Mi-24 air accident in Drawsko Pomorskie

The Mi-24 helicopter accident in Drawsko Pomorskie – an air accident of a Mi-24D military helicopter, which occurred on 4 April 2003 on the Bucierz tactical strip, on the grounds of the Drawsko training ground, during the Land Forces exercise “Donośna Surma 2003”. Three people were killed in the accident and six soldiers were injured. The commission investigating the event established that the helicopter was serviceable and that the cause of the accident was pilot error.

Course of the accident

The accident occurred in the afternoon of 4 April 2003, according to a media report at around 16:00, on the tactical strip in Bucierz. During a low-altitude flight, while making a turn, the helicopter caught a Tarpan Honker off-road vehicle, in which soldiers were sitting, with its main rotor blades. After contact with the vehicle the helicopter fell to the ground; according to a later account from the court proceedings, both the vehicle and the helicopter burned.

The first information passed on by the exercise press centre indicated a strong gust of wind as the probable cause. On the same day, however, the spokesman of the Minister of National Defence, Col. Eugeniusz Mleczak, stated that the direct cause of the event was the helicopter catching the off-road vehicle. After the accident, the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces, Gen. Czesław Piątas, ordered the exercise to be halted.

There were eight soldiers on board the helicopter. Two of them were killed on the spot. The third victim, a soldier who was in the vehicle caught by the helicopter, died after being taken to hospital. Six other people were injured.