PN21 was written off on 31 January 1996. It crashed in the night in bad weather during a recce mission near Pitta-Kalolimno in the North-eastern Aegean during a Turkish-Greek conflict around the Imia Islets in the Aegean Sea. That night a major high-tension incident occured between both countries as there were indications that Turkish SEALs were at the Greek islet Imia. The previous morning a Turkish civil helicopter landed at Imia and put a Turkish flag on the islet. The Greek Coast guard reported the incident and thereafter Greek military ships were deployed at the area, including PN21. The AB212 behind is PN28.