Aviation Think Tank
From major airports and airlines to small airfields, flight schools and sport aviation - we bring the industry together around safety, development and sound regulation.
Our Mission
We carry out analytical and advisory work and organise training, conferences and audits. We believe the most lasting change is born of dialogue - and we want to be the voice of the industry: distinctive, yet substantive.
Initiating, supporting and organising research, educational and academic projects concerning the civil and state aviation market in Poland and worldwide.
Working to advance economic growth, entrepreneurship and the integration of business communities within the aviation sector.
Building a network within the aviation community - connecting people and organisations facing the same challenge so they can find a solution together, as well as partners from different, complementary branches of the industry.
Active participation in public debate, supporting legislative processes and representing the interests of society and the aviation industry before public authorities, with respect for the public interest and safety.
Initiating cooperation between the business, non-governmental and local-government sectors in the field of aviation infrastructure and its use.
We bring together experts from across aviation, so we can effectively connect businesses with specialists.
Working to improve safety in civil and state aviation, and researching and promoting new technologies in flight operations, traffic management and regulatory oversight.
A short film on why the Institute exists.
People
The Foundation is run by a two-person Management Board made up of its Founders. Its direction is set by the Advisory Board, appointed for a one-year term.
Marcel Kotas
Founder, President of the Board
Airline pilot and flight instructor. President and head of training at Firebirds Flight Academy, a flight school for aerobatics.
Andrzej Korasiak
Founder, Vice-President of the Board
Entrepreneur, for years Accountable Manager of an AOC and an ATO organisation. Aeroplane and helicopter pilot.
Dawid Łabuda
Chair of the Advisory Board
Captain on the Bombardier Q400 and the Beechcraft King Air, and fleet coordinator at Pronar. Previously a pilot at LOT Polish Airlines, where he spent four years recruiting first officers, and a flight instructor who trained students to licence level and ran qualification courses for the Polish Armed Forces. Outside the cockpit he works on aviation law and operational safety.
Jarosław Balcerzewski
World champion in paramotor flying and President of the Board of Grupa Falco, which runs the largest air shows in Poland. Combines competitive air sport with the practice of promoting and presenting aviation to a wider audience.
Piotr Czuban
Airline pilot and populariser of aviation, previously an operations duty officer at Warsaw airport for ten years. A media commentator on aviation topics, he knows the industry from the cockpit and from airport operations at once.
Mikołaj Doskocz
Attorney working exclusively in aviation law. Runs the Lataj Legalnie practice, which advises flight schools, operators and pilots, teaches at Poznań University of Technology and comments on Polish and EU regulation.
Ewa Kałużna
Cabin crew member and aviation safety specialist. She knows safety from both sides: the procedures and the daily work in the cabin.
Dariusz Krzowski
President of the Board of Lublin Airport, which he helped to bring into being. Previously director of CNS infrastructure and head of flight operations at the Polish Air Navigation Services Agency, and vice-president and technical director of the first private Polish airline. Airworthiness and accident investigation inspector, and an aeroplane pilot.
Martyna Krzyżaniak
Ten years as cabin crew in business aviation, and charter and scheduled airlines before that. Her thesis dealt with the effect of the 11 September attacks on aviation security standards.
Jacek Nicałek
Aircraft and helicopter maintenance engineer. Owner of Part-145, CAMO and CAO organisations responsible for the maintenance and continuing airworthiness of both aeroplanes and helicopters. An examiner for the Polish aviation examination board. Flies gliders, aeroplanes and helicopters himself - he knows an aircraft from the hangar and from the cockpit.
Mateusz Osęka
Boeing 737 captain at LOT Polish Airlines, a psychologist by training. Runs the Lets Fly channel and works with people who fear flying, explaining aviation to an audience outside the industry.
Justyna Siekierczak
Co-founder and President of the Board of aeroMind, which supplies drones and sensors in Poland and Eastern Europe. Vice-President of the Board of the Polish Chamber of Unmanned Systems.
Jan Szybiński
Chief Operating Officer of Polska Akademia Lotnicza, a school that trains airline pilots. An active airline pilot and flight instructor, he knows training both from the boardroom and from the right-hand seat.
The Advisory Board is not the full extent of who we work with. For specific subjects we set up working groups and expert teams, and people from outside the Foundation's bodies sit on them too.
If you work closely enough with your corner of aviation to have something to say about it, get in touch.
Analyses and comments on draft legislation that we send to public authorities and to aviation organisations.
The Ministry of Infrastructure is consulting a provision that would oblige an aerodrome operator to set up air traffic control or an aerodrome flight information service once traffic crosses thresholds written into the statute itself. We agree with the aim. Our objections concern the drafting: the duty falls on a party that has no way of discharging it, and the thresholds are lifted from an instrument that governs an entirely different matter. The analysis sets out fifteen flaws, four drafting and eleven substantive, and proposes our own wording for Article 120a.
Support the Institute
Make a donation towards the statutory goals of the Foundation "Institute for the Development and Promotion of Aviation". Recurring support lets us plan ahead - a one-time gift helps right now.
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