PhD Edmund Klich

Colonel, res. pilot of the Polish Army, doctor of military sciences, from 2006 to 2012 head of the State Commission for Investigation of Aviation Accidents

Studies:

Profile bio

As a 16-year-old he flew gliders in Leszno. After graduating from high school, he began studies at the Officers’ Aviation School in Dęblin, from which he graduated in 1967. In 1974 he graduated with honors from the Academy of the General Staff in Warsaw.
During his military service, he held positions of responsibility in the Air Force. He was, inter alia, deputy commander of the 58 Air Force Base in Dęblin and the Senior Inspector of Flight Safety at WSOSP. In the years 1993 – 1994 he was part of the UN mission in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. In the years 1994 – 1995 he studied twice at the International Center for Flight Safety in Paris. In 1996, he attended a flight safety course at the Royal Air Force Flight Safety Center in London. In 1997, at the Faculty of Air Forces and Air Defence of the National Defence University, he defended his doctorate on the subject: “Directions for improving the operations of the flight security service in the Polish Armed Forces.”

In the years 1997-2000 he was the deputy commander of the aviation department at the Eaglets’ School, and for the next three years he was the Ministry of National Defence Inspector for Flight Safety. As an inspector of the Ministry of National Defence for air safety, he was directly responsible for investigating air accidents in military aviation and chaired many commissions investigating air accidents in the army. In the years 1999-2003 he was a permanent member of the Flight Safety Committee of the Military Aviation of Europe. After retiring, for many years he was the chairman of the State Commission for Aircraft Accident Investigation. In April 2010, he became an accredited representative of Poland at the International Aviation Committee investigating the crash of the Tu-154 M.

He was awarded the honorary badge “Meritorious Military Pilot of the Republic of Poland”, silver and gold cross of merit and the Knight’s and Officer’s Cross of the Order of Polonia Restituta. He is the author of many publications and textbooks, including the unique book “Flight Safety” on the systemic treatment of flight safety problems.