CSA 295
Poland Dismisses And Punishes People Responsible For Catastrophic Polish Military Air Crash
Warsaw, Poland - 9 April, 2008
Poland lost 16 senior military officers and a crew of 4 when an Polish military plane crashed on a second landing attempt on 23 January, 2008. As a result of the investigation into the matter, 5 people have been relieved of their positions. And another 20 are slated to be disciplined.
The plane, carrying 16 high ranking Polish air force officers, was returning in difficult flying conditions from a flight safety training conference . With the airport's Instrument Landing System not working, the pilot aborted his first attempted landing at Miroslawiec because he could not see the runway.
The pilot made a go around to try to land again.
According to information about the investigation into the accident, the person piloting the plane did not properly execute the go around and properly set up for the second landing attempt. He maneuvered the plane into a classic low altitude turning stall and the plane plunged to the ground when the wings lost lift.
Typically a stall is caused by the pilot attempting to fly the aircraft too slowly, or to pull up too quickly from a dive, or to turn too steeply. Each of these causes the nose to be lifted until the wing's critical angle of attack is exceeded. Increasing engine power counteracts the increased drag caused by the stall and also increases air speed, and this helps in recovery from a stall. The critical action in recovering from a stall is, however, reduction in the angle of attack, i.e., lowering the nose.
Altitude (height above the ground) is lost by the aircraft during the stall itself but considerably more height can be lost during the recovery. If the aircraft is already at a high altitude this is not a problem. If the aircraft is very close to the ground, however, a stall may cause the aircraft to lose so much altitude that it hits the ground before recovery from the stall is possible. For this reason, pilots are especially careful to avoid stalls during take-off and landing procedures, when the aircraft is very close to the ground. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stall_(flight)
Poland's defense minister Bogdan Klich has already relieved and transferred to the Reserves five people "directly responsible for the tragedy".
Those relieved are to be charged criminally. And they are vigorously denying guilt.
As a result of the investigation, another 20 people will be disciplined. Who they are and how they will be disciplined is not yet publicly known.
The pilots were said to have been flying for over 16 hours at the time of the accident.
Polish pilots say that planes of the type that crashed, a Spanish CASA C-295, is highly reliable and easy to fly.
One rumor claims that there was pressure put on the pilots by one of the senior passengers who ostensibly told them that if they could not land the plane he would do it for them.
The pilot's brother has asked for the recordings of the conversations between the control tower and the cockpit.
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