Polish president dies in plane crash during heavy fog
Always obey your air traffic controllers. That's the cardinal rule of of aviation, and one apparently violated by the pilot of the aircraft carrying the Polish president and dozens of the country's top political and military leaders, which crashed in heavy fog this morning near Smolensk, Russia. All 96 people aboard perished. According to the New York Times, air traffic controllers had recommended the president's jet land in nearby Minsk because of bad visibility, but the crew decided to land anyway. The Polish news channel TVN24 reported that moments before the crash, air traffic controllers had refused a Russian military aircraft permission to land, but that they could not refuse permission to the Polish plane. Russian media reported that the airplane's crew made several attempts to land before a wing hit the treetops and the plane crashed about half a mile from the runway.
Figure 1. a large patch of fog covers the Russian city of Smolensk and regions to the east in this visible light image captured by NASA's Terra satellite between 08:00 - 11:15 UTC Saturday, April 10, 2010. Image credit: NASA MODIS Rapid Response System, visualized using Google Earth.
At 10 am local time, near the time of the crash, the Smolensk airport reported heavy fog with visibility 0.5 km (3/10 of a mile). As seen in the satellite image taken near this time (Figure 1), a large bank of fog covered Smolensk and neighboring regions of Russia and Belarus.
Jeff Masters
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oh, oops!
And now you bring me back to post 443
Okay, I'll play the semantics game. Technically you are correct so I will rephrase (although there are nuances that generally dictate when each word is used). (Never heard a Mom holler for the kids to stop that discussing.) There seem to be some people that come here for the sole reason of causing a verbal ruckus. I may even be considered one of those by some in here. My point is, why can't these talks remain civil? Maybe my definition of civility is different.
Not always a good option Pat. I watched a P-3 land long at Norfolk NAS in the fog and he ran off the end of the duty runway, down the hill, through the fence and into the pond. Ruined his day. I happened to be in ops and saw his landing gear go by the window on his approach and we all knew he was in big trouble. Ops was halfway down the runway.
Rio mayor Eduardo Paes said residents of the Morro de Urubu favelas (shantytowns) were being evacuated starting on Saturday ahead of demolitions planned for Monday.
The mayor decreed late last week that residents could be forcibly removed from their neighbourhoods, perched precariously on hillsides.
"There is still a risks of rains in the city. We cannot let people stay in danger zones," he said, noting that some 10,000 people live in the designated "risk areas".
Families will receive a "social pension" of $US141 ($A150.64) each month to pay for temporary housing until new houses are built, the mayor said.
On a visit to the Morro do Bumba slum in Niteroi on Sunday, Rio state Governor Sergio Cabral announced the federal government would provide a loan of some $US2.3 billion ($A2.46 billion) to cover damages.
The slum, where dozens of houses were destroyed by landslides, was built on an old garbage dump, compacted by time. The hillside gave way after the heavy rains, burying alive some hundreds of people, according to official estimates.
Said visibility was 1300'
actually the point of the Darwin award is to honor those who are clearing stupidity from the gene pool by removing their genes, so if a person is unable to reproduce because of something stupid they did they can still win a Darwin Award. Just saying
Musta been quite da sight.
"Always Land Long" is a old Air Wing adage,..that applies to Runways and Hook catching on Naval Carriers.
Marine Aviator Lingo.
Neil Armstrong Landed Long during Apollo 11..and will tell ya da same.
But he was a Civilian Pilot when flying Apollo 11.
Mike and Buzz were Active Duty Air Force and had to fill out Travel Vouchers.
Spent some time at Oceania, NAS in 82
lol?
I am guessing that the quakes in Spain and in the Solomon Islands are on a subduction zone, where one plate dives under the other. Those seem to produce deeper quakes and fewer aftershocks.
Quoting presslord:
Q "How far do you think we can fly in the fog?"
A "All the way to the crash site..."
lol?
We are making jokes and laughing about death. Are you all kidding. WOW!
Nice joking about death.....NICE!
And Landing Middle Cable is preferred,but thats why one hits full Power at Contact,..
But you knew that?
Didnt,ya?
LOL
"Call da Ball"..
There are people who make things happen, there are people who watch things happen, and there are people who wonder what happened. To be successful, you need to be a person who makes things happen.
James A. Lovell
My friend, I wish we could lend you some rain. I know that you're experiencing a bad drought. Hopefully, the El Nino will die out quickly and weather for Trinidad and Tobago will return to normal.
If it's any consolation, I live in the Dallas-ft Worth, TX area. We has one wet and snowy winter (which was bizarre, it almost never snows in this part of TX) and now it has been almost 3 weeks since we had a meaningful rainfall.
...might as well own it now..
Left a trail of scarlet stuff behind and I thought at the time "...I should be able to HEAR that!
Pretty sight.
What a revelation
heheheheh, Weirdness on a Sunday night.
The Polish government was probably under pressure from their own superiors on board the plane to land the plane and not divert to another airport. It appears to just be a tragic accident, their pilots were probably very good pilots, but misjudged the situation.
Here's the thing, though... You have heavy fog, an airport without instrument landing systems or lights. (Yeah, not even landing lights, just a lit antenna tower nearby.) The controllers are ordering the pilot to stop descending and land elsewhere. There have already been three unsuccessful attempts to land, and the lives of the pilot's most important military and political leaders are at stake.
It's extraordinarily unlikely that any experienced pilot would choose to attempt another landing under these circumstances unless they were told to do so by a superior. Add to that that Kaczynski had a history of pressuring pilots to land, so even if the pilot was not ordered to land, he might have felt pressure to do so.
It's tragic all the way around.
About 30-45 minutes ago we had a bright flash here in Arlington, TX. We all saw it from inside the house, no lightning or thunder here, just Pt Cloudy and mild. Was the meteorite very bright as it traveled across the skies
Good post. Also, with that level of Passengers on board, there would have been all kinds of issues with Meeting Parties, Security, Transport arrangements etc.
The Crew made a decision, and it went bad.
We do NOT know as yet, what exactly happened to cause the crash. And maybe never will.
About 30-45 minutes ago we had a bright flash here in Arlington, TX. We all saw it from inside the house, no lightning or thunder here, just Pt Cloudy and mild. Was the meteorite very bright as it traveled across the skies
Action: Quote | Ignore User
Pat...maybe you oughta check on the ISS...
Ramp strikes are not usually survived, bolters normally get to try it again.
"U betcha"..
Interesting. Not particularly bright. Would not have noticed it if I was not sitting outside on a lounger. This was about 2 hrs ago, so big time diff. too.
Maybe, 'they' are comin' in tonight! From beyond......
you guys are over-reacting here...
Sun, 11 Apr 2010 09:57:49 PM EDT
The crew of space shuttle Discovery awoke at 9:51 p.m. EDT to “Because We Believe” by Andrea Bocelli for Commander Alan Poindexter.
The space station crew will focus on transferring items from the Leonardo Multi Purpose Logistics Module to the International Space Station, while Discovery’s crew enjoys some off duty time. Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronauts Naoko Yamazaki and Soichi Noguchi will talk to Japan’s Prime Minister at 6:41 a.m. and an English interpretation will be played on NASA Television at 8 a.m. The crews also will conduct interviews with reporters from ABC, MSNBC, FOX and KUSA TV in Denver. Late in the day, Rick Mastracchio and Clay Anderson will “camp out” in the Quest Airlock to rid their bodies of nitrogen in preparation for Tuesday’s third spacewalk.
UNREAL!!! HOW DARE SOMEONE make laughs and jokes about such a horrible thing that killed 96 lives because of human error.
I would hope that Dr. Masters would end all sponsorship to such thinking and post as well.
http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/american-airlines-flight-311-overshoots-runway-jamaica-dozens/story?id=94 08329
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