Polish crash pilots were warned
Source: Agencies |
June 2, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
PILOTS of the doomed aircraft carrying Poland's President Lech Kaczynski received at least a dozen warnings from on-board systems to regain altitude during the last minute before the crash, according to transcripts from its cockpit recorders released yesterday.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government decided to publish the transcripts to quell media speculation about the reasons for the April 10 crash, which also killed Poland's top military commanders, its central bank governor and many lawmakers.
"Pull up, pull up ... Terrain ahead," the on-board warning system told the pilots numerous times just before the crash.
It was not clear from the transcripts why the pilots only tried to pull higher when it was too late.
One of the pilots cursed after the plane hit a tree - a collision that flipped the Tuploev Tu-154 military plane upside down. The last sound recorded was a prolonged curse by an unidentified person in the cockpit.
Polish media have speculated that Kaczynski himself may have contributed to the crash by encouraging pilots to disregard Russian traffic controllers' advice and to land the plane despite the poor weather conditions.
The transcript provided no evidence of this, though three minutes before the crash an unidentified person in the cockpit was quoted as saying: "(S)he will be annoyed if..." It did not make clear who the subject of the sentence was.
Kaczynski and his entourage had been running late for a ceremony in nearby Katyn forest marking the 70th anniversary of the murder of some 22,000 Polish army officers and intellectuals there by the Soviet NKVD secret police.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk's government decided to publish the transcripts to quell media speculation about the reasons for the April 10 crash, which also killed Poland's top military commanders, its central bank governor and many lawmakers.
"Pull up, pull up ... Terrain ahead," the on-board warning system told the pilots numerous times just before the crash.
It was not clear from the transcripts why the pilots only tried to pull higher when it was too late.
One of the pilots cursed after the plane hit a tree - a collision that flipped the Tuploev Tu-154 military plane upside down. The last sound recorded was a prolonged curse by an unidentified person in the cockpit.
Polish media have speculated that Kaczynski himself may have contributed to the crash by encouraging pilots to disregard Russian traffic controllers' advice and to land the plane despite the poor weather conditions.
The transcript provided no evidence of this, though three minutes before the crash an unidentified person in the cockpit was quoted as saying: "(S)he will be annoyed if..." It did not make clear who the subject of the sentence was.
Kaczynski and his entourage had been running late for a ceremony in nearby Katyn forest marking the 70th anniversary of the murder of some 22,000 Polish army officers and intellectuals there by the Soviet NKVD secret police.
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