The hatred that happened to Maciek is unacceptable. He was a large pilot, a large officer, a patriot. He didn't do it for the money, he did it for us. He has done more for Poland than many people throughout his life. You can't insult people like him! – says Gen. Dyw. Pił. Ireneusz Nowak, Air Force Inspector at the General Command of Armed Forces.
We said goodbye to “Slaba” today. The full aviation environment inactive can't believe what happened... That's why we keep going back to the moments we were allowed to spend with him. How did you meet with the colonel? Maciej Krakowian?
Gen. pil. Ireneusz Nowak: In 2013, I was head of the Combat Aviation Division and visited bases in the United States where our pilots were trained. And that's erstwhile I met “Slab”, a young lieutenant who flew T-38 in Vance, Oklahoma. I remember he made a phenomenal impression on me. It was a completely fresh quality in Polish aviation. The duo Kajetan Laczuk and Maciek, sent to survey at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs, was the future of the Polish Army. Young, ambitious, no complexes. And remember, this academy is an incredibly demanding college. To last there, you should be a truly strong man. Massive selection is already on recruitment, and then just harder. It is not finished by the weak, but by people perfectly prepared for further challenges and missions in aviation.
Later, at the base in Krzesiny you met better...
We flew a lot together... From the beginning, he was highly rated. He rapidly absorbed knowledge, entered the environment, adapted standards. It's a very airtight environment. These people know each other, fly together, share the risks and hardships of regular service. And it cements. That's why relationships in the bases are incredibly strong. Maciek was very popular due to the fact that he was hardworking, never refused to help. It just strengthens the force of the blow we got.
Talking to Maciek made him feel incredibly good. Sometimes it was hard for me to imagine that he was a fighter fighter pilot. That behind the plane's rudders must show the hunter's claw.
Each of us is simply a normal, self-controlling man, well-organized, predictable, applying the standards adopted in society. But erstwhile the compartment closes... Then there's another conversation. That doesn't mean you should be crazy. I always tell the pilots, you're the military elite, everyone's looking at you, and you gotta set the standards. Pilots are just little slow.
It's a bad Thursday. 2 days before the show... This message...
I couldn't believe it, due to the fact that statistically, it was impossible for almost the same disaster to happen year after year. We trusted Maciek, we believed in his sanity. As always before the flight, we checked the documentation and procedures of show flights. In our opinion, there was no danger that something was not fulfilled. That's why the shock was the bigger, due to the fact that everyone said everybody, just not Maciek... He was the model of the show pilot... But everyone is just a man, and in this profession, you can't completely destruct risks.
After the accident, it was foreseeable that, as always in specified cases, a carousel of conjecture, speculation, written ad hoc theories...
No 1 deserves to be killed with an intimacy, in the light of the spotlight, then shown on all televisions. As an officer, but as a citizen, I ask where ethics is in this country. What happened to people that don't respect their family, that they don't respect us and do all that? That question needs to be asked out loud. Even before we analysed the recorder, sentences were already issued and “experts” knew what had happened... It's incredibly sad.
The hatred that happened to Maciek is unacceptable. He was a large pilot, a large officer, a patriot. He didn't do it for the money, he did it for us. He has done more for Poland than many people throughout his life. You can't insult people like him!
I'd like to say 1 more thing. After the erstwhile disaster at the shows, I said in “Army Poland” that I think there are besides many of them. Especially in these hard times erstwhile pilots are not short of assignments. I was immediately challenged by the "military concrete" which would most gladly ban all shows. I don't want to gotta deal with these people, these pseudofans of aviation who are with us, how good it is, and if anything happens, they're the first judges.
I see there's quite a few bitterness in you...
I'm bitter due to the fact that it was unworthy of an honest, righteous man like Maciek... Of course, we besides received quite a few words of support. Thank you all, but unfortunately, the negative ones have more influence. They're the ones that carry and they're louder. They're the ones that leave the deepest scars.
