President is dead

[Serb]

My condolences to the Polish people. Though I was never a fan of him, it sucks when your president dies.

[Serb]

However, I cannot believe that was actually Polish presidential aircraft. How could they entrust his life to this piece of junk?

Onodera's right. Nobody should ever fly in a Russian built plane.

There was a heavy fog over the airport and it was actually closed for landings. The air traffic controllers made it crystal clear for pilots that the weather conditions are too dangerous for landing and offered them another airport for landing (Minsk and Moscow). I can't believe it was a pilot's decision to continue with the landing (despite already FOUR failed attempts). More likely it was a president's decision to land the plane here and now.
Considering the circumstances I highly doubt it was an aircraft failure. More likely this is an example how people who have a great power are digging their own graves by not listening to the professionals.

[Dinner]

BBC is saying that China outlawed the use of Tu-154s in 2001 due to a crap safety record. Even Aeroflot (the old Soviet national airline) has decided it will buy western planes rather then crappy Russian planes.

[self biased]

[Provost Harrison]

It's not too soon is it?

[GePap]

Ouch!

We all know the conspiracy theories will be flowing soon....so let me start:

Was the pilot a Russian plant?

[Timexwatch]

Is it wrong to ask, "How many Polish guys does it take to crash an airplane?"

[Kuciwalker]

@ sb

[Serb]

Idiots. A lot of people just have died.

[giblets]

Thanks to Russia.

[Dinner]

A Pole killed in Russia on his way to commemorate some Poles being killed by Russians.

[BlackCat]

BBC is saying that China outlawed the use of Tu-154s in 2001 due to a crap safety record. Even Aeroflot (the old Soviet national airline) has decided it will buy western planes rather then crappy Russian planes.

That is a rather biased interpretation of this :

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8612915.stm

But as an indication of its ageing design, the Chinese government decided in 2001 to withdraw the Tu-154 from its airlines.

Aeroflot took the decision to phase them out more recently, saying their high fuel consumption made them uneconomic.

An expert on Russian aviation, Paul Duffy, assessed the safety record of the Tu-154 in 2004, for the BBC News website.

Of 28 lost in accidents up to that date - a figure about normal for the quantity, years of service and technology of the type, in his view - few had crashed because of technical failure, he said.

Unrelated problems

"The Tu-154 operates in regions with not very good air traffic control and navigation equipment, and in very difficult weather conditions," he said at the time.

Some of the accidents had little relation to the aircraft itself, he added.

For example, in 1982, an aircraft landing at Omsk in Russia in a heavy snowstorm hit six snowploughs that had not been told to leave the runway as the aircraft landed.

About five had been shot down by enemy or terrorist attacks in Lebanon, Georgia and Afghanistan during the civil wars in those countries.

In 2001, a Tu-154 crashed into the Black Sea after being hit by a Ukrainian missile fired during exercises.

One landed safely in a field after its cargo of cigarettes caught fire but was completely burnt.

Another ran out of fuel five miles short of the runway when the state airline of an almost bankrupt country decided to carry less fuel from its base, where the price was high.

And Swiss air controllers accepted full responsibility for a mid-air collision between a Tu-154 and a cargo plane in July 2002.

The Tu-154 is now no longer in production.

BBC Moscow correspondent Richard Galpin says Russian airlines are not interested in newer Tupolevs because they are not comparable with Western planes.

Aeroflot is now buying the vast majority of its aircraft from Boeing and Airbus.

It sounds more like an stable workhorse that has performed well in difficult circumstances but now has been surpassed by more modern design.


Oh, and condolences to you Polish guys

[Barnabas]

Somehow I feel really bad for this

[Winston]

My condolences also. That's a horrible blow, not least when thinking of the flight's purpose.

I do think Serb is onto something in post #17.

[SlowwHand]

I haven't read anything yet that said the airport was closed. This is from 1 1/2 hours ago.

Early indications pointed to pilot error in heavy fog as a factor in the crash, officials said.