
| Affiliation |  Armed Forces of Greece |
| Departure point | Elephis |
| Destination | Athos |
| Date of issue | 2004 year |
| Passengers | 12 |
| Crew | five |
| Survivors | 0 |
Content
Events
A Chinook CH-47SD type helicopter [2] was purchased in the United States for the Greek army six months before the tragedy and was the newest of the sixteen such helicopters bought by Greece. In general, this technique was considered very reliable - before that, an emergency situation with the Greek Chinook occurred in 1984. Helicopters of this type have two engines and two screws, each of which allows you to make an emergency landing in case of failure of the second. The helicopter was specially equipped for the transport of VIPs. According to the military, all four pilots were very good pilots and in case of emergency could replace each other. The helicopter was controlled by the unit commander [3] [4] .
At 9:30 local time, the helicopter flew from Eleusis airport near Athens and headed for the holy Mount Athos. At 10:55, he disappeared from the radar screens [5] when he was twelve miles southwest of Athos. In this case, the helicopter did not give a distress signal, and the weather conditions in the flight area were almost perfect [3] .
According to subsequently published negotiations between the on-duty radar tracking stations, after the helicopter disappeared from the radar screens, one of the controllers thought that the helicopter had landed and greeted the pilots on the radio, and did not attach importance to the fact that there was no answer to his greeting. They began to search for the helicopter only after the Athos monks, who were waiting for the visit of Patriarch Peter, informed the authorities that the helicopter was late [5] . About an hour and a half after the disaster, military radar controllers discussed where the helicopter could go and tried to find the crew by cell phone [6] . The search operation began a few hours after the car fell into the sea [7] .
The search operation, led by the Minister of National Defense of Greece, involved ships of the Greek Navy and Coast Guard, about 10 helicopters [3] .
The next day, late in the evening south of Halkidiki in the Aegean Sea, nine dead bodies and helicopter fragments were discovered, from which, according to military rescuers, “there was practically nothing left” [4] [8] .
On the evening of September 14, a fishing vessel discovered a large metal object at a depth of about 900 meters. The frigate of the Greek Navy "Navarin" joined the search, the crew of which, using sonars, confirmed the discovery of the helicopter hull a few kilometers south of the Halkidiki peninsula [9] .
The Greek government said it considers it a matter of honor to carry out an operation to lift the car, despite the fact that the helicopter was at the bottom of the sea at a depth of 900 meters. On October 2 [10], the Greek Ministry of Defense, together with the navy, with the help of Greek scientists, launched an operation to lift the wreckage of a helicopter, which ended on October 18. On this occasion, the Minister of Development of Greece said: “The state has proved that it can cope with this difficult matter. In addition, the operation cost the treasury less than the originally calculated 40 million euros ” [11] .
The raised fragments of the helicopter were sent to the United States for examination [12] .
List of the dead
List of fatalities according to Athens Religious News Agency [13] :
- passengers
- Peter VII (Papapetra) - Pope and Patriarch of Alexandria and all of Africa , Primate of the Orthodox Church of Alexandria, theologian, missionary (55 years old)
- Irenaeus (Talambekos) - Metropolitan of Pilusia, missionary (70 years)
- Chrysostom (Papadopoulos) - Metropolitan of Carthage, representative of the Patriarchate of Alexandria in Athens (70 years)
- Nectarius (Kellis) - Bishop of Madagascar, missionary (52 years old)
- Arseny (Patsalos) - Archimandrite, Abbot of the Mahera Monastery in Cyprus (35 years)
- Callistratus (Iconom) - Archimandrite, First Secretary of the Holy Synod of the Patriarchate of Alexandria (40 years)
- Nectarius Kondoyorgos - Patriarchal Archdeacon (25 years old)
- Patroclos Aristides-Papastefanou - entrepreneur, chairman of the board of the non-governmental organization Alexandria Lighthouse, adviser to the patriarch (53 years old)
- Spyros Kursaris - police officer responsible for the protection of the Patriarch (31 years)
- Georgios Papapetru - metal engineer, brother of Patriarch Peter VII (50 years)
- Georgios Xenudakis, journalist, press publisher of the Greek diaspora Ομογενειακού Τύπου (52 years old)
- Georgios Mavros, criminal affairs specialist, legal adviser to the patriarch, secretary and board member of the Patriarchate Foundation (53 years old)
- crew
- Dimitrios Papaspiru - Colonel, crew commander, commander of the 4th battalion of army aviation (43 years)
- Panagiotis Papanastasiu, Major (36 years old)
- Sergios Raptis, pilot (31 years old)
- Pandelis Hadzivangelis, sergeant (32 years old)
- Panagiotis Golegos, Senior Sergeant (28 years old)
Official Reaction and Condolences
Greek officials also expressed deep condolences over the tragedy. Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis , speaking at the opening of the international exhibition in Thessaloniki, said:
| This is a huge loss for Orthodoxy and for the entire Greek people [14] . |
Archbishop of Athens and All Hellas Christodoulos :
| Patriarch Peter was not only the youngest first hierarch of the Orthodox Church, but also its active leader. We mourn over this loss. I had a long friendship with the Patriarch, and only a few days ago I received him as a guest. I am deeply sorry for the families of the victims of the tragic accident on my behalf and on behalf of the Greek Church, and I pray that the Lord will rest their souls with saints and angels [15] . |
Patriarch of Constantinople Bartholomew :
| We sank into grief, receiving unexpected news of the death of Patriarch Peter. On my own behalf and on behalf of the Ecumenical Patriarchate, I want to express my deep condolences to all the relatives of the victims of this tragedy ” [15] . |
Patriarch of Jerusalem Irenaeus :
| The bitter news of the death of the head of the Alexandrian Church, Mr. Peter, caught us like a bolt from the blue. The ways of the Lord are inscrutable [15] . |
The message of the Patriarch of Moscow and All Russia Alexy II to the Holy Synod of the Alexandrian Orthodox Church says:
| To the depths of their souls, they were shocked by the news of the untimely tragic death of His Beatitude Pope and Patriarch Peter and the bishops, clergy and laity accompanying him, in the Orthodox Church of Alexandria. This terrible news caused acute pain from the awareness of the irreplaceability of this loss. More recently, when we hosted the tragically dead Primate and fellow bishops, we enjoyed friendly fellowship. Today, Our mind refuses to believe that they are no longer among us. There are no words that can express the measure of Our bitterness, and there would be no limit to despair if it were not for our saving faith in the Life-giver of the Lord, Who “is not the God of the dead, but the living, for He is all alive” (Luke 20. 38). We turn to Him in these mournful moments with fervent prayer and ask to grant the blessed peace and eternal memory to the newly-departed. On behalf of the entire Russian Orthodox Church, we offer our deepest condolences and empathy to the orphaned Alexandrian Orthodox Church [16] . |
On September 12, Greek Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis announced the resignation of the Greek Air Force commander, Lieutenant General Panayiotis Papanikolau [8] , who, according to the Prime Minister, is responsible for the accident and failure to ensure timely and proper search and rescue measures [4] .
In connection with the tragedy, the Greek government declared a three-day mourning [4] .
In memory of the tragedy of the Alexandrian Patriarch Peter VII who died in a plane crash and the metropolitans and clergy accompanying him, Parekklision was built in the name of Apostle Mark and St. Nectarius of Aegina, which was consecrated on November 25, 2012 [17] .
Investigation of Reasons
According to the conclusion published in 2007, the helicopter lost pressure in the second hydraulic system , the blades first hit one another, and then the fuselage ; the helicopter crashed in a few seconds. The crew was accused of non-compliance with the flight procedure, the manufacturer - in hardware failure [18] .
The conclusion about the reasons for the fall seemed to many insufficient and contradictory. The press wrote that the helicopter crashed as a result of the explosion. The helicopter manufacturing company, Boeing , refused to provide information about the testing of the machine [19] .
Notes
- ↑ ASN Aircraft accident 11-SEP-2004 Boeing CH-47SD Chinook ES916 unspecified . aviation-safety.net. Date of treatment July 25, 2016.
- ↑ Boeing Sued Over Death of Patriarch Petros // Greek News, September 24th, 2007
- ↑ 1 2 3 Elena Yakovleva The death of the patriarch. One of the brightest and most energetic Orthodox patriarchs died
- ↑ 1 2 3 4 Svetlana Pushkina Patriarch of Alexandria died instead of Putin // “Morning” (September 14, 2004)
- ↑ 1 2 A helicopter transporting the Patriarch of Alexandria crashed // NEWSru.com (September 11, 2004)
- ↑ Greece says goodbye to Patriarch of Alexandria Peter VII // Christian World News (September 13, 2004)
- ↑ Glagol 21 (122), page 6 Archived August 12, 2014 to Wayback Machine (unavailable link from 10-01-2016 [1333 days])
- ↑ 1 2 The 115th Patriarch of Alexandria was killed // Kommersant (September 13, 2004)
- ↑ A helicopter hull was discovered in the Aegean Sea, in the disaster of which the Patriarch of Alexandria Peter VII was killed // NEWSru.com (September 15, 2004)
- ↑ A helicopter will rise from the Aegean Sea, in which the Patriarch of Alexandria was killed // RIA Novosti (October 2, 2004)
- ↑ From the Aegean Sea, fragments of the helicopter were lifted, in which the Patriarch of Alexandria Peter VII was killed // NEWSru.com (October 18, 2004)
- ↑ Ulyanov O. G. Russian on the Mount Athos Holy Panteleimon Monastery before the challenge of time // Christianity in art: icons, murals, mosaics ... (original publication - “Country. Ru”)
- ↑ Δέκα χρόνια από την πτώση του Σινούκ στην Χαλκιδική
- ↑ The Orthodox world mourns over the death of the Patriarch of Alexandria
- ↑ 1 2 3 The delegation of the Church of Alexandria led by the Patriarch tragically died // Orthodoxy.Ru (September 11, 2004)
- ↑ Condolences on the tragic death of Patriarch of Alexandria Peter Archival copy of September 12, 2014 on the Wayback Machine (unavailable link from 10-01-2016 [1333 days]) // Russian Orthodox Church
- ↑ The consecration of the new Orthodox church took place in Alexandria / News // Orthodox Encyclopedia (November 26, 2012)
- ↑ Πορισμα Για Την Πτωση Του Σινουκ (Greek) // Halkidiki News, April 14, 2007
- ↑ Πενήντα σκάνδαλα με 5 χρόνια Νέα Δημοκρατία // Πολιτική