news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8612825.stm
news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100410/ts_ … nt_crash_2
Report states aircraft was on fourth attempt to land in heavy fog!!!
Polish Air Force Tu-154M registration ‘102’
Crashed plane was ‘101’.
The list of passengers on the wikipedia page - looks like a list of ‘Who is who’ in Poland. Amazing they would put so many high profile people on the same flight!!! Never mind 4 attempts to land!!
Never shoot an approach more than twice. If you couldn’t find the runway the second time, you won’t find it.
There are reports of the Polish president threatening the pilot with dismissal for refusing to land previously due to bad weather.
(Sorry for the bit.ly link, but the link is to a google translate page of a russian article.)
bit.ly/cS3nIN
Thats a bone headed move by the President, no matter your politics. Just because you’re the head of state, that doesn’t mean weather doesn’t affect you. He should have been thankful that his pilot diverted.
It will be the pilots fault, and we won’t hear the CVRs if the president pressured the pilots to land. Its a huge disaster for Poland (speaking as a Pole myself), especially when put into context of where they were going. (Google Katyn)
Wow… That’s sad…
Why do people think a Tupolev Tu-154 crashing is news? It happens all the time.
The Tu-154 has a fatal accident every 431,200 flights
The Boeing 737 crashes every 2.68 million flights
With full knowledge that I may be feeding a troll…
Its the people in the plane that makes the news.
Right…
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Polis … -154_crash
Wikipedia page has been updated - Titles - and photos of many of the senior Polish officials on board.
I can’t recall any accident in history, that killed so many senior officials of a Govt??? As for American ties to Poland, the country is one of the most strategically placed countries with Russia and extremely important to American interests.
On a side aviation only note; the number of official Govt jets that will arrive eventually in Poland for funeral services will be a Who’s who of Govt’s airplanes . . .
Let’s see home many high ranking officials we can load on the same old broken down airplane with a very poor safety record.
WTF!
Let’s see home many high ranking officials we can load on the same old broken down airplane with a very poor safety record.
WTF!
I do agree with that…
This is just…wow.
Don’t you think they would have taken every precaution to properly maintain an aircraft responsible for carrying a head of state? I would, although I’d be the first to agree with you that Poland could certainly afford to upgrade to a more modern aircraft for such an important role.
It isn’t even that. The most basic security standards weren’t even followed. I was a member of the WAN / VoIP team for a major home builder. Members of our team often flew to the same offices but we had to ride on different aircraft. The home builder was afraid of loosing two key people and not being able to get their email. Poland put about 60 very key people on the same aircraft with pilots who get in trouble if they divert and on the third approach they hit the trees. Holy crap, talk about a recipe for disaster.
What would happen right now if someone attacked Poland? Hell, they lost so many government officials trash pickup could be an issue. Do you think they can defend their borders? Sad yes, but stupid, stupid, stupid.
Wait until someone questions sabotage. Then the poop is really going to hit the fan.
Frank Holbert
160knots.com
My error, it was his 4th try.
*The TU-154, which crashed outside Smolensk, Russia, was on its fourth attempt to land amid heavy fog. *
Frank Holbert
160knots.com
Russian investigators said there were a total of 132 people on the plane, contradicting the first reports of 87 people.
novinite.com/view_news.php?id=115086
Frank Holbert
160knots.com
Believe it was updated to 97 victims total.
Update; - YouTube)
This accident seems to be clearly weather related, combined with the failure to divert to Minsk.
I have friends here in Toronto - that traveled to Siberia to visit relatives - they chose to drive from Moscow (3 days) rather than fly on a Soviet built aircraft - and they are Russian!!!
Tragic news, hearts and prayers out to the Polish people.
Looking at the list, it really is a who is who in Poland. President, two military leaders, several legislative leaders. Almost like IFO-21 but much higher profile and many more people.
Source: Wikipedia
Reuters claimed that the pilot of the jet had ‘ignored advice.’ A mission control operator spoke anonymously to the news organisation, saying “The pilot was advised to fly to Moscow or Minsk because of heavy fog, but he still decided to land. No one should have been landing in that fog.”
Alexandr Aleshin, the First Deputy Chief of the Main Staff of the Russian Air Force, says that the plane increased its descent rate and went below the glide slope while the aircraft was 1.5 km (0.93 mi) from the runway. Controllers instructed the crew to abort the approach; when the pilot did not follow instructions, controllers advised the aircraft to return to the reserve landing point. This order was repeated several times but the crew continued with the approach and crashed
Trying to land or out of fuel?