Polish air disaster: Pilot ignored fog alert

Published on Saturday 10 April 2010 20:29

THE pilot of the doomed plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski ignored repeated warnings not to land at a fog-bound Russian airstrip.

• A policeman stands guard near the wreckage of a Polish government Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft near Smolensk airport. Picture: Getty

Authorities yesterday said the unnamed airman made three failed attempts to put the presidential jet down at the decommissioned airbase before hitting a tree and crashing, killing all 97 people on board.

Kaczynski, his wife and scores of his country's most senior dignitaries were among those killed when the luxury airliner broke up yesterday, a mile short of the runway in Smolensk, western Russia.

The 60-year-old president and hero of Polish resistance to Communism, had been on his way to a ceremony to commemorate thousands of Poles killed by Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin 70 years ago. It is understood he was running late for the event.

First deputy chief of staff of the Russian Air Force Aleksandr Alyoshin last night confirmed Kaczynski's pilot was "several times given orders to divert to an alternative airport".

Russian investigators yesterday said that human error was just one of three lines of inquiry they were pursuing. The others are the weather or a technical malfunction.

The events in Smolensk prompted speculation in Poland that Kaczynski himself may have ordered his pilot to land. In 2008, at the height of the war between Russia and Georgia, Kaczynski reportedly tried to make his pilot land in Tbilisi. The pilot refused, citing safety reasons, but was later disciplined.

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