Poland to reconstruct jet crash that killed president
By IANSSaturday, January 22, 2011
Warsaw, Jan 23 (IANS/RIA Novosti) Poland plans to reconstruct the crash that killed then Polish president Lech Kaczynski, a top official said.
A Tu-154 plane that crashed near Smolensk, in western Russia, in April 2010, was carrying Kaczynski and 95 other senior Polish officials to a ceremony to honour Polish soldiers killed by Soviet secret police in 1940.
A plane that is to be deployed now for reconstructing the chain of events is the only vehicle of Tu-154 type at the disposal of the 36th Special Aviation Regiment of the Polish Air Force, which transports high-level officials.
“This will be a flight to confirm several moments, in particular if the crew could have taken any actions after the order ‘Be off’ and find out the reasons why they failed to perform these actions,” said Miroslav Grokhovsky, deputy head of the Polish investigation commission.
He said security will be stepped up during the experiment, but did not provide further details.
Meanwhile, TVN24, a television news channel in Poland, said the experts “will not try” to reconstruct the weather conditions during the crash.
Russia’s aviation authorities released a report earlier this month citing pilot error as the main cause of the tragedy.
Polish officials criticised the report, claiming it lacked evidence.
–IANS/RIA Novosti
