Over the Feneos Valley in the Peloponnese, Greek Air Force F-16 fighters almost collided with paragliders. The incident occurred on June 22, but only now information about this has become available to the news media.
According to OPEN, a group of Greek Air Force fighters, performing training flights, suddenly found themselves next to two paragliders. When the detachment approached the area at 12:57, they suddenly found themselves directly in the flight path of the F-16 fighters.
The Air Force pilots did not know that at that time that any air sports were taking place in their flight path.
One fighter flew past the first paraglider at a distance of one nautical mile (1852 meters), and the second just as close. “This meant we were very close to disaster, as even the exhaust flames could be a problem for two gliders,” said the fighter pilot.
The pilots contacted the paragliding control centre and determined that the appropriate flight plan had not been submitted, which needed to be done.
For those who think that such a distance is very large, it must be taken into account that the F-16 fighters are moving at speeds up to 2120 km per hour and can cover up to 600 meters in a second. Therefore, the unexpected appearance of stealth aircraft on the course of combat aircraft could end in tragedy for both paragliders and military pilots.
