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2003 Polish Air Force Mil Mi-8 crash

Helicopter crash near Warsaw

Field	Value
image	Helicopter (Lublinek Airport).jpg
image_upright	1.15
caption	A helicopter belonging to the same operator, the Government of Poland
occurrence_type	Accident
date
summary	Dual engine failure due to icing, resulting in crash
site	Pilawa, Poland
aircraft_type	Mil Mi-8P
operator	Government of Poland
tail_number	632
origin	Southern Poland (Specific airport unknown)
destination	Unknown
occupants	15
fatalities	0
injuries	14
survivors	15

On 4 December 2003, a Polish Mi-8 helicopter operated by the 36th Special Aviation Regiment carrying Poland's Prime Minister Leszek Miller crashed near Piaseczno, just outside Warsaw. The pilot performed an autorotation landing in a forest following the failure of both engines. The helicopter suffered extensive damage and was written off as a total loss, but despite the severity of the crash there were no fatalities. Fourteen of the 15 people on board were injured, including Leszek Miller, who had two of his thoracic vertebrae broken.

Background

Aircraft

The helicopter was a 26-year-old Mil Mi-8P, and was close to the end of its service life. It belonged to the 36th Special Aviation Regiment responsible for transporting Polish government officials.

Crew

The pilot of the helicopter was major Marek Miłosz, later promoted to lieutenant colonel.

Cause

The cause of the engine failure was determined to be icing.

Trial

On 10 March 2004, Miłosz was criminally charged with violating flight safety rules and causing the crash. Specifically, the pilot was blamed for not manually turning on the deicing equipment during the flight. The pilot argued that the meteorologic information available to him at the time did not indicate that icing was likely, and hence he was not required to turn on the deicing equipment. He was consulting a thermometer during the flight, but it suffered from a systematic measurement error and hence was unable to warn of icing. In addition, during the flight an unusual thermal inversion occurred; the temperature rose with altitude, which the pilot could not have predicted. In March 2010, the 6-year trial ended with a verdict of not guilty. The judge in the case noted the pilot expertly carried out the difficult autorotation landing and that the passengers survived because of his superb piloting skills. Leszek Miller declared that if he had to fly again in a helicopter in difficult atmospheric conditions, he would choose Miłosz as his pilot.

References

(2010-03-22). "Pilot Millera niewinny. - Miller's pilot not guilty.". [[TVN24]].
"Accident Mil Mi-8P 632, Thursday 4 December 2003".
(2010-04-10). "Polish plane crash highlights 'lamentable' fleet". Reuters India.
(April 2019). "Miller: z ppłk. Miłoszem poleciałbym i drugi raz - Miller: I would fly a second time with Lieutenant Colonel Miłosz". [[Gazeta Wyborcza]].

Info: Wikipedia Source

This article was imported from Wikipedia and is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Content has been adapted to SurfDoc format. Original contributors can be found on the article history page.

aviation-accidents-and-incidents-in-2003 2003-in-poland aviation-accidents-and-incidents-in-poland accidents-and-incidents-involving-the-mil-mi-8 aviation-accidents-and-incidents-involving-state-leaders polish-air-force december-2003-in-poland 2003-disasters-in-poland accidents-and-incidents-involving-military-helicopters

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