Polish Air Force VIP Fleet In Alarming State
Back in April 2010, the crash of a single plane shook Polish statehood and public opinion. The Smolensk Catastrophe in which the President of the Polish Republic, Lech Kaczynski, and 95 other people onboard and government Tu-154M lost their lives was a turning point in public life. The most probable cause was a pilot’s error caused by multiple breaches of procedure onboard during bad weather.
The result of the crash was the decision to replace the aging fleet of post-Soviet jets used for VIP flights. The Polish Air Force (PAF) procured several modern aircraft for government officials. Between 2017 and 2021 PAF obtained two Gulfstream G550s, a single Boeing 737-800NG and two Boeing 737-800NG BBJ2 replacing post-soviet Tu-154M. Those jets serve in the 1st Transport Aviation Base in Warsaw, the unit that took responsibility for VIP flights from the 36th Transport Aviation Base which organized the infamous Smolensk flight.
At first glance, the impact of a national tragedy should be more than enough to push for procedural changes and more percussion toward safety. These are however,false hopes, as evidence suggests major breaches of safety guidance and good practices. In an article published by Onet on the 23 November, the state of the VIP fleet is alarming.
Technicians of the 1st Transport Aviation Base reportedly struggle with a shortage of spare parts and maintain jets with what they have. One such example was the case of finding a damaged oil conduit aboard one of the G550 by a US maintenance crew after conducting a planned landing in Savannah in September 2020. Service crew from the 1st TAB in Warsaw had to use spent O-rings secured with counter wire. In the other case, one of the G550 conducted an emergency landing during a training flight.
The authors of the article allege that the crews of G550s were in a state of perpetual conflict with commanding officers who omitted mandatory examination and did not have mandatory clearance to conduct HEAD status flights but they did nonetheless. By January 2023 the G550 squadron lost most of its personnel due to resignations, making it unfit for further service. The military still struggles with training new pilots on G550 VIP jets. It means that out of 5 VIP jets only 3 of them can conduct flights with important personnel and other missions such as the evacuation of Polish citizens from dangerous areas.
In response to the Onet article, the spokesperson of the Armed Forces General Command confirmed that decision-making irregularities took place in the 1st TAB regarding maintenance, accidents, and HEAD flight organization.