Discussing the Tu-154M Crash at Smolensk

[Borek]

I am not sure if that's the best subforum to post, if Mentors decide it should be somwehere else that's OK with me.

It just hit news here and looks interesting.

http://www.bpp.com.pl/IMG/katastrofa.jpg

This is not a part of an official investigation. Pictures were taken at the airport by a Russian named Siergiej Amielin.

Prawidłowa ścieżka podejścia do lądowania - correct approach path.
Realny tor lotu Tu-154M - real approach path.
Kurs samolotu po kolizji z drzewami - flight path after collision with trees.

Green arrows shows the direction in which pictures were taken.

Looks like collision with birch visible on 6^th picture cut part of the left wing (it has been found separated from the rest), in effect plane turned left and banked (I am not sure if that's the correct word) before crash. And from the way trees are cut it is clear that plane was way too low way too early.

Official investigation is going in its own pace. Our officials highly praise openness and cooperation of the Russian side. They are far from reaching any conclusions (nothing unusual). So far they are almost 100% sure it wasn't a plane failure, no traces of fire nor explosion. Black boxes have been found and read.

 

[Cyrus]

Generally speaking, hitting trees is a bad thing to do with an airplane.

 

[russ_watters]

Any kind of airplane: http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=7363083

Yes, "banked" is the right word.

What confuses me here is why bad visibility should cause a plane crash in this day and age. Shouldn't ILS enable a pilot to land a plane in zero visibility? Did this plane/airport not have it?

 

[Borek]

I don't know about the plane, but for sure there is no ILS on the ground. This is an old military airfield, and at the moment there is even no military unit assigned to it, so - while it is still in use - it is not equipped with modern devices. It happens to be very close to Katyń, so it was used on many occasions earlier when Polish delegations were going there.

 

[MotoH]

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forum...sh-Tu-154M-101-crash&highlight=Tu-154m+crash"

That link has almost all of the information pertaining to the crash itself.

 

[Cyrus]

That airplane sucks, I've flown in it. And it just LOVES to crash when full of government officials.

http://www.dawn.com/wps/wcm/connect/dawn-content-library/dawn/news/world/iran+airliner+crashes,+all+168+on+board+feared+dead

 

[mgb_phys]

Not exactly a perfect record http://aviation-safety.net/database/dblist.php?field=typecode&var=475%&cat=%1&sorteer=datekey&page=1

But it's record during the Soviet era is pretty good when you consider some of the places it must have been flying into - it's USP is that it's a passenger jet that can land on grass strips!
Most of the post USSR crashes with civilian operators have been with people you probably wouldn't want to fly with.