Two pilots perish in TS-11 Iskra plane crash on outskirts of Bydgoszcz
Two Polish air force pilots perished Friday morning when during a routine
flight their TS-11 Iskra plane malfunctioned prior to landing at Bydgoszcz
airport and seconds later plummeted to the ground. Lt. Col. Roumald Czopek
and Captain Jacek Trzcinski were flying at low altitude when witnesses say
they heard a huge explosion, followed by a burst of flames engulfing a
meadow just 50 meters away from a residential area on the outskirts of
Bydgoszcz. One of the pilots managed to eject himself from the aircraft in
mid air in a last-ditch effort to escape, but died on impact of the ground.
Czopek and Trzcinski had taken the Iskra - the Polish air defenses main
aircraft used for training pilots - out on a routine flight after the plane
had undergone major servicing. All flights of the TS-11 type have been
suspended until the cause of the accident has been determined.
(Rzeczpospolita, March 3-4, pp.A1, A3; Gazeta Wyborcza, March 3-4, p.4)
