Fall F-16: The 29-year-old lieutenant informed his cell phone that he was safe inside the boat

He may have fallen to Psathura only 29 years old, but he reacted with incredible calm and proper training which saved his life. Although his colleagues had seen him ejected from the F-16 fighter and with the parachute falling into the sea no one, he could say with certainty that the 29-year-old Lieutenant was safe. The agony of flying luck was in the red when the phone rang in the 337 “Ghost” War Squadron in Larissa The Lieutenant had managed to open and climb the small lifeboat on him in the survival kit, when he was in the frozen waters. He had his cell phone on him, which, though wet, operated and had a signal. The 29-year-old flying man, acting in complete calm, as he had been trained at SETH in Kalamata, managed to call his Squadron and inform that he is safe on the boat waiting for help. The agony was transformed into relief, redemption and cries of enthusiasm, and immediately informed the Rescue Research Coordinating Centre, political and military leadership and of course his family. Now it was only a matter of time before his rescue. The Super Puma helicopter took off within a short time from the moment the fighter fell, in less than 15 minutes, heading the area according to the coordinates given by the remaining three fighters flying near the F-16 single-sea crash site. And while the cloud was already low and it was impossible for the rest of the flying men to locate the Lieutenant on the lifeboat, Super Puma began to “scan” the area with its eyes pinned to the sea as there was already wave-over that touched the one and a half meters. At the same time in the area, another S-70 Aegean Hawk type helicopter of the Navy, a CL-415 fire aircraft from the 113 Battle Wing, the frigate “AEGEAN” while on standby was also a C-130. The time passed and Super Puma could not locate the flying man with whom there was constant contact. Finally, 50 minutes later the 29-year-old Lieutenant was located at quite a distance from the initial point of coordinates. The helicopter crew picked him up as the rescuer descended with the Hoist wire over the boat and raised the flyer to Super Puma. The lieutenant had accurately applied what he learned at the school of SETH and despite being at sea for an hour and a half he was perfectly calm and with very good psychology. A short time later, Super Puma landed at the Camp “Sacket” in Karea where the flying man was awaited relieved by the Chief of Generals Demetrios Hoppis with Chief of the GFC Deputy General Demosthenes Gregoriadis and the exams at 251 GNA showed that the flighter had not been harmed. By Kostas Sarika / Source: OnAlert.gr