Andrzej Błasik

Andrzej Błasik

A. Błasik, resting place in Powązki

Andrzej Eugeniusz Błasik (born October 11, 1962 in Poddębice , Poland ; † April 10, 2010 near Smolensk , Russia ) was a Polish officer and general (OF-9) of the Polish Armed Forces and commander of the Polish Air Force . He died in the crash of a Tu-154 near Smolensk in Russia.

education

From 1977 to 1981 Błasik attended the Lyceum belonging to the Air Force Officers' College in Dęblin . He then studied at the Officers' College of the Polish Air Force , where he was made a sub-lieutenant in 1985 and transferred to the group of passenger aircraft crews.

Błasik served in the 8th combat bomber regiment in Mirosławiec , before he went through various assignments from 1987 onwards in the 40th combat bomber regiment in Świdwin , most recently as deputy commander .

Błasik graduated from the Academy of National Defense in Warsaw from 1993 to 1995 with a degree in military science.

Military career

From 1995 Błasik served in the Air Force / Air Defense Command in Warsaw. There he became chief inspector of the flight navigation department, chief inspector for training and chief of the operations department ( A 3 ).

In 2001 Błasik A 3 became part of the 2nd Tactical Air Brigade in Poznan . In 2002 he became the commander of the 31st Air Force Base in Poznan. From 2004 Błasik was head of the combat support division of the Commander in Chief of the Air Force, before he was in command of the 2nd Tactical Air Brigade from 2005 to 2007. On August 15, 2005, Błasik was appointed Brigadier General of Airmen. A short time later he became the commander of the Officers' College of the Polish Air Force . Błasik also completed courses at the Royal Military Academy in The Hague ( Netherlands ) and in 1998 and 2005 at the Air War College at Maxwell-Gunter Air Force Base ( Alabama , USA).

He completed 1,300 hours of flight time as a pilot. As a flight instructor, Błasik had licenses for training flights in all weather conditions for the Sukhoi Su-22 and PZL TS-11 Iskra aircraft . He also flew the Polish PZL-Mielec Lim-6 fighter plane .

On April 19, 2007 Błasik was appointed Commander of the Polish Air Force and promoted to Major General of the Aviators. Since August 15, 2007 he had the rank of lieutenant general (generał broni) .

On April 10, 2010 he died in the plane crash near Smolensk of the Polish government plane of the Tupolev Tu-154 type .

The Russian final report on the cause of the crash gave Błasik complicity in the crash. He was drunk and put pressure on the pilots.

The Institute for Court Analysis ( Instytut Ekspertyz Sądowych im. Prof. Jana Sehna ) in Kraków subsequently clearly demonstrated (CVR decoding) that the voice attributed to Błasik in the Russian final report (MAK) was the voice of the second pilot Robert Grzywna . So there was no evidence of Błasik's presence in the cockpit. The Russian investigation report had taken Błasik's presence for granted, as his body had been found near the cockpit. Błasik's autopsy report (which certified an alcohol content of 0.6 per mille in the blood) was deleted from the MAK website. After another investigation on behalf of the Polish public prosecutor's office, however, he was not drunk, but sober.

His successor in the post of Commander in Chief of the Air Force was Lech Majewski on May 20, 2010 .

Honors

• Commander's Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta - 2010, posthumous
• Cross of Merit - Silver (2006)
• Cross of Merit - Bronze (1998)
• Medal Armed Forces in the Service of the Fatherland - silver
• Medal Armed Forces in the Service of the Fatherland - bronze
• Medal for merits in securing the defense readiness of the country - gold

• Commander of the Legion of Merit - (2009) For outstanding service as Commander of the Polish Air Force .
• Grand Officer of the Order of Merit of Portugal - (2008)
• Decoration of Honor of the Polish Armed Forces , for accompanying the international maneuvers of the NATO Air Meet 2003

Private

Błasik was married and had two children.

Web links

Commons : Andrzej Błasik  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Gene. dyw. Andrzej Błasik nowym Dowódcą Sił Powietrznych. Ministerstwo Obrony Narodowej (Polish)

Footnotes

1. ↑ List of Polish VIPs who lost their lives in a plane crash in Russia ( memento of the original from February 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
2. ↑ n-tv.de, final report on the Kaczynski crash: Poland's air force chief charged , January 12, 2011
3. ↑ Gen. Błasika never było w kabinie? Nowe ustalenia. ( Memento of the original from January 19, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Newsweek Polska, January 13, 2012, in Polish 
4. ↑ We are keen on alcohol. Błasika zniknął ze strony MAK. Wprost.pl, February 22, 2012, Polish
5. ↑ onet.pl accessed on April 3, 2014
6. ↑ Biuro Prasowe Kancelarii Sejmu (Press Office of the Sejm): Komunikat No. 163 / VI kad. , accessed April 18, 2010
7. ↑ Legion of Merit for Lieutenant General Andrzej Blasik ( Memento of the original from May 27, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , September 28, 2009.