For sale VIP aircraft, duplication, good general condition
(BRUXELLES2) Could this be an example to follow? In any case, the Greek coalition government led by Antonis Samaras has decided on a gesture which is not only symbolic. One of the three aircraft available to the government, an Embraer Legacy ERJ 135 BJ with 13-15 seats, acquired in 2002 for $27,5 million will be put up for sale and is no longer really used. Modern version of charity sales... 🙂 The proceeds of this sale will be used to cover the needs of the armed forces. But that's not all. The other two government aircraft — a 135-30-seat Embraer ERJ 32 LR, dating from 1999, and a 15-seat Gulfstream V, acquired in 2003 for the needs of the Greek EU Presidency and the 2004 Olympics , - will be " made available " of the Air Force to train its pilots or serve other public missions such as the repatriation or transport of wounded. Only reservation, the government will keep a "flight right" on the Gulfstream, if necessary...
An inglorious VIP fleet
The Greek VIP fleet has a history as inglorious as the country's economy, as detailed by our colleague Ta Nea. The first attempt to create a Greek air force was made in 1992 by Prime Minister Constantinos Mitsotakis, who ordered the conversion of a Boeing 727 into an Air Force One-type government aircraft. Slightly disproportionate project. This "Alexander the Great" - the name given to this plane - will only make a few flights: " To barely two trips to Saudi Arabia and Paris ". And its cost was disastrous. It will be reconverted by the next government (A. Papandreou) into a charter plane from 1994. Another more tragic episode will follow, the Falcon 900B. This aircraft acquired almost free in exchange for the purchase of the Mirage 2000 fighter planes ". A bonus premium on purchase in a way. However, he experienced an unfortunate episode with an accident which cost the life of Deputy Foreign Minister Yiannos Kranidiotis on September 14, 1999, his son and 7 other people (a police officer, an aeronautical technician, two journalists and a cameraman ) as he traveled from Athens to Bucharest. The plane unscrewed from a height of 17.000 feet, going from 23.000 feet to 6.000 feet before the pilot was able, almost miraculously, to regain control of the plane and land in Bucharest (read here a summary report on this accident). The plane will then remain blocked for several years at a Swiss airport - note my colleagues - before being sold a few years ago...
(Nicolas Gros-Verheyde)
