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Two Killed in Mid-Air Collision Between Firefighting Helicopters Near Psatha, Greece

Aerotime reported two crew died when one helicopter's rotor struck another during wildfire operations on August 3, 2026; Greek authorities have opened an investigation and the cause has not been determined.

By AI ReporterFirst reported Aug 3, 2026, 6:15 a.m. ETUpdated Aug 7, 2026, 11:35 a.m. ET

More on this incident

crew members were killed when firefighting helicopters collided in mid-air near , , on August 3, 2026, according to Aerotime. The outlet reported that footage showed one helicopter's rotor striking the underside of the other, which crashed and caught fire. The second aircraft released its water load and made an emergency landing. Aerotime reported the victims as a Danish pilot and a Greek fire service liaison officer. The cause has not been determined; Aerotime reported that Greek authorities have opened an investigation. Aerotime reported that the helicopters were owned by , an Australian company based on the Sunshine Coast, and that all helicopters operating in were grounded as a precaution. The aircraft that crashed has not been officially identified. An early registration of has circulated from contributed, scanner- and social-media-based monitoring of the event; no accident authority or registry statement has confirmed that identification. Registry records list 16 aircraft under , nine of them types, including 214 B-1 and 214 B machines registered in Australia and Papua New Guinea, and TH-1F and UH-1B Iroquois registered in Australia. Those records describe the operator's fleet and are not an identification of the aircraft involved. For the unconfirmed registration , aircraft registry records list a 214ST, described as a single-engine turboprop helicopter, serial number 28105, built in 1982 and 44 years old at the time of the crash, registered in the United States. Registry records list the registered owner as Bank Of Utah Trustee; the owner of record is not necessarily the operator, the pilot, or otherwise connected to the flight. Bank of Utah states publicly that, as owner trustee, it does not purchase aircraft for its own account, does not finance their acquisition and does not retain operational control of them, and describes itself as one of the largest providers of aircraft owner trusts in the world, with more than 3,000 aircraft in owner trusts on the FAA registry. As a matter of record, the NTSB database, which begins in 2008, contains one other case involving a 214ST, of which none involved a fatality. Records also list other cases involving the same owner of record, all separate aircraft: a Boeing 737, N583AS, at Kodiak, Alaska on January 15, 2026; a Bombardier CL-600-2D24, N480PX, at New York on October , 2025; an Airbus A320-214, N837VA, at Villahermosa, Mexico on August 16, 2025; an Air Tractor AT-502B, N502WF, at Goodland, Kansas on August 10, 2025; and an Airbus Canada BD-500-1A11, N247BZ, at North Charleston, South Carolina on July 19, 2025. Neither the type record nor the owner's other cases says anything about the cause of this accident. Geographic reference data places in the Regional Unit of West Attica, about 7.6 miles southeast of Dounis Airfield and 12 miles southeast of Megara Air Base; that locates the settlement only, not the accident site. The investigation remains open.

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Reference data

From aircraft and geographic registries, not from the news sources. Registry records can be out of date, and describe the aircraft and the place only — they say nothing about what happened.

Registration
N511EV
Type
Bell 214ST — single-engine turboprop helicopter
Engines
AMA/EXPR UNKNOWN ENG
Built
1982-01-01 (44 years old)
Registered owner
Bank Of Utah TrusteeThe owner of record is not necessarily the operator, the pilot, or otherwise connected to the flight.
Terrain elevation
13 ft
Nearest aerodrome
7.6 miles NW of Dounis Airfield (GR-0016)

Sources

Revision history

  1. Version 87 Aug 2026, 15:35current

    Minor wording clarifications to the type-record sentence and the derived-registration caveat; no new facts.

  2. Version 75 Aug 2026, 20:10

    Added the unconfirmed volunteer-database registration N511EV with its registry details, the registered owner of record and trustee background, the owner's other NTSB cases and the Bell 214ST type record; dropped the geographic paragraph.

  3. Version 64 Aug 2026, 23:23

    Corrected the operator fleet detail to the registry models and countries of registration now on record (Australia and Papua New Guinea), removing the previously listed 214 ST, 206L and US registrations.

  4. Version 54 Aug 2026, 20:33

    Removed the developing-situation caveat now that the event record is published; no factual changes.

  5. Version 44 Aug 2026, 20:32

    Replaced the claim that the aircraft identities were unknowable with registry-record detail on McDermott Aviation's fleet, noting it is not an identification of the aircraft involved.

  6. Version 34 Aug 2026, 20:09current

    Added a note that neither helicopter's registration is in the available material and explained why no tail number can be matched.

  7. Version 27 Aug 2026, 15:35current

    Restructured to lead with the collision, casualties and open investigation rather than the unconfirmed registration; added location reference data and clearer labelling of the tail number as unconfirmed.

  8. Version 24 Aug 2026, 20:04

    Corrected the geographic description of the site relative to nearby aerodromes and added the Perneri Airfield distance from reference data.

  9. Version 14 Aug 2026, 17:09

    First published.

  10. Version 15 Aug 2026, 20:13

    First published.

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