There was an M-346 Bielik plane crash, the pilot was killed at the scene. He did not effort to catapult himself – passed General Dyw. Pil. Ireneusz Nowak, Air Force Inspector DGRSZ. The event took place in Gdynia-Baby Dołach during the training flight. The plane hit the airfield plate and went up in flames. The origin of the crash is explained by the service.
The plane crash occurred on Friday, about 13 o'clock at the 43rd Naval Air Base in Gdynia-Baby Dołach. During the training flight M-346 Bielik from unexplained reasons hit the airport plate and went on fire. Emergency action immediately began. It was not clear whether the pilot was able to eject. The event was immediately informed by the General Command of the RSZ, and a fewer hours later the media met Gen. Dyw. Pil. Ireneusz Nowak, Air Force Inspector.
– There was an M-346 Bielik plane crash, the pilot was killed at the scene. He did not effort to catapult himself," said Gen. Nowak. – This is simply a very hard day for us airmen and the full armed forces. We're in mourning. We lost a large pilot, a large teacher – he stressed.
“Great soldier, husband and father. The man who gave his country what was most important... I offer my deepest condolences to my household and loved ones," wrote Deputy Prime Minister Władysław Kosiniak-Kamysz, Minister of National Defence.
In the crash of M-346 Bielik was killed by Major Pil. Robert Jeł, deputy squadron commander and air teacher at 41th School Aviation Base in Dęblin. Robert was a large pilot, a large man. He was calm, he flew very precisely. He required much of his disciples, and even more of himself. His pupils present defend the Polish sky, flying to F-16, any of them are about to leave for training at F-35," said the Air Force Inspector. Gen. Nowak explained that the pilot arrived present from Dęblin to Gdynia and was preparing for tomorrow's air shows on the occasion of the 30th anniversary of the Gdynia Navy Air Brigade. – Show flights, in addition to those in the war zone, are at the highest risk. Therefore, for this kind of tasks we choose the most experienced airmen – said Gen. Nowak at the conference. He besides explained that the piloted by Major Jeła Bielik (side number 7714) in the service was from 2022.
The State Commission for the Investigation of Aviation Accidents, the Prosecutor's Office and the Military Police are already operating at the scene. The SP inspector announced that all flights on Bieliki were suspended. All show flights were besides suspended. Due to the disaster, the celebrations of the MW aviation festival were cancelled.
Major Robert “Killer” Jeł was an experienced pilot and instructor. He spent over 1,100 hours behind Bielik's rudders, and his life's raid was about 2,000 hours. In the past, Major Jeł besides piloted Cessna 172, PZL-130 Orlik and TS-11 spark. Prior to his flight to M-346, he besides trained in the United States on T-6 and T-38 Talon. The officer orphaned his daughter, left his wife and parents. The closest tragically deceased pilot was taken care of by a psychologist.
M-346 is 1 of the most modern school-training aircraft in the world. Since 2018, pilots-instructors from 4 Wings have been trained in Bieliki, and since April 2019, they have been flying under the pilots of the Military Academy. The whites replaced the TS-11 Iskra in the school-training service. The first trained on the M-346 LAW pods already service in tactical bases in Grace and Krzesiny, where they pilot the F-16. The M-346 fleet inactive had 16 copies.
Last year, M-346 Demo squad was formed in the structures of the 41th School Aviation Base. He first appeared to the audience during the Radom Air Show in 2023.
