Overview
- A privately operated Bell 206 crashed seconds after takeoff near Sifnos’s helipad on Monday, August 17, killing the pilot and a British newlywed couple who were on honeymoon.
- The aircraft struck an uninhabited area and ignited a post-crash fire that responders say contributed to the three deaths.
- Witnesses reported the helicopter began spinning before impact and local footage now in investigators’ hands may show the last moments of flight.
- Greece’s civil aviation authority has flagged possible rear/tail-rotor malfunction as a preliminary finding and has urged operators using Bell 206 helicopters to inspect tail-rotor systems before flying.
- Investigators are also probing pilot medical or human-factor issues and the operator’s procedures; the inquiry by national aviation and transport safety bodies is ongoing and has not reached a final conclusion.