Polish Plane Crash: What Happened in the Cockpit?

ABC News ^ | 04/12/10 | DRAGANA JOVANOVIC and ALEXANDER MARQUARDT

[BunnySlippers]

The recordings, according to Russian news broadcasts, indicated that the pilot struggled to communicate in Russian with the control tower below. Ground control warned the pilot not to land because of poor weather.

Minutes before the plane crashed Polish president Lech Kacynski called his twin brother and told him everything was fine and the plane would be landing shortly.

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Aviation expert and ABC News consultant John Nance said the added pressure of carrying dignitaries can affect a pilot's decision making abilities.

"When a pilot puts pressure on himself or herself, it can be a very bad result," Nance said. "Unfortunately, when you've got the head of a country on board and you've got a lot of dignitaries, you want to get them where they want to go. That kind of pressure can override good sense."

Kacynski has a history of trying to pull rank on pilots. In 2008 he ordered a plane to land in war-torn Georgia where it wasn't safe. The pilot refused.

[stop_fascism]

Sure, carrying dignitaries makes most pilots suicidal. That’s why Air Force ! is always crashing.

[RadiationRomeo]

The best conspiracy story I can come up with is:

Pilot: Manchurian candidate.

He suddenly was speaking in Russian, a language he didn’t know. He was ordered to crash the plane.

So we have top Polish officials dieing in the same woods where the Russians killed 20K officers 70 years ago.

[Outlaw Woman]

Kacynski has a history of trying to pull rank on pilots.

Blame the victim is widespread isn't it?

[Canedawg]

The pilot being in on it has crossed my mind, too.

[Riodacat]

It had to be a very clever and evil plot to convince the top leadership and intellectual elite to all get on an aging Ruskie airplane.
Now, how would the evil Ruskies have done that?
My guess is that they must have been hypnotized en masse 'casue no one in their right minds would have risked decapitating the cream of the country.
So, either one of the most clever and evil plots OR total stupidity on the part of whichever Polish official(s) had responsibility for planning and approving this abortion.
Even if you lean towards a Ruskie plot, you still have to answer the question as to why any sane Polish offial would allow the cream of the Polish elite onto one aging Ruskie plane.
So regardless, Polish stupidity played a major role in this fiasco..

[Doe Eyes]

Now, how would the evil Ruskies have done that?

I'm impressed with their weather machine that produced the dense fog.

[CodeToad]

“Also, I have always heard that ENGLISH is spoken in air control towers universally.

Why as he speaking Russian?
“

True, and panic mode. People under extreme stress will do and say the most illogical things, especially pilots under stress and operating outside their normal operating environments.

[Joan Kerrey]

Where was Cheney at the time of the accident? Where was Bush?
Have we heard from either of them since the accident? /s

[Buckeye McFrog]

given the legacy of what happened in the Katyn Forest, you certainly can’t blame the Poles for thinking this

[freebird5850]

My question, there was some report saying that none of the cell phones recovered would work, indicating that a possible EMP event?

[Theo]

For some reason, the plane crash that involved Ron Brown came to mind ... Which makes me wonder: Did any of the bodies show signs of having been shot?