Polish Air Force Casa C-295M plane crash

The CASA C-295M transport plane with 20 people on board had been flying a planned course from Warsaw, Poland, to Krakow, Poland, via the air force's bases at Powidz, Poznan-Krzesiny, Miroslawiec and Swidwin, and was carrying delegates returning from an annual aviation safety conference in the Polish capital. The plane was assigned to the air force's 13th Air Transport Squadron. It crashed in a forest while it was approaching a military airport in northern Poland in an attempt to land. All four crew members and 16 passengers on board the C-295 died.

The accident happened when the cloud base at Miroslawiec was 295 ft (90 m), visibility was 3 km and there was a haze over the airfield. According to air traffic control reports, the aircraft's pilot performed a go-around because of lack of visibility of the airstrip, but during the second approach, reported: "I see the airstrip.". The plane crashed into a forest about 1.8 km (1 NM) short of the runway at Miroslawiec air base.

The cause of the accident could be a technical failure, or a human error. Weather conditions were bad, and the base's instrumented landing system (ILS) was faulty at the time of the crash, restricting the pilot to using only the precision approach radar.

Among those killed were high-ranking officers including base and squadron commanders and technical chiefs from several air force units.

CASA C-295M aircraft

CASA C-295M is a Spanish-made military transport aircraft used for carrying up to 71 soldiers or loads of up to 9250 kilos. The manufacturer is EADS CASA. The plane is modern, fully automated and manufactured in accordance with recent safety standards.