The 2010 Polish Air force crash.

Topic: The 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash
The Polish Air force Tu-154 was an aviation incident that occurred on 10th of April 2010. The aircraft Tupolev Tu-154 operated by the Polish Air Force crashed in the Smolensk Province(in Russia). The victims of the incident were: Polish president Lech Kaczyński and his wife Maria Kaczyńska and other officials, the Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army, the senior military officers, the central bank governor, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and the dignitaries in the government, vice-speaker and the members of the upper and lower houses of the parliament and senior members of clergy of various denominations. They were all on the way to the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre. This is a site that is about 19 km west Smolensk. According to the investigation the pilot attempted to land at the Smolensk-North air base. He ignored the advice of the ground control to use a safer airport in Minsk or Moscow. On the final approach the plane hit an antenna and as a result of the fog fell in the trees. All of the 96 passengers and the group aboard died.

Article 1
Bulgaria
Russia Rules Out Technical Failure as Cause of Smolensk Crash
http://www.novinite.com/view_news.php?id=115114
The short article talks about the fact that the Russian investigators have concluded that the plane crash near Smolensk which killed the Polish president and the high-ranking Polish delegation, was not caused by technical failure. As the Russian media announced, the head of the investigation committee has stated to Vladimir Putin that no technical problems could have caused the crash. The based opinion of the investigation was more certain once the tapes between the pilots and the command canter on the ground were listened to. According to the information on the tape conversations, the flight captain was notified about the bad weather conditions, but he ignored that and decided to land in Smolensk regardless of those issues. However, those tapes are still going to be examined in more details in Moscow, where the investigators seem to be confident about their conclusions.

Article 2
Canada
Tu-154 likely not to blame for crash: analyst
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20100410/tu_154_100410/20100410?hub=TopStoriesV2
The article gives some historical facts about the Tu-154 aircraft. It gives an opposing opinion of the reasons for the catastrophe. The analyst Miller explains that plane attempted to land three times, four times in the fog would indicate that the airplane was functioning well. This is view is further supported by saying that if the pilot knew that there had been even a hint to a problem they would have gone to Moscow or somewhere else. The analyst further gives his opinion on the issue, stating that one of the issues they were whether if the pilot felt pressure to get that plane on the ground, as he knew that it was an important ceremony.

Article 3
China
Putin flies to plane crash site to meet Polish PM
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2010-04/11/content_9712728.htm
The article is a short extract taken from a Russian report and placed in the Chinese source website. It briefly informs that Vladimir Putin has left for the site of the plane crash that killed the Polish President Lech Kaczynski to meet with his Polish counterpart Donald Tusk who was also on his way to Smolensk . Putin said "The Polish premier wished to travel to the scene of the tragedy. I will go to meet him. We will visit the place of the crash together." He also said that the victims of the incident would be sent to Moscow for identification and a s special center would be opened to help the victim`s relatives from Poland. Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk added that the modern world has unheard of this kind of tragedy.

Reflection/Analysis
The first article presents an argument that after listening to the tape conversations between the pilots and the command canter. It concluded that the captain was aware of the bad weather conditions but still ignored the danger and decided to land in Smolesnk. Whereas the second article argues that the pilot was not aware of the risk and if he was then he would have acted differently and landed the plane somewhere else. The third article informs about the events after the tragedy. It talks about Vladimir Putin’s meeting with the Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk and their discussion.
In my opinion such incidents are terrible and unpredictable, as you can never be sure about the possible risk. Although, I suppose that they could have taken some other route, if the pilot knew that there is some kind of risk. Regardless of a possibility that the Polish President and the government might have been late for the Ceremony they were planning to attend. Well once again you could always look backwards and find more evidence for him to in a certain way and not to act in another. As the pilot might not have been unaware of the fatal seriousness of his choice. I think this incident demonstrated the instability of the human factor in this case and late response that followed and ended as a tragedy.