The airfield at Pobiednik Wielki, located east of Kraków (ICAO code: EPKP), is currently the headquarters of the Kraków Aero Club, but the aviation tradition of this location is much older — the launch field at Pobiednik Wielki was established by the Austrians in 1917. In the late 1930s, this site was one of the reserve airfields for Kraków’s 2nd Air Regiment, and during the Defensive War in September 1939, squadrons of the 2nd Air Regiment operated from it for a short time. The Kraków Aero Club relocated from Balice to Pobiednik in 1952. At that time, there were no airport buildings there. Between 1953 and 1956, a hangar with a terminal building was constructed, and a historic Austrian hangar was moved from Pasternik, having been previously transferred there from the Rakowice–Czyżyny airfield.
Currently, this entirely grass-surface airfield has three runways — two with a heading of 090°/270°, measuring 1,000 x 100 m and 700 x 100 m, and one with a heading of 120°/300°, measuring 1,050 x 100 m. The airfield is situated in Class G airspace, extending from ground level to an altitude of 488 m. It handles only VFR traffic.
Since 1958, the oldest aviation sports event in Poland has been held at the Pobiednik airfield — the South-Western Poland Flight named after F. Żwirko. It currently takes the form of precision flying competitions, serving as one of the qualifying rounds for the Polish Aviation Navigation Cup. The landscape around Kraków — mountainous terrain with very dense development — makes the difficulty level of these competitions high. In 1998, the 3rd European Air Rally Championships were held at the Pobiednik airfield. Leading Polish pilots specializing in precision and rally flying hail from the Kraków Aero Club — Edward Popiołek, Krzysztof Lenartowicz, and the Wieczorek family.
