# 97 Killed In Polish President's Plane Crash



## Cryozombie (Apr 10, 2010)

http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/killed-polish-presidents-plane-crash-russian-minister/

 It was like all their important people on one plane. Thats insane. The President, The heads of their Army, Navy, Air Force, their Ground Troop commander, President of their National bank... Was this an accident?


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## Archangel M (Apr 10, 2010)

Cryozombie said:


> http://www.foxbusiness.com/story/markets/killed-polish-presidents-plane-crash-russian-minister/
> 
> It was like all their important people on one plane. Thats insane. The President, The heads of their Army, Navy, Air Force, their Ground Troop commander, President of their National bank... Was this an accident?



Putting them all on one plane sure was a bad decision.


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## CoryKS (Apr 10, 2010)

Looks like it was an accident.  Terrible news.




> Pilot error has been blamed for the tragedy after it emerged he turned down the opportunity to land at an alternative runway in thick fog. Witnesses said the pilot made three or four attempts to land before crashing into woodland nearby.
> According to reports, the pilot accelerated as the plane came in to land and at that point lost contact with air traffic control.




http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1264964/BREAKING-NEWS-Plane-carrying-Polish-president-crashes-Russia.html#ixzz0kiJgK8q8


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## Archangel M (Apr 10, 2010)

Soviet era technology. Never fly in "TU" planes. Or any vehicle designed and manufactured by a government vs a private industry.


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## CoryKS (Apr 10, 2010)

I'd agree with that in general, but it sounds like the problem here was weather conditions.


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## Archangel M (Apr 10, 2010)

CoryKS said:


> I'd agree with that in general, but it sounds like the problem here was weather conditions.



Our planes don't seem to have fog landing problems. I wonder what the instrumentation and flight tech is like on those TU models.



> According to the Aviation Safety Network, there have been 66 crashes involving Tu-154s, including six in the past five years. The Russian carrier Aeroflot recently withdrew its Tu-154 fleet from service.
> 
> Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...h-president-crashes-Russia.html#ixzz0kiR5uqcf



Yikes!


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## Omar B (Apr 10, 2010)

That's really a shame.  Imagine the power struggle that's gonna ensue in Poland now.  Even with a constitution and rules of succession you know it's still gonna be a mess.

Who puts that many important people together?  Heck, my parents never took a flight together in their life on the off chance something could happen.


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## grydth (Apr 10, 2010)

From what I read, the pilot of the 25+ year old aircraft refused instructions to proceed to another airport in the fog.

The horrible irony is that they were travelling to pay respects at Katyn - - - the place where in 1940 Stalin murdered so many Polish leaders/officers - in an attempt to destroy the country's leadership. Looks like Stalin, indirectly, has done it again.


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## Ken Morgan (Apr 10, 2010)

My understanding is that it is the Prime Minister who holds/controls most of the power in Poland, so there shouldn't be a huge problem for them. 

Poland has come a long way in the last 20 or 30 years, they'll get through this one OK, the families affected though, never will.


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## Omar B (Apr 10, 2010)

Thanks Ken, I don't know much about the political situation in Poland or their power structure but from where I stood it looked like a power vacuum.


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## grydth (Apr 10, 2010)

Ken Morgan said:


> My understanding is that it is the Prime Minister who holds/controls most of the power in Poland, so there shouldn't be a huge problem for them.
> 
> Poland has come a long way in the last 20 or 30 years, they'll get through this one OK, the families affected though, never will.



I believe you are correct - and Prime Minister Tusk does not appear to have been on that plane. However, I do believe that Poland will sorely miss the higher level military and government officials who are now suddenly gone. Too early to say what problems their loss will cause.


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