{"id":381288,"date":"2025-08-29T00:30:17","date_gmt":"2025-08-29T00:30:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/381288\/"},"modified":"2025-08-29T00:30:17","modified_gmt":"2025-08-29T00:30:17","slug":"breaking-polish-f-16-crashes-during-radom-airshow-rehearsal-pilot-dies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/381288\/","title":{"rendered":"Breaking: Polish F-16 Crashes During Radom Airshow Rehearsal, Pilot Dies"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The jet, assigned to the Polish F-16 Tiger Demo Team, was rehearsing for the Radom Air Show planned for Aug. 30 and 31.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>A Polish Air Force F-16 Fighting Falcon, assigned to the F-16 Tiger Demo Team, crashed at around 7:25 pm local time (5:25 pm UTC) on Aug. 28, 2025, at Radom Air Base, Poland. The pilot, Major Maciej \u201cSLAB\u201d Krakowian, died in the impact, according to government sources.<\/p>\n<p>The aircraft was rehearsing the Tiger Demo Team\u2019s display for the <a href=\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/2023\/08\/29\/radom-air-show-2023\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Radom Air Show<\/a>, which was planned for Aug. 30 and 31. A short video surfaced on social media shows the last seconds before the tragic accident, with the aircraft descending during a maneuver, hitting the ground.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">Very sad. Reportedly Polish F-16 at Radom <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/N1hmO6UpEs\">pic.twitter.com\/N1hmO6UpEs<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 The Aviationist (@TheAviationist) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/TheAviationist\/status\/1961124881300434966?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">August 28, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The F-16 was flying at max power with the afterburner lit, maneuvering to complete the figure. The video doesn\u2019t appear to show an ejection.<\/p>\n<p>Update<\/p>\n<p>The Polish Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of National Defence W\u0142adys\u0142aw Kosiniak-Kamysz confirmed on X the death of the pilot.<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>I\u2019m at the scene of the tragedy. A Polish Army pilot was killed in an F-16 crash \u2013 an officer who always served his country with dedication and great courage.<\/p>\n<p>I pay tribute to his memory. I extend my deepest condolences to his family and loved ones.<\/p>\n<p>This is a great loss for the Air Force and the entire Polish Army.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"pl\">Jestem na miejscu tragedii. W katastrofie samolotu F-16 zgin\u0105\u0142 pilot Wojska Polskiego \u2013 oficer, kt\u00f3ry zawsze s\u0142u\u017cy\u0142 Ojczy\u017anie z oddaniem i wielk\u0105 odwag\u0105.<\/p>\n<p>Sk\u0142adam ho\u0142d Jego pami\u0119ci.<br \/>Rodzinie i bliskim sk\u0142adam najg\u0142\u0119bsze wyrazy wsp\u00f3\u0142czucia.<\/p>\n<p>To wielka strata dla Si\u0142 Powietrznych i\u2026<\/p>\n<p>\u2014 W\u0142adys\u0142aw Kosiniak-Kamysz (@KosiniakKamysz) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/KosiniakKamysz\/status\/1961134090373169645?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">August 28, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>The General Command of the Polish Armed Forces confirmed that the accident involved an aircraft from the <a href=\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/2018\/05\/15\/nato-tiger-meet-begins-in-poznan-arrivals-last-weekend\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">31st Tactical Air Base<\/a> at Krzesiny, near Pozna\u0144, where the F-16 Tiger Demo Team is based, and that there were no injuries on the ground. Emergency services were immediately dispatched to the scene.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">It is with deep sorrow that we share the tragic news that Major Maciej \u201cSLAB\u201d Krakowian, pilot of the F-16 Tiger Demo Team, lost his life this afternoon during rehearsal for the Radom Airshow.<\/p>\n<p>\ud83d\udd4a\ufe0f Blue skies and eternal tailwinds, SLAB. You will never be forgotten. \ud83d\udc05\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf1 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/xnQ9pmWp5y\">pic.twitter.com\/xnQ9pmWp5y<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 European Airshows (@EuroAirshow) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EuroAirshow\/status\/1961134101311721539?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">August 28, 2025<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>A statement from the Polish Armed Forces\u2019 Operational Command further confirmed the accident, which also happened on the Polish Aviation Day, transforming a day of pride and remembrance in a moment of unimaginable grief and emptiness.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>Following the crash, the organizers of the biannual Radom Air Show have cancelled the event. Today\u2019s accident is also the first involving a Polish F-16.<\/p>\n<p>F-16 Tiger Demo Team<\/p>\n<p>The F-16 Tiger Demo Team is the official F-16 demonstration team of the Polish Air Force. The team is part of the 6 Eskadra Lotnicza (6th Fighter Squadron), whose emblem is the Tiger.<\/p>\n<p>Flying the <a href=\"https:\/\/theaviationist.com\/2025\/08\/28\/polish-f-16-viper-shield\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">F-16C Block 52+<\/a>, the Tiger Demo Team is the only in Europe to fly with conformal fuel tanks during this year\u2019s airshow season. The leader of the team and demo pilot is Major Maciej \u201cSLAB\u201d Krakowian, which stepped into the role in 2023.<\/p>\n<p>This is a developing news, we will update this article once new details emerge.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The jet, assigned to the Polish F-16 Tiger Demo Team, was rehearsing for the Radom Air Show planned&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":381289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[33889,12,132596,132597,26],"class_list":{"0":"post-381288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-f-16","9":"tag-news","10":"tag-polish-air-force","11":"tag-radom-air-show","12":"tag-world"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/115109234292808606","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=381288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/381288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/381289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=381288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=381288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=381288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}