A Hellenic Air Force (HAF) F-16C Fighting Falcon executed an emergency gear-up landing at Zakynthos International Airport on Thursday, bursting into flames on the runway and forcing the closure of one of Greece’s busiest summer holiday terminals.
The aircraft, assigned to the 335th Squadron of the 116th Combat Wing, departed Araxos Air Base, roughly 60 miles north of Zakynthos, on a training sortie over the Ionian Sea when the pilot received an in-flight fire indication. The jet touched down around 11:20 local time with its landing gear retracted, sliding along the runway as the friction intensified the existing blaze.
“The pilot is in good health,” Lt. Col. Konstantinos Gravalos, a HAF spokesman, told reporters. Footage circulating on social media showed the aircraft on its belly on the tarmac, engulfed in flames, with fire crews dousing it with water and foam.
A Greek Air Force F-16 fighter jet made an emergency landing at #Zakynthos Airport on Thursday after reportedly catching fire mid-flight. The pilot landed the aircraft safely & was unharmed. The cause of the incident has not yet been announced.#Greece #F16 #Aviation #AirForce pic.twitter.com/vZFDlr5kvc
— Ahsan Junaid (@AhsanJunaidAJ) July 9, 2026
The canopy was open and the ejection seat appeared intact, indicating the pilot exited the aircraft under his own power. He was later airlifted by military helicopter to Andravida, in western Greece, for precautionary medical evaluation, according to Kathimerini.
The runway at Dionysios Solomos Airport remained closed through at least 7:00 p.m. local time, disrupting hundreds of travelers during the height of tourist season. The HAF dispatched a specialized recovery team to extract the damaged aircraft and clear the runway.
The downed airframe is a legacy F-16C, one of 33 remaining airframes yet to be upgraded under Greece’s ongoing F-16V Viper modernization program.
Hellenic Aerospace Industry (HAI) and Lockheed Martin delivered the 50th upgraded F-16V to the HAF in April 2026, pushing the 83-jet conversion effort well past its halfway mark.
The cause of the emergency landing remains under investigation.
