Specialist team recovers Mirage flight recorder

An oceanographic vessel of the Greek Center for Marine Research, using a robotic submersible, retrieved on Tuesday the flight recorder of the Mirage 2000-5 which crashed into the sea in the central Aegean, near Skyros, on April 12, killing the pilot Captain Giorgos Baltadoros.

According to Air Force sources, the “black box,” which is expected to provide useful information for the ongoing investigation into the causes of the accident, will be sent to the manufacturer in France to retrieve its data.

The jet piloted by 33-year-old Captain Giorgos Baltadoros was one of two Mirages that departed from Skyros ten days ago to intercept a pair of Turkish F-16s that violated Greek air space in the area between the eastern Aegean islands of Lesvos and Chios.

On their return to Skyros, both jets were reportedly flying at a low altitude due to poor visibility on account of cloudy weather and the African dust in the atmosphere.

The armed forces declared three days of national mourning.