The incident occurred at 14.50h local. The F-16 was on landing approach to the base when it sustained a bird strike which resulted in the jet crashing within the airfield boundaries, 50 meters from the runway. The pilot, Captain Moris Ghiadoni, 33 years old from Belgioioso (Pavia) was taken to military hospital for medical observation.

The jet participated in a nightly exercise in the Sporades archipelago with three other F-16s when it was lost by radars around 19.41h local time. Unfortunately the pilot, Flt. Lt. Athanasios Batsaras, 35 years, failed to eject. The cause of this fatal crash is still unknown but it is most likely to be attributed to spatial disorientation, more commonly known as pilots' vertigo.