- but should they commence this approach at all - that's the question. Weather was not "barely meeting minimum", it was many times below it.
Wether it was legal to start the approach in view of russian or polish procedures, i dont know. But it is not relevant for the cause of the crash.
It is not dangerous to fly down to the minimum and go around, if runway not in sight, or to land, if runway is in sight and the aircraft is in a position to land.
I have done it numerous times with worse equipment and survived. It is not a question of good or bad weather, it is a question of safe handling the aircraft on the approach down to the decision height in any kind of weather. If you stick to the procedures, you either land or you go around. But you will not die by doing it in a correct mannor. You press below the minimum, you might die.
Concerning the training of the polish military i´m at loss here. I have no imformation about the effectiveness of the system, although i´m familiar with NATO procedures and evaluation. A loss rate might have a lot of reasons, bad training would be only one out of many.
franzl