Poland's leader injured in helicopter crash

UK Telegraph ^ | Dec. 5, 2003 | Matthew Day

[FairOpinion]

Leszek Miller, the Polish prime minister, was taken to hospital last night after his Soviet-era helicopter crash-landed near Warsaw.

Leszek Miller Polish television reported that Mr Miller was being treated for spinal injuries after he hobbled out of the 26-year-old Mi-8 helicopter.

The craft had to make an emergency landing after both engines failed. It apparently struck some trees before landing heavily in a field near Gora Kalwaria, 12 miles from the Polish capital.

Witnesses spoke of the helicopter falling out of the sky. Eleven other passengers and crew were injured.

The prime minister was returning from the south of Poland where he had opened a new stretch of motorway and attended a copper miners' celebration.

A spokesman for Mr Miller told Polish television that the prime minister was able to walk off the helicopter unaided, but he had suffered "bruises" in the crash. One of Mr Miller's bodyguards was seriously injured after being trapped in the wreckage.

Mr Miller is expected to be in hospital for a week and cancelled a trip to Ireland today. A doctor at Warsaw's interior ministry hospital, Grazyna Rydzewska said: "He has two broken vertebrae but without dislocation or pressure."

Polish television reported that the government helicopter was used by the Pope when he visited the country.

[FairOpinion]

I am glad he survived -- but I hope they will look into the cause very carefully.

[FairOpinion]

Leszek Miller, Polish Prime Minister

[GeronL]

I clicked because I thought, maybe, he was in Arkansas.

[GeronL]

I would think the leader of a nation might get a somewhat newer helicopter.

[Revolting cat!]

ARKANCIDE!

[Consort]

[MJY1288]

The best of the Soviet Era Helicopters were death traps at best, after owning a few Soviet night scopes for my Dragunov Sniper Rifle and the charging systems for the batteries, I wouldn't trust any Soviet eletronics, especially navigation or flight control electronics. Below is a pic of a Dragunov, it's iluminated scope and the optional night scope which I also have

[Malesherbes]

Leszek Miller, an ex-Communist, has proved to be a good friend of the United States, probably for pragmatic rather than ideological reasons.

[isom35]

I dont want to read any jokes about polish sausage.

[dfwgator]

More like Miller was once a Communist for pragmatic and not ideological reasons. Very few Poles were dedicated Communists, but they had to do what they had to do under the boot of Moscow at the time. Kwasniewski and Miller are pretty much the same as the British Labour Party, despite their previous affiliation with the PUWP.

[At _War_With_Liberals]

[kayak]

fyi

[se99tp]

Today I talked to technician who has supervised MIs for more than 20 years. To the best of his knowledge there were nontechnical reasons of the accident:
a) copter was overcrowded - 20 people instead of 12
b) because of that pilot decided to fule copter only what is enough.
Nobody knows who allowed for that.

The result: sudden lack of gas cause stopping of both engines and copter crashed - not landed.