Posted on 04/13/2010 10:37:24 AM PDT by jazminerose
Joy Tiz
©2010
The pilot of the plane that crashed killing Poland’s president, Lech Kaczynkski along with Poland’s First Lady and other top government officials refused to take instructions from air traffic controllers, according to Rianovosti:
“’The head of the traffic control group warned of poor weather conditions, but the crew went ahead with the landing without permission. And [they] also made their landing approach without permission.’”
“The [control tower] head said three times to execute a flyby procedure. When the crew did not listen, the control tower could only continue to guide the plane and watch it. It was the only landing approach, the plane crashed at once,’ he added.”
The plane’s crew reportedly failed to follow standard procedure of informing the tower of the plane’s status and maneuvers.
“’Weather conditions, probably a crew mistake, loss of altitude and the pilot’s ambition to land the plane by all means. I think this ambition was due to the fact that there were such high-ranking people onboard… Because of… this false idea that diverting to another airport is a shame the pilot took so many people to Heaven with him,’ Muravyov said.”
Retired Col. Anatoly Murayyov, the air traffic controller who was guiding the plane concludes that the fatal crash was caused by “a combination of factors.”
CFIT - in this case, “Controlled Flight Into Trees”.
Blame the pilot, he’s dead anyway.
Come on, this is BS, an important ceremony awaited, the dignitaries were pressed for time, didn’t want a delaying diversion elsewhere - even if the pilot was not explicitly and overtly pressured, he undoubtedly felt the pressure in the urgency of the situation and the poignancy of the moment.
>>why all of those high ranking govt people were on the same plane
Efficiency.
Why send multiple planes such a short distance when common sense dictated that one plane would suffice - save costs, fuel, etc.
Sometimes being efficient can be just plain bad.
Well, yes, it was a non-precision NDP approach.
But it was one that requires two NDB receivers, the aircraft only had one.
Would they shut down a US airport in dense fog to the ground?
And - actually - he disobeyed the warnings regarding bad weather conditions. But those were only warnings. They didn't tell him he can't land.
We must keep in mind, that they were going to a very important ceremony (70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre), which was to take place very soon. All the people at the Katyn cemetery waited only for the official delegation.
And the alternative airports (Minsk or Moscow) were located something like 300 km. of Katyn. Which means, that if they decided not to land in Smolensk - they could go back to Warsaw as well.
believe it or not, I’m thinking the same thing... mutually beneficial, but Russia comes out on top; blaming the pilot clears Russia of all ills, and excuses Poland entering into pissing contest they can’t win at this point, with a simple (dead) patsy to blame... Like you said, reports are garbled, no one besides the living Russians know what actually went on in the control tower... the official story is the best for all involved... but like in chess, advantage is now to the Ruskies.
They don’t so much “shut the airport down” as refuse clearances to any aircraft not properly equipped to land in those conditions.
..and boy, do they know chess!
I keep waiting for Denzel Washington to go to Obama and tell him, “This s—t ain’t checkers, it’s chess!”
“That was the day I learned what “...reporting thunderstorms in all four quadrants” meant.”
I got my lesson one night in “Possible Icing” in an old 150 a couple of decades ago.
Lessons learned that way last a lifetime ... one way or another.
What a crock. The pilot made one attempt to land.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2491882/posts
No evidence found for pilot to land plane under pressure: Polish official
http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-04-12/polish-plane-recording-russian.html
Tu-154 recording reveals break in communication protocol
The final exchange between the pilot of the Polish president’s plane and ground control was conducted in Russian, which violates international aviation rules.
The conversation has been leaked on to the Internet.
The crew communicated in limited Russian, breaking aviation rules, as the official language of international flights is English. However, Tomasz Pietrzak, a pilot of government Tu-154s, told Poland’s TVN24 that this would not have been a problem for the pilot, Arkadiusz Protasiuk, as the latter spoke Russian very well.
http://avherald.com/h?article=429ec5fa&opt=0
The air traffic controller at the Air Base said, the airplane attempted only one approach before radio contact was lost. (see below)
Polish officials confirmed, that the airplane was on its first approach to the Air Base, when it impacted the trees. Three flights were to land at the Air Base in that period of time: the first was a Yakovlev YAK-40 carrying journalists accompanying Poland’s president, which made a safe landing. The second was a Russian Ilyushin IL-76, which diverted after two unsuccessful approaches. The third was the presidential Tupolev TU-154M.
No Metars are available, however the local weatherstation reported:
10:00Z (1pm) Temp 3°C Dew 2°C Humidity 94% QNH 1025 hPa Visibility 4 kilometers Winds east 14.4 km/h / Mist
07:00Z (10am) Temp 1°C Dew 1°C Humidity 98% QNH 1026 hPa Visibility 0.5 kilometers Winds SE 10.8 km/h / Heavy Fog
04:00Z (7am) Temp 0°C Dew -1°C Humidity 89% QNH 1025 hPa Visibility 4 kilometers Winds ESE 7.2 km/h / Mist
01:00Z (4am) Temp 3°C Dew -0°C Humidity 72% QNH 1025 hPa Visibility 10 kilometers Winds SE 7.2 km/h /
22:00Z (1am) Temp 6°C Dew -0°C Humidity 52% QNH 1025 hPa Visibility 10 kilometers Winds SE 7.2 km/h
Thanks. Are most us airliners properly equipped?
Putin is “personally” overseeing the investigation. Nuff said.
Then you should know that there was also a First Officer and most likely a Jumpseater, which would practically eliminate the cowboy pilot scenario.
Relax dude. You weren't there and your not the only person on FR with aviation experience.
This is all the Russian side of the story. Unfortunately, we don’t have the Polish side available.
Whether this was deliberate sabotage or a genuine accident, the lessons learned have had a terrible price. I just have a hard time accepting anything of this political nature as accidental. It does highlight the different standards between the affluent US and other nations who are not so wasteful. I tend to be efficient but it does backfire every so often.
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