Posted on 04/10/2010 1:19:25 AM PDT by lizol
Polish president dies in air crash
A plane carrying Lech Kaczynski, the Polish president, has crashed near Smolensk airport in western Russia, killing all on board, Russian officials have reported.
Polish officials confirmed on Saturday that Kaczynski was on board the flight with his wife, as well as Slawomir Skrzypek, the president of Poland's central bank, Andrzej Kremer, the deputy foreign minister and the army chief of staff.
The crash occurred about 1.5km from Smolensk airport in foggy conditions.
The reason so many officials on the plane was the trip was to be a reconciliation between the two countries over the soldiers who were killed during the war. It has been an icy affair for years and both sides had determined to let it rest. So it was indeed intended for more than just a normal respectful visit...
Prayers up for all the families and for the Polish people.
Uh oh
I find that odd as well — unless the Russians are jamming the frequencies in the area to guard against secondary attacks or something (remote detonations).
You’d think at least ONE phone might have survived - got thrown and landed somewhere in the underbrush away from the plane... I mean don’t they find clothes, and suitcases like that in some crashes?
I had wondered about the amount of fuel given the 4 landing attempts. I’m still going back and forth with my suspicions. I’m just one who needs to ask the questions, and process the answers. That being said — I greatly appreciated your responses because they help keep my “feet” on the ground while contemplating this situation. I greatly identify with the Polish people and the country, so I’m still in shock over this as well... I’m worried for them, obviously. Such a huge thing to deal with as a nation — so many lost at once...
Amen to your prayer!
...and the fact that Obama threw the Pole under the bus on the missile defense systems for their country to curry favor with Putin and the Rusians.
I’m in shock when I saw this on MSN. I didn’t believe it.
RIP.
Here’s the comment on the compatibility issue.....
April, 2010, 22:23
Speaking to RT, defence analyst and former Polish military pilot Mikhal Fisher noted a previously unmentioned factor that possibly was one of the reasons for the crash.
“In the Soviet Union/Russia they use a unique instrumental landing system called PRMG. It works almost exactly the same way as the international Western system ILS. However, the two are not compatible. The Polish airplane was modified to use the ILS, as the [Soviet] airplane was mainly flying to various airports that use it,” Fisher told RT.
http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-04-10/landing-systems-kaczynski-crash.html
Prayers and condolances for the nation of Poland
Mind you, there was little love lost between Kaczynski and Polish PM Donald Tusk, who is heading up the Polish investigation. Just sayin'
“My Grandmother was an immigrant from Poland. But this goes so much further than Poland. We’ve lost a friend and God knows we need as many friends as we can get right now. So, it’s our loss as well.
Pray for Poland.”
My grandmother also came from Poland—Lubla. She was born in 1893, and emigrated in 1910, at 17. She worked on farms south of Cleveland while living in a Polish neighborhood. She married in 1915, two weeks after she met my grandfather (!). She was 63 when I was born in 1956 and all my life she was a little old Polish lady, who spoke broken English. She lived in the second house her husband built for over 50 years, until she was 99. she then moved in with her 78 year old daughter, my aunt, who took care of her for 5 years. She was walking and active until she died. She died in 1997, the day after she turned 104.
My prayers are with Poland and the Polish people.
AHHHH... I understand the Obama connection now. Thanks! Yeah, very convenient indeed. I knew I had to be missing something.
First item on the agenda for Poland is to replace all Russian planes with US planes.
I still remember the 1980 crash in Poland that killed a good portion of the US Amateur Boxing team, that was an Ilyushin Il-62.
......Airplanes used by Polish authorities...... are mostly old Soviet-made craft in poor technical condition, Polish mass media note.
The tragic death of top officials flying to Russia to commemorate the victims of the Katyn mass killing prompted the media in Poland to once again talk about the dilapidated state of the aircraft used by the presidential administration.
The Tupolev-154 craft used in this flight was made in 1990, and had been in use for almost 20 years. It had encountered technical problems earlier. In 2009, both presidential Tu-154s failed to function, and Lech Kaczynski had to take a regular passenger flight to New York. One of the planes underwent a long-term repair in Russia, but broke down just after returning to Warsaw. The other Tu-154M was in the repair workshop until November last year.
In December 2008, the presidential plane was disabled by -20C temperatures in Mongolia during a visit, and the Polish head of state had to take a charter to Tokyo, arriving eight hours later than scheduled.
In October 2008, Kaczynski had to book a charter for Brussels. At the time, the head of Prime Minister Tusk’s administration refused the president his right to use the plane to attend an EU summit. A charter cost around US$60,000
http://rt.com/Top_News/2010-04-10/poland-aircraft-poor-condition.html? fullstory
I’m glad you came through it Tom.
I’m sure that was frightening.
For a dense fog, those kids saw everything in pretthy good detail.
Just saying....
Part of me wonders — if this was truly all a horrible accident — if the Lord didn’t choose this moment in order to warn the Poles not to trust Russia just yet... That it wasn’t time yet to put this behind them...
More speculation, and now speculating on a religious basis I know... I guess one just searches for answers when things seem so unbelievable — SO many important people...
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