Posted on 04/15/2010 10:57:55 PM PDT by ketelone
WARSAW: Investigators blamed pilot error on Thursday for a crash that killed Poland's president, as harrowing details emerged of how the crew knew they were doomed after hitting trees while trying to land in Russia.
As Poland's national unity fractured over plans to bury president Lech Kaczynski in a castle alongside kings and heroes, officials released the first results from analysis of the plane's black box flight recorders.
"The crew was aware of the inevitability of the coming catastrophe, if only due to the plane shaking after the wings hit the trees -- which we are certain happened," Poland's chief prosecutor Andrzej Seremet told commercial radio.
Colonel Zbigniew Rzepa, a Polish military prosecutor, said the pilots of the Russian-made jet were aware of the imminent crash as the last seconds of the voice recordings "were dramatic", but did not elaborate.
But Russian investigators found no evidence that "any of the high-ranking passengers forced the pilots to land in Smolensk", Russia's Interfax news agency quoted a source close to the investigation as saying.
The Polish presidential Tupolev Tu-154 crashed in thick fog Saturday near the western Russian city while taking a delegation to a memorial service for a World War II massacre.
All 96 people on board, many of them senior Polish military and political figures, were killed.
Officials said Thursday that a "special security procedure" was being implemented for the arrival of US President Barack Obama and other foreign leaders for the funeral in Krakow, with around 80 planes set to land there Sunday morning.
With a cloud of ash spreading across northern Europe from an Icelandic volcano, Poland closed its airspace in the north of the country on Thursday until further notice, but a White House spokesman said that Obama was keeping his plans to fly.
Protests have erupted over the choice of Krakow's historic Wawel castle, the resting place of Poland's past kings, a saint and national heroes, for the burial of the president and his wife Maria.
Hundreds of people rallied in Warsaw, Krakow, the Baltic port of Gdansk and Poznan in the west on Wednesday, while more than 42,000 people have joined a Facebook campaign against the decision.
The hierarchy of Poland's powerful Roman Catholic urged critics to calm down in the dispute.
"We must respect the decision," Bishop Stanislaw Budzik, secretary-general of the Polish Bishops' Conference, was quoted as saying by Poland's PAP news agency.
"The intention is to commemorate all victims of a disaster unprecedented in Polish history," Budzik said.
As debate raged over Kaczynski's burial site, questions also mounted over the cause of the crash.
Russian investigators said Thursday that initial findings from the jet's data and flight voice recorders said the crew may not have been aware of the particularities of the plane when they repeatedly tried to land.
"An analysis of the evidence, including the first results from the decoding of the black boxes, shows that an error in piloting led to the disaster," the Interfax news agency quoted a source close to the investigation as saying.
The official said it appeared that the plane tried to land by levelling out its oblique descent approach to a horizontal angle in a bid to compensate for the bad weather.
But the source said a "particularity of the plane is that if its speed of descent is more that six metres per second, when the plane equalized and goes into a horizontal flight it loses altitude," the source said.
Speculation that the pilots were under pressure has centred on a spat in 2008, when Kaczynski tried and failed to order a pilot to land in Tbilisi while on a show of support for Georgia during its brief war with Russia.
On Saturday, Kaczynski's delegation was headed to a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, when thousands of Polish officers were slaughtered by the Soviet secret police in 1940.
Thousands of people queued for a third day Thursday to pay their respects to the conservative, nationalist Kaczynski and his wife, whose bodies are lying in state at the presidential palace in Warsaw.
An early presidential election is expected on June 20.
The bodies of 34 more crash victims were flown home to Poland Thursday.
Why are they fighting over the burial site?
Any Polish freepers know?
Wawel Castle is where Polish heroes are buried, former Kings and other dignitaries.
The fact is, Kaczynski was not popular in Poland, they are mourning him of course, but in perspective, many would doubt the he is worthy of being next to great Polish Kings. Imagine if Bill Clinton was to be buried at Arlington Cemetary, that would give you an idea, of how many Poles would feel about this.
Well, there is a lot of sulfur in the air...
“Poland closed its airspace in the north of the country on Thursday until further notice, but a White House spokesman said that Obama was keeping his plans to fly.”
Of course we’ll hear of AF-1 ingesting volcanic dust into it’s engines and Obama heroically taking control from the panic struck pilots and landing the plane himself.
they WERE forced
Well, duh.
Iceland is nice this time of year...
First you say it, then you do it.
In any language...
LOL!!!
Just an added note that my laughing at your clever remark does not imply any disrespect about this crash. I have been just devastated. My family and I drove down to DC on Sunday and visited the Polish Embassy to sign the condolence book. I remember the huge outpouring of sympathy in countries around the world after 9/11. There were some flowers and candles on the sidewalk out front, but not nearly as many as I would have hoped for one of our staunch allies. Trust me, in DC you have to import anyone who supports nationalism or conservative values.
Damn you!
Coffee. Keyboard. Monitor. Wall!
You mean like a stopover in Smolensk?
Good idea.
For bay area FReepers:
Honorary Consul of Poland
785 Market St., Suite 1120
San Francisco, CA 94103
Phone (415) 777-4445
Fax (415) 778-8123
Nice of you to post that. We were escorted into the building by two young security men. They very much appreciated our handshakes and condolences.
Now, the 727 was a fine plane, of which thousands were ultimately made; but it had some dicey characteristics on landing, which early on caused accidents and near-accidents.
Boeing finally revised the landing procedure to keep it safely airborne until touchdown; mainly by flying it onto the deck hot. (Sounds like a carrier landing to me!)
Anyone who has actual experience flying a 727, feel free to comment.
Maybe the Tupolev has a similar problem that the pilots were not adequately trained for.
[[I wonder whether anyone ever called a Tu-154 stew a "Tupolev honey?"]]
Related ....
Was Kacznski Assassinated? [Poland/Russia Plane Crash]
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2490547/posts
autumnraine:
Don’t forget the President of the Central Bank. The whole military brass and head of the economic system is gone.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2490363/posts?page=257#257
ABC News: Vladimir Putin to head investigation into Polish president’s death
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2490363/posts
Supreme commanders of the Polish Army killed in plane crash
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2490324/posts
POLISH PRESIDENT DIES IN PLANE CRASH (AND 88 OTHERS)- CONFIRMED
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/news/2490301/posts?page=80#80
Thanks, Arthur. Good info.
“Speculation that the pilots were under pressure has centred on a spat in 2008, when Kaczynski tried and failed to order a pilot to land in Tbilisi while on a show of support for Georgia during its brief war with Russia.”
Great opportunity to do a dirty deed quietly.
Glad to help, FRiend. Pilots didn’t know how to handle the plane?
“Pilots didn’t know how to handle the plane?”
Above their pay grade, perhaps?
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