On August 11, 1994, a PZL W-3 Sokół helicopter belonging to the Tatra Volunteer Rescue Service (TOPR) crashed. The aircraft went down during a rescue mission while flying to Hala Gąsienicowa to attend to injured female tourists from Sweden. On board were 2 pilots and 6 rescuers. Upon arriving at the accident site, while the crew was disembarking, one of the rescuers — Janusz Kubica (who at the time served as the team leader) — was very seriously wounded in the head by a rotor blade, so the crew decided to immediately transport him to the hospital in Zakopane.
Over the Olczyska Valley, the PZL W-3 Sokół with its four-person crew suffered a failure — a rotor blade was damaged and, falling, severed the helicopter’s tail boom. The aircraft completely lost control and plummeted to the ground in the area of Wielki Kopieniec. When the first rescue teams reached the site, it turned out that the entire crew had perished. The fuselage was crushed, and helicopter parts were scattered around the area. Zakopane was stunned by the scale of the tragedy; even ordinary people went to the site to help with the operation. Those who lost their lives were: Bogusław Arendarczyk, Janusz Rybicki, Stanisław Mateja Torbiarz, and Janusz Kubica.
The Main Aircraft Accident Investigation Commission determined that the cause of the tragedy was damage to one main rotor blade, which severed the helicopter’s tail boom.
A memorial plaque dedicated to the victims of the crash in the Olczyska Valley has been placed at the Tatra Symbolic Cemetery below Osterwa.
