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About Athanasios Tzoganis
- Air Chief Marshal Athanasios Tzoganis (Greek: ??a??s??? ????????; born 15 July 1939) is a retired Hellenic Air Force officer who served as Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff in 1996–1999.
- Born in Skourtou, Aetolia-Acarnania, he entered the Hellenic Air Force Academy in 1959 and graduated first in his class in 1962.
- He flew F-84, A-7, G-159, T-33, NORATLAS, C-47 and C-130 aircraft and held several staff positions and active commands (345 Bomber Squadron and 112 Fighter Wing).
- From 1982-1983 he was aide-de-camp to Prime Minister and Defense Minister Andreas Papandreou.
- He later headed the Air Support Command, the Hellenic Tactical Air Force Command and finally became Chief of the Hellenic Air Force General Staff on 17 December 1993.
- He held the post until 16 February 1996, when he was appointed to the position of Chief of the Hellenic National Defence General Staff, a position he held until 15 February 1999.
- He is married and has two daughters. Tzoganis was one of the pilots who on 21 July 1974 had been ordered to fly to Souda, in order to airlift a Greek Commando battalion to Cyprus (Operation Niki).
- According to orders, all aircraft had to depart before midnight so that darkness would provide enough cover for their return flight.
- At around 24:00, Tzoganis' aircraft was ready to depart when the control tower announced the termination of all take offs.
- Strictly adhering to orders, Tzoganis turned back and shut down his engines.
- However, two of the following aircraft (Niki-14, piloted by Panayotis Limperopoulos and Niki-15, piloted by Evangelos Petroulakis) insisted on departing and took off at 00:20 and 00.23.
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