Greek flight safety expert to receive sector's highest distinction

"It's a story of blood and aircraft wreckage strewn across fields." A poet could not have offered a better description of Captain Akrivos Tsolakis' career in the Hellenic Air Force and as an air accident investigator.

"It's been an adventurous career, the stuff of films, I could almost say," the respected expert tells Kathimerini after learning that he will be receiving the Jerome F. Lederer Award for this contribution to flight safety from the International Society of Air Safety Investigators (ISASI).

This is the highest distinction in the field and the ceremony will take place on September 5 during a formal dinner at the ISASI annual seminar at The Hague.

"I have been awarded 44 times, by various agencies and foreign nations, even Turkey, but this is the highest honor I have ever received," says Tsolakis.

"This award is not just about flight safety. It...