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Crew Of Doomed Polish Plane Were Unfit For Job (Presidential plane crash report)
airwise.com ^ | July 29, 2011 | staff

Posted on 07/29/2011 7:40:24 AM PDT by saganite

The crew of the plane carrying Poland's president that crashed in Russia last year killing all 96 on board were poorly trained and ignored crucial safety regulations, a long-awaited Polish government report into the disaster said on Friday.

The 328-page report, which may complicate Prime Minister Donald Tusk's bid for re-election in October, chronicles a long litany of errors and neglect by both the crew and Russian ground staff leading to the crash, which shook Poland to the core.

"There were serious shortcomings in the organization of the unit (of the air force responsible for handling VIP flights)," a member of the investigative commission, Maciej Lasek, told a news conference.

"In order for the unit to carry out its tasks, deliberate decisions were made to disregard or break procedures, to conduct training not in line with training regulations... Pilots straight out of flying schools were accepted and no training flights were carried out."

More experienced pilots had left for more lucrative work in the civilian aviation sector, said Lasek, himself a pilot.

"Of the crew members, only one technician had the proper credentials for the flight. Others did not have proper approval for this flight," he said.

President Lech Kaczynski, his wife Maria, the heads of the armed forces and many senior officials died in the crash as their TU-154 Tupolev plane was trying to land on April 10, 2010, in thick fog near the western Russian city of Smolensk.

snip

The crash report, drawn up by a panel of 34 experts over 15 months, said the crew had failed to properly prepare some key equipment on board their TU-154 Tupolev, which hampered their ability to grasp how dangerous their predicament was.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.airwise.com ...


TOPICS: Extended News; Foreign Affairs; News/Current Events; Russia
KEYWORDS: donaldtusk; lechkaczynski; mariakaczynski; poland; russia; smolensk

1 posted on 07/29/2011 7:40:28 AM PDT by saganite
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To: saganite

Oh yeah, right.


2 posted on 07/29/2011 7:45:17 AM PDT by netmilsmom (Happiness is a choice)
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To: netmilsmom

It’s the Polish report. Reporting on their own lack of crew competence. Take it or leave it.


3 posted on 07/29/2011 7:48:09 AM PDT by saganite (What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)
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This must be a website financed by Kremlin. Its staff had audicity to put such a smear about Polish president plane crew. This “information” is far from truth than Moon from the Earth. The truth is that military pilots with a long experience of flying with Russian garbage were in control of that plane. They have been flying for years with Polish president.


4 posted on 07/29/2011 7:51:56 AM PDT by se99tp (look)
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To: saganite

>>It’s the Polish report. Reporting on their own lack of crew competence. Take it or leave it.<<

I’m laughing at it!!


5 posted on 07/29/2011 7:59:01 AM PDT by netmilsmom (Happiness is a choice)
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To: saganite

They must have been really incompetent if they made the KGB mad enough to shoot all the crash survivors!


6 posted on 07/29/2011 8:00:08 AM PDT by Boogieman
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To: saganite
Well, uh, I heard they sent a rocket to the sun once… at night! And there was that submarine, with the screen doors!

— Milhouse Van Houten (The Simpsons)


7 posted on 07/29/2011 8:00:45 AM PDT by Vaquero ("an armed society is a polite society" Robert A. Heinlein)
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To: netmilsmom

Whatever. Some folks are more comfortable with a good conspiracy theory than mundane facts. Don’t let them get in the way if they don’t suit you.


8 posted on 07/29/2011 8:01:27 AM PDT by saganite (What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)
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To: Boogieman

Rounds cooking off from Polish weapons constitutes shooting survivors. Riiight.


9 posted on 07/29/2011 8:03:00 AM PDT by saganite (What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)
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10 posted on 07/29/2011 8:15:29 AM PDT by TheOldLady (FReepmail me to get ON or OFF the ZOT LIGHTNING ping list.)
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To: se99tp
This must be a website financed by Kremlin

FYI: http://mswia.datacenter-poland.pl/FinalReportTu-154M.pdf

11 posted on 07/29/2011 8:27:46 AM PDT by Freelance Warrior (A Russian.)
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To: saganite

>>Whatever. Some folks are more comfortable with a good conspiracy theory than mundane facts. Don’t let them get in the way if they don’t suit you.<<

Two words. Ron Brown.


12 posted on 07/29/2011 8:39:54 AM PDT by netmilsmom (Happiness is a choice)
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To: lizol
Lizol, can you give us some Polish insight into this report? How is it being received in Poland?
13 posted on 07/29/2011 10:01:03 AM PDT by Cheburashka (If found, please return this Ring of Power to Sauron, Lord of Darkness. Return postage guaranteed.)
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To: netmilsmom

A Polish Aviation Accident Investigation Commission have released their final report in Polish, which agrees with the factual findings of the Russian report. The Polish commission concluded the probable cause of the crash was:

The descent below minimum descent altitude (MDA), with an excessive rate of descent, in atmospheric conditions which prevented visual contact with the runway. The decision to go-around was taken too late. This led to collision with terrain, the destruction of the left wing, consequently loss of control and loss of the aircraft.

Contributing factors were:

- unverified high barometric altimeter setting during a non-precision approach
- lack of reaction to TAWS warnings
- attempt to go around by pressing TOGA, which however was not armed
- tower ATC attempting to talk the aircraft down although the aircraft’s position was outside approach limits, the ATC instructions re-inforcing the crew’s belief they were conducting a proper approach
- failure of tower to inform the crew about being too low and instructing the crew to maintain level flight too late
- inappropriate/insufficient training of the crew on TU-154M aircraft

Unfavourable factors were:

- improper crew cooperation causing excessive load on the commander during the last phase of flight
- inadequate flight preparation
- insufficient knowledge of functions and limits of their aircraft by the crew
- improper monitoring of each other by all flight crew members, lack of corrective actions to mistakes
- incorrect selection of crew to perform the flight, íncorrect task assignment to crew members
- incorrect supervision of flight crew training
- the operator’s failure to set criteria for stabilised approach, runway and environmental requirements for various approach types, and crew cooperation
- the operator’s failure to ensure practical experience, especially at the Smolensk North aerodrome

http://www.avherald.com/h?article=429ec5fa/0034&opt=0


14 posted on 07/29/2011 11:36:12 AM PDT by saganite (What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)
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To: saganite

...Flight crew to gullible when listening to control tower comments...


15 posted on 07/29/2011 11:46:32 AM PDT by Razzz42
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To: Razzz42

Flight crew too inexperienced to fly their own airplane.


16 posted on 07/29/2011 11:58:49 AM PDT by saganite (What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)
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To: saganite

I wait until the Polish FReepers come in with an opinion. Until then.....Ron Brown.


17 posted on 07/29/2011 12:06:51 PM PDT by netmilsmom (Happiness is a choice)
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To: netmilsmom

You do realize Ron Brown wasn’t on the Polish aircraft? That the two incidents are totally different?


18 posted on 07/29/2011 12:09:00 PM PDT by saganite (What happens to taglines? Is there a termination date?)
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To: saganite

>>That the two incidents are totally different?<<

Not if they are both snow jobs.


19 posted on 07/29/2011 12:18:39 PM PDT by netmilsmom (Happiness is a choice)
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To: Boogieman
They must have been really incompetent if they made the KGB mad enough to shoot all the crash survivors!

Ding! Ding! Ding!

We have a winner!

How fast people forget.

20 posted on 07/29/2011 12:42:32 PM PDT by Smokin' Joe (How often God must weep at humans' folly. Stand fast. God knows what He is doing.)
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