Polish report into Kaczynski crash faults Russian, Polish sides
MOSCOW. July 29. KAZINFORM Poland released its final report on Friday on the plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski last year, suggesting that both the Polish flight crew and Russian air traffic controllers were at fault; Kazinform refers to RIA Novosti.
It also said "third persons" in the plane's cockpit before the crash had intefered with the pilots' work.
It added that the crew "was under some pressure due to the high profile nature of the flight."
On April 10, 2010, the Polish president's Tu-154 plane crashed in heavy fog as it attempted to land at an airfield near the western Russian city of Smolensk. The presidential delegation was flying to Smolensk to mark the 70th anniversary of the 1940 Katyn massacre of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police. Then Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and a host of other top officials on board were killed.
The authors of the report were quick to stress however that they had not sought to "attribute blame" for the crash, but rather to establish the reasons for the disaster, in which 96 people died. The probe into the crash has been a source of tensions bewteen Russia and Poland.
The report said erroneous commands given by a Russian traffic controller and the inadequate training of Polish crew were also likely to have been among the causes of the crash. It highlighted the fact that the pilot was too late in aborting his first attempt to land.
The Polish commission also stated that the Russian controller responsible for the air traffic zone had little experience.
"This was only the second flight he had handled in a year and he gave the crew erroneous instructions," commission experts said at a press conference in Warsaw on Friday.
The report also said that the aircraft's Terrain Warning Approach System (TAWS), which should have warned the crew that they were in danger of impacting the ground, was not ready for the flight.
"The TAWS system was not properly configured for a flight to Smolensk. It should have been set up and activated by the co-pilot," experts presenting the report in Warsaw said.
In addition, the Polish commission said the Russian air traffic controller at Smolensk gave the crew incorrect information about the aircraft's position on the approach.
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