Sad Pole's valuable analysis of the political background to this disaster holds lessons that will (we hope) improve flight safety.
Are you kidding
Ok, my 0.02$.
I agree with most of RetiredF4 opinions.
Regarding the report, the way it was published. The long list of errors made by the crew is undeniable, but the pressure presented as a very important factor is wishfull thinking.
Just look at Fig. 47. Both flights and crew actions were similar. They were acting the same way. PIC from the 10.04 flight was F/O during the 07.04 flight (landing pilot
AFAIK). When the first TAWS warning sounded, there was no hesitation how to calm id down. They were doing that before.
The problem is continuity of training when old pilots, trained by Tupolev, flying in parallel the same machines in a civil airline (LOT) were leaving one by one the unit. At some moment young pilots were training younger ones, passing them their knowledge, but also habits. Habits--> unwritten SOPs
Bean counters, etc....
About 2 months ago a book written by former VIP regiment commander was published. In a very diplomatic way he mentioned/adressed also the problems above.
After the crash, because the remaining Tu-154M was sent earlier for overhaul, the remaining 1,5 Tu-154 crew lost their currency.
To train them, PAF haired a very experienced Tu-154 test pilot Ruben Esaian, vice-director of the Russian State Research Institute of Civil Aviation. On many occasions you could find his signature on the changes to Tu-154 FM. Our Russian forum members could write a few words about him. He flew with Polish pilots and had the possibility to evaluate them. By the way, his colleages (subordinates) from the Institute wrote a part of the final report.
Pressure: For sure there was on both sides, but regarding the pilots IMHO it made the difference between flying directly to Moscow or Minsk vs flying to Smolensk, to show someone there is really fog. Until further notice like information about late president phone call to his brother or regarding events just before take off that day, anything else is pure speculation.
Going back to Fig. 47. On the left we can see the plane suddenly loosing 200 m of altitude. Why? Nice weather, no pressure
Did someone explained what error(s) were made then?
One thing that really bothers me, it's the fact they used RA height instead of altitude. Was it an error or was it one of their habits. I think that was an error but again, there is not a straight answer in the report.
Another point. Polish MOD has a document governing HEAD flights. It's available without problems for example in the central military library. Haven't seen anything about it in the report.
One more thing.
Photos: Tupolev Tu-154M Aircraft Pictures | Airliners.net
The corridor is just behind those sliding dors.
Arrakis