Prove to me that the radars were faulty. I haven't seen any transcripts of the Russian ATC saying they were 100m above ground level.
That's just not good enough. A military airport, in order to accept planes, must have minimum standards according to aviation authorities. Safety must be an issue.
It wasn't the ATC's responsibility to call out 100m. The captain, or pilot in charge - is ultimately in control of the plane. They were cleared to 100m - yet they went below it. There is really nothing else to say about it.
In so far as Smolensk-North goes, it was perfectly adequate to land a plane at. It had a runway, what more do you need? Of course, to land it safely in bad conditions, it's a whole different story - and the airport most definitely wasn't equipped to handle them in such conditions.
That doesn't refute what I said at all. Also, he saw that they were approaching far too fast and did nothing. A strategy should have been formulated sufficiently long enough before reaching the 100m point. They were dipping very quickly. An analogy was made that it would be like trying to reverse a car into a garage at 110mph in foggy conditions without lights.
They were descending a bit too steeply, but speedwise, there was nothing wrong with it. But - yes, they should have formulated a strategy before reaching that point. But - maybe at the critical moment, the captain lost it? It happened before with the Moorgate crash on the tube - it's not impossible to suggest that the Captain simply messed it up and no-one took corrective action.
In regards to the actual descent, while it was steep, there was nothing wrong with it per se - it was well within the capabilities of the airplane.
They know the plane very well and had to install apparatus fitting for a visit of that magnitude.
Seanus - Smolensk-North was stripped bare. We know the Russians discouraged the use of it, and it was really just a runway on the edge of a city - it wasn't even functioning as a military airfield at this point.
It was losing altitude at an alarming rate and for some time. They weren't cautioned to do anything about it.
There was no need to alarm anyone - the autopilot was set and they were descending quite willingly. It's not unusual to come in steeper than usual if you're a bit too high - remember, this was a military flight and not bound by the rules of civilian aviation.
Now - if you want a real story - why was there no Russian navigator on board?