What happened
On February 23, 2017, a crew from the Zielona Góra branch of the Polish Medical Air Rescue (LPR) was conducting a medical mission to the town of Sądów. The initial flight to the patient and the subsequent landing in Sąd and were completed without incident. At 13:04 local time, the crew landed under weather conditions featuring a cloud base of 700 ft and visibility of 5 kilometers.
During the return leg of the flight, traveling from Sądów toward EPZP, the crew departed at 14:04. During the climb, the pilot observed a significant deterioration in meteorological conditions. The cloud base dropped to approximately 300 ft, and visibility decreased to 1 kilometer. Consequently, the pilot decided to abort the mission and executed a precautionary landing back at the departure site in Sądów. The landing was completed without further incident. After shutting down the engines, the commander notified the LPR Operations Center and requested a weather analysis for the Sądów and Zielona Góra regions. Once weather conditions improved around 17:00, the crew safely returned to base, landing at 17:35.
The investigation
The investigation focused on the sudden change in visibility and cloud ceiling during the ascent phase of the return flight. The investigation established that the meteorological report issued for the day, which covered the period until 17:00, did not forecast a drop in weather conditions below the pilot's operational minimums.
Findings
- The primary cause of the incident was a significant deterioration in weather conditions.
- The existing meteorological forecast failed to predict the drop in visibility and cloud base below the pilot's authorized minimums.