Polish president Lech Kaczynski, his wife, and top officials died Saturday morning, April 10, 2010 at 10:56 a.m. local time when their government owned Tupelov 154M crashed in dense fog just north of the Russian city of Smolensk. All 89 passengers and 7 crew members aboard the 20 year old Russian built aircraft died in the accident. Air traffic controllers in Russia had allegedly urged the pilot to divert to an alternate airport, either Minsk or Moscow, because of the poor visibility. The pilot, a Polish Air Force Officer and member of the 36th Special Aviation Regiment had apparently ignored these warnings, and on the plane's second approach, after a go around and missed landing, it clipped some trees less than a mile from Smolensk-North military air base, and broke into pieces. Wreckage was scattered throughout the wooded area. An investigation has been ordered by the Russian government.
Visibility was 1,600 feet (500 meters) at the time of the crash. About an hour earlier, another Polish government jet, a Yak-40, which carried journalists from the presidential press pool, had landed safely at the same air base without incident.
CAPTIONS: (ABOVE LEFT) The late Polish president Lech Kaczynski (Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain); (BELOW RIGHT) A girl holds flowers and candle in front of the Poland's embassy, in Vilnius, Lithuania, Sunday, April 11, 2010, after Polish President Lech Kaczynski died in a plane crash (AP Photo/Mindaugas Kulbis); (BELOW LEFT) Flight trajectory of the Polish presidential aircraft that crashed on 10 April 2010 (Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain); (BELOW RIGHT LOWER) Tupolev Tu-154M of the Polish 36th Special Aviation Regiment at Zagreb Airport, during Polish President Kaczyn'ski's visit to Croatia in 2010. This is the same aircraft that crashed in Russia on 10 April 2010 (Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain); (BELOW LEFT BOTTOM) Kazimierz Pulaski (Wikimedia Commons/Public Domain)
A slide show and three videos on this accident follow this article.
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Among the prominent government officials who perished, in addition to President Kaczynski and wife, were Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Army and senior military officers, the central bank governor, the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and dignitaries in the government, including vice-speakers and members of the upper and lower houses of the parliament and senior members of the clergy. A polish born Chicago artist, Wojciech Seweryn, a sculptor and long time U.S. resident, was also killed.
The purpose of the trip was to solemnly commemorate the 70th anniversary of the 1940 Katyn forest massacre, during which members of the NKVD, or Soviet Secret Police, under orders of their director, Lavrentiy Pavlovich Beria, with the approval of Joseph Stalin and the entire Soviet Politburo, had engaged in the mass murder of 20,000 Polish prisoners of war, mostly military officers, intellectuals, police officers, and other officials of the government. The village of Katyn is 12 miles (19 kilometers) west of Smolensk.
Germany had discovered the mass graves in 1943 and broke the news of the massacre, which the Soviets initially denied as Nazi propaganda. The revelations eventually caused the Polish government in exile in London to break diplomatic ties with the Soviet Union. These events of World War II have long been a painful memory to Poles, and the long process of healing relations with Russia, as well as honoring the memories of those who were slaughtered, were part of President Kaczynski's reasons for making the trip, which led to his own tragic and ironic death.
The Tupolev Tu-154 is a Soviet era trijet airliner designed in the mid 1960's. It is one of the fastest
commercial airliner in the world, with a cruising speed of nearly 600 miles an hour (975 km/hour). It is operated by Aeroflot and 17 other non Russian carriers. It has been a work horse in the Russian fleet, can take off from unpaved or gravel runways, and operates under extreme Arctic conditions in Siberia and the northern territories of Russia.
Persons of Polish descent around the world are mourning this additional tragedy. There are approximately 60 million persons of 
Polish heritage, 39 million of whom live in Poland itself. The United States accounts for over 10 million individuals of Polish ancestry.
Polish military have served in the American Revolutionary War, including Casimir Pulaski, who has been called the "father of American cavalry." Illinois honors him each year with a state holiday in March. Another Polish national hero, Tadeusz Kosciuszko, had served as a colonel in the Continental Army. After the United States became a sovereign nation, he was given the honorary title of brigadier general and became a naturalized U.S. citizen. There is a bridge in NYC which is named after him. Other notable Poles include composer Frédéric Chopin, writer Joseph Conrad, Madame Marie Curie who was a pioneer in the field of radioactivity, astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, and many others.
We would like to offer our deep condolences to the citizens of Poland and others around the world who have been touched by this tragic loss.
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Comments
What a tragedy. Great report as always.
How sad that the pilot chose to ignore the suggestion to land elsewhere. I offer my condolences to the people of Poland.
This is very sad and I hope that Poland will band together to get through a tough time. Like Debi said, my condolences go out to the people of Poland.
Thanks for keeping me informed. Tragedy. It can happen at any time!
This was a great story!
Very tragic...thanks for reporting this story.
So sad... you'd think they wouldn't have every high ranking official fly together on such an old plane. What a risk.
Concerning a comment below by Leslie K, thanks for commenting on my article. While the aircraft carrying the president of Poland was 20+ years old, so is Air Force One, the Boeing 747 which carries the U.S. President, and Marine One, the helicopter that takes the President to Air Force One. An old plane is not like an old car, as preventive maintenance regularly replaces older parts, and re-builds the entire aircraft on an on-going basis. What is more troubling is that a Polish Air Force pilot flying the presidential aircraft, would attempt to land in such marginal conditions.
Thanks again for taking the time to comment.
this was so terrible; i really feel for the Polish people.
most likely it was not an "accident" but an assasination by the Russians. The investigation is in progress.
BTW Polish Airforce pilots is one of the most skilled in the world.
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