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Kaczynski to be buried at Wawel ?! [289]
Cute. Staying on topic however,
In August 2008, a different pilot of Kaczyński's plane, Grzegorz Pietruczuk, was pressured by the president when he refused to land in Tbilisi during the South Ossetian war between Georgia and Russia.[58][59] During that incident, Pietruczuk was asked by the president's staff to change the flight plan and land in Tbilisi.[60] After consulting with the commander of his unit, Pietruczuk refused, justifying his decision by safety concerns. He was then visited in the cockpit by Kaczynski himself, who tried to convince him to change his mind. Kaczynski later told journalists that "the Polish officer should not be cowardly". Nevertheless, Pietruczuk held his ground and the plane landed in Azerbaijan as planned. A few weeks after this incident Pietruczuk was decorated by the defense minister for following correct procedures in this case and keeping the safety of his passengers utmost in his mind.[60] Pietruczuk continued to fly the president's plane after the incident, even after Kaczynski expressed unhappiness with his performance during the flight to Tbilisi.[61] Grzegorz Hołdanowicz, a leading Polish defence analyst, stated his belief that in Smolensk, the pilot Captain Arkadiusz Protasiuk would have been under pressure to land, despite advice from air traffic control to the contrary.[59]
"It's a clear case of VIP-passenger syndrome," flight safety expert Viktor Timoshkin "Air-traffic control told him to take the plane to Moscow or Minsk. I'm certain that the pilot will have told the President about this, and got a firm reply that the plane must land in Smolensk."[62][63]
