The worst was avoided due to the direct reaction of the two pilots of the Empraer.

The Government aircraft Legacy Empraer was transporting the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Evangelo Venizelo from the capital of Turkey to Milan (to attend the informal meeting of foreign ministers GYMNICH of the EU).

The deputy prime minister had gone to Ankara for the oath ceremony of the president Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.

Besides the Minister of Foreign Affairs, aboard were the director of the diplomatic office of the Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Evangelos Sekeris, the Ministry spokesman Mr. Konstantinos Koutras, a journalist and a cameraman of the national channel NERIT.

Nothing presaged what would follow, since everything had worked properly both in the process of take-off and during the growth phase of the aircraft up to a height of 37,000 feet where it would continue its journey.

Suddenly, and while the aircraft was flying over the island of Thassos, the captain and co-pilot noticed that the right window (in the co-pilot) “opened” showing multiple cracks.
The reaction was to immediately ask Thessaloniki airport to land there, not because they had an immediate problem (the biggest risk was for the window to break and decompress the cabin), but for purely preventive reasons .The Air Force pilots gave instructions to all occupants to fastened and acted calmly and professionally following the planned emergency procedures. So the aircraft landed safely at the airport Macedonia of Thessaloniki at 10:39 a.m.

Under these conditions, the aircraft was unable to continue its journey and therefore the second VIP aircraft of the Air Force was called, the Embraer 209, which departed from Elefsina to Thessaloniki to receive the Greek diplomatic mission.

The Embraer 209 landed at 11:54 in Thessaloniki. Aboard the aircraft was the technical team of the airbase at Elefsina in order to proceed with the replacement of the window.
The Greek mission soon after departed for Milan

Experts stress that such damage cannot be predicted and have nothing to do with the scheduled maintenance of the aircraft but may be due to random events or fatigue or failure of materials.