A Greek airforce pilot was killed Wednesday in a training aircraft accident near the southern city of Kalamata, officials said.

His US-made T-2 Buckeye crashed near Kalamata airport on its return from a solo training flight, the airforce said in a statement.

The two-seat Buckeyes have trained Greek cadets for over four decades, but the airforce planned to phase them out after acquiring a pair of Italian-made M-346 aircraft in May.

The 40-year-old pilot was on his final Buckeye flight and his family was present at the time of the accident, state TV ERT reported.

Greece first acquired the model in 1976. Another Buckeye crashed in 2018, killing one of its two pilots.