Olympic Aviation Flight 078

On 2 May 1997, Olympic Aviation Flight 078 (Olympic Aviation Flight 078) or Flight 078 of Olympic Aviation (Flight 078 Olympic Aviation), with a Dornier 228-201 aircraft, and according to the statements of the Dornier's pilots, during the aircraft's descent, encountered a strong downdraft, with the result that the wheels touched the ground a few metres before the landing runway and broke. The aircraft then slid out of control for about 170 metres and came to rest almost perpendicular to the runway.

The flight was operating a scheduled flight, departing from Athens "Ellinikon" State Airport with a final destination of the island of Paros.

The aircraft was completely destroyed.

As soon as the accident became known, (shortly after 17:22) Olympic Aviation sent a helicopter to Paros airport, with experts, in order to investigate the causes of this abnormal landing. The two pilots were suspended until the end of the investigation and the drafting of the relevant finding. If responsibility is attributed to them, their flying ability will be re-examined.

This accident was the first involving a Dornier 228 aircraft at Paros airport and marks the starting point of many other failures that subsequently occurred on aircraft of the same type of Olympic Aviation. Specifically, there were numerous incidents of abnormal landings in the same year, due to a failure in the landing gear system, on Milos on the 2nd, at Tanagra on the 24th and on Leros on the 29th of September, something that was attributed to material failure. Indeed, in response to the many flight cancellations as well as the noise created in the media around the issue, the company's technicians had addressed an open letter to the Minister of Transport Anastasios Mantelis, denouncing the lack of spare parts and stressing the high likelihood of the aircraft being grounded despite their superhuman efforts.