Passengers visited the cockpit of doomed jet
Source: Agencies |
May 20, 2010, Thursday
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AS Polish President Lech Kaczynski's plane streaked toward disaster, at least two passengers visited the cockpit, others may have chatted on cellular phones that can obstruct navigation instruments and an under-trained crew faced heavy fog over challenging terrain.
Those were among the details revealed yesterday by Russian and Polish officials investigating the April 10 crash that killed Kaczynski, his wife and 94 others outside the western Russian city of Smolensk. The preliminary report drew no conclusions about what caused the catastrophe.
The crash had deep diplomatic resonance given the long-troubled relations between Russia and Poland, and releasing an incomplete report may have been intended by both sides to show their determination to be candid.
Alexei Morozov, head of the technical commission of Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee, also said that among the questions that need further investigation is whether the rolling terrain around the Smolensk military airport distorted instrument readings.
The plane went down in a ravine some 15 meters below the level of the runway just a kilometer away.
"The presence of this ravine can have a natural influence on the readings of the radio altimeter," he said. "This is one of the subjects the technical commission is working on."
He also said the commission was probing whether the use of cell phones aboard the Tu-154 affected its navigation.
The most tantalizing, though inconclusive, detail was that two voices not belonging to crew members showed up on cockpit flight recorders. Officials said it's not clear who one of the voices belonged to, declined to identify the other and didn't report what they said.
But the information could feed persistent speculation in Poland that Kaczynski or someone in his entourage pressured the crew to land despite visibility that had shrunk to about 200 meters. The plane was carrying top political figures on a mission important to constituents - attending a memorial ceremony for thousands of Polish officers who were killed by Soviet secret police in 1940.
Poland's PAP agency said it learned from a source close to the investigation in Moscow that one of the two voices in the cockpit that did not belong to a crew member was that of the Air Force Commander, General Andrzej Blasik.
Those were among the details revealed yesterday by Russian and Polish officials investigating the April 10 crash that killed Kaczynski, his wife and 94 others outside the western Russian city of Smolensk. The preliminary report drew no conclusions about what caused the catastrophe.
The crash had deep diplomatic resonance given the long-troubled relations between Russia and Poland, and releasing an incomplete report may have been intended by both sides to show their determination to be candid.
Alexei Morozov, head of the technical commission of Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee, also said that among the questions that need further investigation is whether the rolling terrain around the Smolensk military airport distorted instrument readings.
The plane went down in a ravine some 15 meters below the level of the runway just a kilometer away.
"The presence of this ravine can have a natural influence on the readings of the radio altimeter," he said. "This is one of the subjects the technical commission is working on."
He also said the commission was probing whether the use of cell phones aboard the Tu-154 affected its navigation.
The most tantalizing, though inconclusive, detail was that two voices not belonging to crew members showed up on cockpit flight recorders. Officials said it's not clear who one of the voices belonged to, declined to identify the other and didn't report what they said.
But the information could feed persistent speculation in Poland that Kaczynski or someone in his entourage pressured the crew to land despite visibility that had shrunk to about 200 meters. The plane was carrying top political figures on a mission important to constituents - attending a memorial ceremony for thousands of Polish officers who were killed by Soviet secret police in 1940.
Poland's PAP agency said it learned from a source close to the investigation in Moscow that one of the two voices in the cockpit that did not belong to a crew member was that of the Air Force Commander, General Andrzej Blasik.
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