Polish President & many officials killed

[ennostiel]

This is unbelievable... a plane with the Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife Maria and many Polish officials, representatives of the Church and Polish Army and many others crashed in Smolensk airport - reportedly 87 people, everyone on board, died. They were on their way to Katyn to attend the ceremony on the 70th anniversary of the legendary Katyn massacre... such a tragedy. Poland lost a huge amount of the most important and valuable people in the country.

 

You can read more here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8612825.stm though the latest news are not there yet.

[EDWIGE]

This is so sad.

[Skye]

My roomate is Polish, she's truly shocked by this.

 

This is unbelievable. Really sad to wake up to.

[ennostiel]

Yes it is incredibly sad... and Poland is in a very tough situation right now. Within 60 days we'll probably have a new presidential election... and I don't think it has ever happened in the history of any country that so many officials died at the same time.

[frana]

This is very sad news ((((((((((((

Im very shocked

[celinedream]

i was just going to post this news...it's so sad

 

i saw it on CNN twitter

 

Poland's Parliament speaker takes over as acting president, declares "time for national mourning.

[adoreceline]

this is so sad...i feel so sorry for the polish people

[P@ulin@]

We're devastated...

 

One-week mourning has just begun.

 

[*][*][*]

[Matej]

We are devastated too in Slovakia. This is so sad, unbelievable.

[SuperLove4Celine]

My prayers are with all of the Polish people.

[I Love You]

My prayers go to all the family's, and to all the people of Poland.

[ennostiel]

Thanks so much everyone... People and governments of many other countries are bevaving wonderfully now... I know that there is/will be national mourning in Russia, Lithuania, Georgia, even in Brasil and the Maldives... It all really touches my heart. I have to say I didn't shed many tears yesterday, but today at noon when the whole city stopped for 2 minutes, all the horns, sirens, people standing in silence in front of the Presidents' House and the Parliament building - I cried so hard and coudn't stop.

[Piotrek]

It's hard to stop tears from falling here in Poland. Thank you very much for your warm words.

[Bellamy]

What a tragedy.

[Charlie92]

I heard about this... so sad

[frana]

 

For the memory of those who tragically died 10.4.2010

 

[Acacia]

Wow, that's a real tragedy. My thoughts and prayers are with the family, friends, and all the Polish people.

[P@ulin@]

Thanks for all kind words.

 

 

 

http://img705.imageshack.us/img705/5985/img0043dy.jpg

[Lian]

This is really awful.. I can't imagine what it must be like.

[Snowhite]

This is awful!Life can be very cruel sometimes!!I dont know what to say really.I dont know even how this airplane fell down.I wish the best for the polish people... Edited April 12, 2010 at 07:08 PM by Snowhite

[Bralo20]

A sad event for Poland... From what I read he was a beloved president

 

I wonder why the plane crashed... Though the Tupolev TU-154M isn't 's worlds newest airliner it was quite new in terms of aviation, It may have been build in 1990 but it had a rediculous low amount of flying hours and was recently overhauled in an extensive D-check...

 

Sad...

[Bellamy]

News report it's mostly the pilot's fault and the weather.

[Bralo20]

News report it's mostly the pilot's fault and the weather.

 

Yep, It was expected that this would be the outcome, even from the start before the initial findings in the investigation...

 

Though it was a Tupolev TU-154M that crashed, with it's initial design made in 1968, the plane itself seemed to be in a pristine condition, having had a thorough D-check only a couple of months ago... Governmental planes are in theorie operated with a zero safety risk, if even the smallest problem is found the airplane will be grounded contrary to commercial aviation where you have the "MEL" (Minimal Equipment List) and where you can operate a flight even with a decent amount of problems. And while we, Europeans & Americans may have our doubts with Russian technology, the TU-154(M) has a rather common safety record for a commercial airliner, with a bit over 1.000 frames build "only" 66 hulls were lost (making it about 6,5%) , which is even less then the Boeing 737-200 and the Douglas DC 9-30 which had both an hull loss of 10% or a bit more...

 

I'm affraid the pilot was onder severe pressure to land the plane at all costs to make sure they didn't miss the festivities... In general the captain of the plane (the "PIC", pilot in command) has the final word over his or her airplane, even in the military when there are officers on board that outrank him or her (or in this case the president that outranks everyone according to the Polish laws).

 

In the end the full blame will rest on the PIC's shoulders although I think the party on board off the plane (including the president that had a certain reputation regarding pilots that didn't follow his orders) should be blamed also... While it will be hard to prove, I'm pretty confident that there was indeed interfering from the passengers (president/officers) to land plane at all cost at Smolensk...

 

To bad it had to end this way

Edited April 14, 2010 at 09:05 AM by Bralo20

[Bellamy]

Boeing 737-200 is even worse than TU-154M? I didn't know that. I always though Russian flights are not safe enough. Actually all TU-154M were stopped flying in China. 10% loss rate sounds scary.

[Bralo20]

Boeing 737-200 is even worse than TU-154M? I didn't know that. I always though Russian flights are not safe enough. Actually all TU-154M were stopped flying in China. 10% loss rate sounds scary.

 

Boeing build 1.114 examples of the Boeing 737-200 & 737-200C series. This type was involved in 106 incidents that resulted in a "hull-loss" (plane damaged beyond repair).

Tupolev build 1.015 examples of the Tupolev Tu-154 & Tu-154M. These types were involved in 66 incidents that resulted in a "hull-loss".

 

It seems that the Boeing 737-200 was a plane that was involved in an above average amount of incidents resulting in a hull-loss. However, if we take all 737's in consideration that we see that Boeing has build 6.348 frames of this type to this date and that all types were "only" involved in 146 incidents resulting in a hull-loss.

 

Devided in subseries this gives the following numbers:

 

Boeing 737 "original" (737-100/200): 107

Boeing 737 "classic" (737-300/400/500/600): 32

Boeing 737 "NextGen" (737-700/800/900): 7

 

So you can say that the 737-200 was a less safer plane then the TU-154.

 

The main reason why airlines stopped flying the Tu-154 wasn't the fact that it is an unsafe plane, it was because they were inefficient due the fact they consumed to much fuel...

[Bellamy]

Now I think I've actually never took a Boeing 737-200, cause it was too old. Most flights in China airlines are very new.

[vegas19]

peace to their memory! Rest In Peace

 

http://i42.tinypic.com/35mjgic.jpg

 

http://i44.tinypic.com/of0hfl.jpg

[Bell]

It may be a little late now but I'm truly sorry for this.

[ennostiel]

It's never too late for this... Thank you all for your words of compassion and support.

 

And now some of the most important representatives from other countries, including Barack Obama and Angela Merkel, are not coming to today's funeral of the First Couple because of this volcano and most flights being cancelled...