Sat image of crash site
Posted on 04/12/2010 10:57:17 PM PDT by theanchoragedailyruse
WARSAW, April 12 (Xinhua) -- So far there is no evidence to show that the pilot was trying to land the president's plane under pressure, said a senior Polish official here Monday.
Andrzej Seremet, Poland's chief prosecutor, made the remarks at a news conference while being asked whether the Polish pilot was pressured to land the plane carrying President Lech Kaczynski and other senior officials in Russia.
The Soviet-made TU-154 hit the top of trees as it attempted in thick fog to land at a Smolensk airport in west Russia on Saturday morning, killing all the 96 people on board the plane.
I suppose it would be wrong to ask Vladimir Putin to make travel arrangements for the White House and the U. S. Congressional leadership?
Sat image of crash site
interesting, yes. Surprising, no.
I remember a subplot in one of the Tom Clancy novels where two special ops guys (Clark and Chavez) use a laser to blind some pilots on takeoff so that a plane crashes.
Is there a higher altitude pic of the airport layout?I’m curious of where the runway is in relation to the debri pattern of the bird.
It’s worth a shot.
http://www.premier.gov.ru/eng/events/news/10179/
“...Alexander Neradko: We have confirmation that weather conditions were indeed bad - visibility was below the established minimum of 1000 metres. The plane first struck a single tree about eight metres tall at a distance of approximately 1200 metres from the runway. At that distance, the plane should have been at an altitude of about 60 metres.”
“...Some 1.5 kilometres (one mile) from the airport, air traffic controllers noticed the Tupolev — overhauled in December 2009, according to manufacturers Aviakor — was below its appropriate glide path, Alyoshin said.
Yes there is... http://aviation-safety.net/database/airport/airport.php?id=XUBS
According to info on glide slope to pilots — the instructions were given to the pilots in Russian...
As far as I can tell he was left of the runway and pointed left (It would take more than an incorrect altimeter setting to cause that.). He was very close to the airport, though.
To be that close to the runway without visual contact must mean the visibility was really bad.
According to that picture, the plane could not have even be lined up with the runway.
Here’s the thing that gets me.
The tower knew where he was, how high he was. They already had 3 or 4 aborted landings. They even say he was not on the proper glide path.
Why do they keep insisting the plane and/or the airport did not have the proper ILS equipment. They seemed to be USING IT, according to their statements.
The facts according to the Commie Chinese News Service “Xinhua”? Where is the credibility?
That doesnt look like the same airport.The round concrete pad does not seem to be in the link you provided.Is there a date on both images?Why didnt the terrain avoidance/proxsemity? warn of the comming impact.Were they cleared for a straight in approach or a typical down wind,base and then final pattern?Anyone have a copy of the approach charts normally used?
Agreed.Something smells.
Reminds me of the plane crash that killed Commerce Secretary Ron Brown during the Clinton administration.
There is the account based on eyewitnesses that one wing lifted when it hit the trees.
So the alignment could have been caused by the wing lifting and possible damage to the wings.
But 1.5 km out and they are being notified that they are off the glide path and at 1.2 km and the plane is hitting the trees which are only 8 meters high.
And supposedly giving the instruction to the pilots in Russian?
This was not pilot error as the Russians are playing it out to be...
It’s the only one I could find at the moment but it’s out there on others if you take the time to look.
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.
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