Amid concern over ash and delaying state funeral, Polish investigators examine black boxes

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Poland closes air space due to volcanic ash

WARSAW, Poland — Polish officials have closed the airport where numerous world leaders are expected this weekend for the state funeral of the president killed in a plane crash last Saturday, but no plans to delay the event have been revealed.

The decision came as Polish investigators began examining one of three black boxes from the plane crash that killed President Lech Kaczynski and 95 other people, after Russian officials said their study of the boxes suggested pilot error was to blame.

Justyna Zajaczkowska, a spokeswoman for Krakow Balice Airport, told The Associated Press that the airport was closed to all traffic “indefinitely” because of the spreading volcanic ash cloud emanating from Iceland.

Despite the closure, she said, “preparations to receive” world leaders on Sunday were continuing, as the government said it had no firm plans, yet, to postpone Sunday’s state funeral in Krakow.

“A two-day perspective ahead of the arrival of those planes is a relatively long time and it is hard to say how the situation will influence the arrivals,” Zajaczkowska said. “All we can do is wait.”

Presidential Palace spokesman Jacek Sasisn said there had been no discussion so far of postponing the funeral, but “theoretically, there exists such an option.” Any delay would be an “absolute last resort.”

Among world leaders who said they would come to the funeral are President Barack Obama, Russian President Dmitry Medvedv and German Chancellor Angela Merkel.

Late Thursday, the White House said Obama still planned to fly to Poland on Saturday.

Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton said, “It’s something that we’re keeping an eye on. Right now, our schedule is still on.”

Poland is preparing a tradition-laden funeral for Kaczynski and his wife, who were among the 96 people killed when their plane clipped a birch tree on approach to Smolensk. They were headed to the airport for a commemoration of the systematic execution of thousands of World War II Polish army officers by the forerunner of the Soviet secret police in 1940.

The investigation into the crash is moving fairly quickly, aviation experts said, but some Poles have complained about a lack of public information, including the transcript of conversation in the cockpit before the accident.

The black boxes, recovered from the wreckage of the Tu-154 that crashed last Saturday while approaching the airport in Smolensk, Russia, will be examined for more clues as to why the crash happened, but investigators from Russia and Poland have said human error was the likely cause.

According to Russian state news agency RIA Novosti, the Interstate Aviation Committee said the preliminary investigation had found the plane hit some trees about 1,050 meters (yards) from the paved runway.

“After 200 meters, the left wing of the plane struck a tree, as a consequence of which the plane sharply heeled and turned over to the left,” the report said. “The main mass of fragments of the airliner are about 300-350 meters from the runway and about 150 meters to the left of it.”

Jerzy Artymiak, spokesman for Polish military prosecutors, said the other two boxes are still being examined in Russia.

Investigators had hoped to disclose contents of the flight recordings on Thursday, but Artymiak said they now plan to wait until after the weekend memorial ceremonies.

Last weekend, the pilot of the Tupolev 154 carrying Kaczynski and the others had been warned of bad weather in Smolensk and advised by air traffic controllers to land elsewhere — which would have delayed the Katyn observances. Some in Poland have speculated that the pilots ignored the risks in order to keep President Kaczynski on schedule for a memorial for Polish officers executed by Soviet secret police in the Katyn forest in 1940.