Crash of Tu-154 at Smolensk-North--could it have been a bomb in the Polish plane?

Convex, let's not go round in circles with this.

Delph, they still would have had the most basic of radars to guide them in.

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.

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.

The canyons are much further down that you are making out, Delph. Check the diagrams of the environs of the airport.

That says nothing about precautions, Delph. It was a Russian plane that was worked on just 3 weeks prior by Russian hands. They know the plane very well and had to install apparatus fitting for a visit of that magnitude. It wasn't like they didn't know.

It was losing altitude at an alarming rate and for some time. They weren't cautioned to do anything about it.

No reason to go around in circles, it's very very basic. If they knowingly descended below 100m, they are at fault. Seeing as the navigator made that call out and they continued to descend, well, the only conclusion that I could draw would be that they either had the runway in sight (which they would have called out), or they decided to push it a little bit.

No need to discuss the radar, bulbs, weather conditions. They reached DH and continued their descent. They flew a perfectly good aircraft into the ground due to gross negligence on their behalf.

Well, no need for further investigation then ;) ;)

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.


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.


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.


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?

The question of why did they knowingly descend below DH needs to be answered. The entire point of the investigation is to find out why it happened, and put measures into place so that it never happens again.

It cannot be known why they did it. What more info do you need to put that beyond reasonable doubt?

They were moving in too fast and pilots on various fora agree on this point.

Why would there be a Russian navigator on board?

u all seem to focus on what happened at smolensk. i would say that if the pilot had done a proper job of his pre-flight planning he would know what to expect when he got there. the dip in the land is no-ones fault. flying into it is the pilot's fault. simples.

You'd look at things like training, auditing, CRM...

IFR flights in Russia usually require a Russian navigator.

It was the rule up until very recently that Russia required a Russian navigator to be on board such flights - and anyone with an ounce of sense could see the value in taking one to an airport which was stripped bare and was really nothing more than a strip of concrete.

I heard that the Polish peeps actually refused a Russian navigator when one was offered...!

It would appear to have been an arrogant attempt at landing. This is not simulation stuff, it was for real. Most Polish people agree that it was a futile attempt based on cockiness.

we'll never know 100%...

True! It's amazing how many were so sure a day after ;)

only a day ago a Tu154 of the same type involved in the Smolensk disaster suffered a power and systems failure while approaching Moscow....

Somehow the pilots managed to get it to an emergency military runway , which had only a short runway , way too short for a Tu154 , but there was no other option...

There was no chance of a second attempt , as they had no power , so they had to get it right first time...

The pilots got the aircraft down on the runway , but ran 200 meters off the end of the runway and into the forest , fortunatly with minimal damage to the aircraft , and no casualties among the 100 plus people on board....

Dam fine piece of flying..great pilots , and it shows the old 154 is quite a tough aircraft...

I think maybe its had its day though..perhaps time to retire it now....?

What's also funny is that your own article discussed how Poles were complaining about the delay in information coming from Russia on the plane crash including Prime Minister Tusk asking the Russian government to explain the reason for the delay. DID YOU READ YOUR OWN ARTICLE??? Maybe you're the one only seeing what you want to see.

As for these links I have been posting them. Its not my problem if you just dismiss them out of hand or ignore them.

Not to mention that recent link I commented on (Seanus' article in Polish - not mine) where one of the Polish investigators when he was in the US said he thought the Russian major in charge of the Russian airtower had responsibility in the plane crashing because he lured the plane to come down to 50 meters.

But you conveniently IGNORE any article or information that merely suggests the Russians may have goofed up an contributed to the plane crashing, like you have some kind of agenda.

MAYBE you are only seeing what you want to see?

How do you lure a plane...??? Some tasty jet fuel , a huge magnet...or a sexy plane of the oposite sex...???

You don't have to be a wise guy.

Did you read that article in Polish that Seanus referenced?

Better to be wise than stupid....!

Yes i read the stuff Seanus posted , but i still have not seen anything that changes my mind about this crash....

Have a look on the sites where pilots chat about stuff...nobody on there thinks it was anything other than an accident caused by human error....

As i said , i am quite happy to change my mind and blame the Russians if i see any evidence they were at fault...but i just have not seen any yet....

Take it easy. Don't get so mad comrade.

Did you really read the Polish article? So tell me what did the article say?

Also come on.......if there was a confirmed video, or pictures or evidence, showing Russian foul play you would still be repeating the mantra......... "But I just haven't seen any evidence that they are at fault" LOL

It is but speculation. Nonetheless, the canyon factor must not be underplayed. It had a material effect on the tragic outcome. Were PO to be more proactive as a party, they would follow through on this.

If there was...then i would condem the Russians as loudly as anyone else....and believe me...the Russian people themselves would not be too happy about their government bumping off the head of a neighbouring country....

Russia needs to be part of Europe , it needs business and econonmic trade with Europe , if they were found to be involved in any sinister plot to kill a Polish president they would be well and truly screwed...even their own people would turn on them...

But there is not any evidence of foul play...and i doubt very much there will be...

Maybe it wasn't a sinister Russian plot.

Maybe they just made some mistakes that they are too embarrassed or proud to admit.

Well , that would be nothing new in Russia...but i am sure that any mistakes will be uncovered , and lessons learned from this tragedy...

The days when the Russian leaders were able to hide things from their own people , and the world are gone now..if the Russians screwed up...we will know about it...

Read the article again, then try again, and again. Notice the part about politicians using this as leverage, and the investigators being satisfied with the level of cooperation? Last time I checked, Tusk wasn't heading any investigations.


The controller wasn't flying the plane. Read the transcript. They knowingly descended past DH. Radar had them roughly on glide slope down to 100m. They continued their descent into obstacles. If you don't believe the transcript, you're at odds with the Polish military.


I doubt that. They'd look like fools trying to second guess the investigators. That would open up a brand new can of worms about preparedness and planning. It would probably get ugly fairly quickly.

They should at least try as Szeremet and Rzepa have yielded little from the Ruskies. PO really want nothing to do with it as they'd be on dangerous ground and they know it.

The problem is that you're posting links that contradict what the top brass in Poland has been saying. The fact that you, as a so-called Polish patriot, are willing to believe Germans or Belarussians over Poles is absolutely unbelievable and certainly traitorous.

I start to wonder if you aren't a member of the FSB, who is coming on here to discredit the people who want to find out THE TRUTH about Smolensk. Certainly, your tactics seem very similar to the FSB-operated Kavkaz Center!

The thing is MediaWatch, you seem completely incapable of distinguishing between quality journalism and sensationalism. Take for instance, the following from the smolensk-2010.pl website.


Now - anyone with any knowledge whatsoever would know the following -

- The Poles would damn well make sure that no aircraft was bugged. Unless of course, conspiracy theorists believe that Poland and NATO would allow one of their aircraft to be bugged!

- What ILS at Smolensk-North? Is this the legendary portable system?

And that's just two small points from one small paragraph.

How many PiS people are at the forefront of developments, Delph? ;)

if you take the development of arthritis and sclerosis into account, there must be quite a few. Not to worry, they'll be gone soon:)

Yes ok. Thanks

That's the problem. :)

I just hope that the report will be soon - I'm very, very curious to find out some details, such as the definitive chart showing where the plane was at what time.