Read part I of this post here.
[The following was provided to Big Peace by an anonymous source in Poland.]
From the first day of the crash many Polish conservatives have been afraid that clear lack of professionalism and perhaps a personal immaturity made impossible to investigate this incident appropriately. Examples?
Families of crash’s victims, who went to identify bodies, have many of them. They could talk about it during one of the Investigative Parliamentary Committee meetings in July. Mr Andrzej Melak, a brother of Stefan who was president of Katyn Foundation for 40 years and died on the plane, recalls one detail.
In Moscow’s morgue a family of a killed General was forced to see his body unwashed. When Russian worker was told that body is unprepared for showing he took a bottle of water and a rug started to remove mud from it in the presence of an adjutant and General’s daughter.
According to Mrs. Magdalena Merta, a widow of Deputy to the Minister of Culture who was on a plane provides another story.
Russians did not honor DNA samples taken from family members’ victims. “We were surprised by that” – says Mrs. Merta. For us it was not easy moment when we made those samples available. It was very emotional moment.”
Since not many families went to identify their loved ones in Moscow it is not clear how remaining bodies were identified. “I do not know who identified my husband,” says Mrs. Merta.
In fact, Parliamentary Commission chaired by MP Antoni Macierewicz and victims’ families think that not opening of closed coffins was a mistake. “It was illegal,” said MP Antoni Macierewicz in the interview with Polish Catholic “Radio Maryja.”
There is more doubt in authenticity of an identification. We were informed that autopsies took place in the presence of Polish diplomats and Polish forensic doctors. “Now we know that we were lied to,” says Mr. Melak.
There are more questions about the crash’s investigation, which should be raised. For instance, why the wreck of the plane is being destroyed by air and water on the Smolensk airport until now. Why Russians do not need it for the investigation? Why parts of the wreck are still in the mud of the forest?
After few weeks of an investigation by Polish Parliament Committee an immediate reason of the catastrophe is known.
The Chief of Investigative Parliamentary Committee MP Antoni Macierewicz said in interview with Polish Catholic television “Trwam” in July that the pilots of the plane which had arrived with journalists to the same airport hours earlier were listening to talks between pilots of the government’s plane with the Polish president and traffic control officers from Smolensk . “They said that traffic control tower gave Polish pilots permission to descend to 50 meters altitude'” said MP Macierewicz. “Taking under account the geography of that terrain one can say it was a death sentence,” he added.
Mr Macierewicz also threw light on another Russian manipulation. Its propaganda said that pilots were forced to land because transcript of a black box (also very questionable document) says that they said “Jesus, Mary if we will not land we will be killed.” However , Mr. Macierewicz, explained, in that context they verbalized a threat, if they would not land in that particular situation, then they will kill themselves. In fact they tried to ascend (that is why Russian’s created legend that pilots attempted to land, later they added five times) again but Russian machine was too heavy to make that maneuver successfully. Russians were able to disseminate lie and are successful in making even that crippled Polish investigation almost impossible.
Few weeks after the crash people were still finding pieces of body, clothes, documents and elements of the plane. On May 10th, a month after the catastrophe, a Russian bulldozers leveled the ground and destroyed the rest of the evidence. How we can believe it in credibility of such investigation without the evidence?
On August 2nd, Polish leftist daily “Gazeta Wyborcza” informed that chief of Polish investigators Edmund Klich in a special letter demanded that Russian Committee (MAK) passed documents on the crash and fully cooperate with Warsaw. Newspaper said that “Polish investigators hit the wall” in terms of collecting evidence. Moscow was not willing to provide more material.
Last week finally Russians provided pile of their papers to Polish prosecutors, however there are no protocols from the autopsies among them. The documents which are key for further investigation.
Perhaps five months after crash most of Poles’ mood expressed the best Mrs Merta’s words: “We feel abandoned and helpless.”
Breaking news:
Air traffic control tower officer from Polish airport Okecie explained why pilots had not intention to land in Smolensk in the thick fog. The evidence is the information found in the transcript which Russians are using. In the last moments of the flight, Russian traffic controller says, “10.40.13-4 on a course and a path, 10.40.26-3 on a course and a path” (referring to two “calls” in timed sequence that the plane was on directional course and a descending path). Polish air traffic controller said this, quoted by “Gazeta Polska.” I have no doubt that this information was NOT accurate.
Why? Air traffic control tower should be concerned if he could not see airplane in the two kilometers distance from a runway. He could not see the plane but he could see its lights. According to the transcript he asked pilots to turn lights on at 10.40.32
Although lights were already on when wheels were retracted. However according to the transcript Russian controller cannot see plane although a decision’s moment is approaching. He informs 10.40.38-2 on a course and on a path.
As Polish air traffic controller commented: it means that he is convinced about the right position of the plane or someone is forcing him to tell that or such information is being played from the tape. It is interesting that information about the distance of the plane are being given every 12 seconds so in about 11 second a plane should be in about 1100 meters from the runway. Then Russian air traffic controller should say: “on a course and a path, it is a time for the decision”.
In that moment, according international aviation regulations, an air traffic controller should inform on a current visibility on a runway, a wind’s direction and power , an air pressure and give permission to land. However such permission is not an obligatory for a pilot. It says that nothing (other plane, cars or people) is on his way to land. That information is necessary for a captain to make a decision. Such information is missing.
That is an evidence for an air traffic controller that pilots did not make the decision to land. We know also that plane was not on path in the four kilometers distance to the path. A plane was directed to descend too much and too fast.
As Polish air traffic controller explains there is only one absurd information: Horizon, 101. It may mean in Russian nomenclature, to relocate a plane to second circle. To ascend the plane.
But if it is case, that command was given too late. It was 5 seconds too late.