A 28-year-old balloon pilot and national champion died March 9 after her hot air balloon struck a residential building in central Zielona Gora, throwing her from the basket during a morning training flight and leaving two other women hurt but alive.
The crash quickly drew national attention because the dead pilot, Jagoda Gancarek, was one of Poland’s best-known young balloon aviators. Prosecutors and aviation investigators are now examining how a balloon carrying three women flew low enough over the city center to hit a building on Krzywoustego Street. Officials have released a basic outline of the accident but have not announced a cause, saying they are still reviewing technical evidence, witness accounts and the handling of the flight itself.
Police and prosecutors say the balloon had been flying over Zielona Gora after departing from the Zatonie area earlier that morning. Emergency services received the call at 7:36 a.m., and by about 8 a.m. crews were working in the city center, where the balloon had clipped a residential high-rise. Prosecutors said the balloon first struck the building’s facade and then a chimney on the roof. During that impact, Gancarek was thrown from the basket and landed on a rooftop. Rescue teams reached her quickly and began resuscitation, but she died at the scene. Police spokeswoman Malgorzata Stanislawska said the balloon had three women on board when the accident happened in the center of the western Polish city. The other two remained in the basket after the collision, giving investigators a second-by-second sequence that is now central to the case.
After Gancarek fell, the damaged balloon did not stop immediately. TVN24 and Wirtualna Polska reported that it traveled several hundred meters farther toward Chrobrego Street before becoming entangled in a tree, and the basket then struck a city bus. The two surviving women climbed out on their own and were taken to a hospital. Authorities said their injuries were not life-threatening. That sequence turned the crash from a single rooftop emergency into a wider urban incident, stretching the investigation across more than one location in the downtown area. Investigators had to document the point of impact at the apartment building, the rooftop where Gancarek was found, the later landing area, the bus strike and the balloon itself. The public also saw the wreckage in a dense part of the city, adding to the shock in a form of aviation more often linked with open fields and calm landings than with apartment blocks, buses and rescue crews in the street.
The prosecutor’s office has since clarified that the flight was not a commercial outing for paying passengers. Ewa Antonowicz, a spokeswoman for the District Prosecutor’s Office in Zielona Gora, told Wirtualna Polska that it was “rather a training” flight and that the two other women aboard were learning. She said one had been training for some time and the other had only recently begun. That detail matters because it changes how investigators may evaluate cockpit authority, decision-making in the basket and the instructions given in the final minutes of the flight. Antonowicz also said officials are considering every version of events, including technical issues and the way the flight was conducted. On March 10, investigators worked at the aeroclub hangar, where they spread out and examined the balloon envelope, secured flight paperwork and collected electronic media. One of the more difficult pieces of evidence may be data from a tablet or navigation device that was damaged in the fall.
Gancarek’s death hit especially hard in Polish aviation circles because she was far more than an occasional recreational pilot. The Aeroklub Ziemi Lubuskiej said she worked as an airplane instructor and also flew firefighting aircraft. Polish media reported that she had been affiliated with the club since 2022. In 2025, she won the national women’s title at the 11th Women’s Balloon Championship in Naleczow, and Aeroklub Polski said she was a member of the national balloon team. In tributes after the crash, aviation organizations described her as a pilot with significant experience who shared that experience with others. The Lubusz aeroclub said it would remember her for her passion, kindness and “love of flying,” while the national aeroclub said the news was received with enormous grief. Those statements shaped the public response because they framed Gancarek not as a novice caught in an unfamiliar situation, but as a rising pilot whose career had already crossed sport, instruction and operational flying.
Even with that background, major questions remain unanswered. Officials have not publicly said whether wind conditions, a sudden directional shift, pilot judgment, equipment problems or a combination of factors put the balloon on a low path over city buildings. They also have not released any preliminary meteorological analysis or a formal reconstruction of the flight path. Another line of inquiry surfaced when prosecutors confirmed they were checking reports of an earlier incident involving the same balloon. Antonowicz said investigators are verifying information that the balloon may have made an emergency landing near a forest outside the airport area just days before the fatal crash. She did not describe that earlier event as a proven mechanical warning, and authorities have not said whether it is related. For now, it stands as one more lead in a case where the broad facts are public but the cause remains unsettled.
The legal and technical tracks are moving at the same time. PAP reported that a prosecutor inspected the site where Gancarek’s body was found and ordered an autopsy. At the same time, Poland’s State Commission for Aircraft Accident Investigation opened its own review of the crash mechanics. That division is typical after a fatal aviation accident: prosecutors handle the death investigation and evidence preservation, while aviation specialists examine aircraft behavior, operations and safety findings. Antonowicz said prosecutors are not disclosing their working theories at this stage because of the integrity of the proceedings. She has also warned that some answers will not come quickly. Recovering data from damaged devices may take time, and both expert opinions and the commission’s work could take weeks and possibly months before a fuller account becomes public. No charges have been announced, and there has been no public finding of criminal fault.
The accident also left a lasting image in Zielona Gora: a balloon descending too low over mid-rise blocks, a pilot thrown onto a rooftop and a basket dragging the emergency across city streets before finally stopping. For residents, the visibility of the crash made it feel immediate and personal. For fellow pilots, the loss was sharper because it involved someone many of them knew by name. The Lubusz aeroclub said Gancarek’s enthusiasm had helped drive its work, while Aeroklub Polski recalled her long connection to balloon sport, first as a crew member and then as a competition pilot. Those remarks did not answer the question of why the flight failed, but they did explain why the story spread so widely in Poland. It was not only a fatal accident. It was the sudden loss of a decorated young pilot in a setting where such a crash seemed deeply out of place.
As of March 17, prosecutors had not announced a formal cause of the crash. The next milestone is expected to be the first written findings from the autopsy, technical experts or the state aviation commission, though officials have said the investigation may take weeks and possibly months before clearer conclusions emerge.
Author note: Last updated March 17, 2026.