Transcripts of black box recordings of the last minutes of the TU 154 which crashed in Smolensk on April 10 have been released by Poland’s government.
The transcripts, which can be accessed here (pdf) were taken from materials collected by Interior Minister Jerzy Miller, who was in Moscow on Monday.
The decision to release the recordings and transcripts of the moments just before 96 died in the Smolensk crash was taken after a meeting of the National Security Council on Tuesday.
The 40-page document contains conversations between pilots and air traffic control and the times when they occurred, given in both Russian and Polish.
Some of the conversations were in Polish, some in English - "Pull up, pull up,” is heard seconds before the plane hit the top of trees and crashed into forest near the Smolensk air strip at precisely 10.41, Russian time, on Saturday, April 10.
Pilots are then heard swearing and cursing in Polish as their fate becomes clear.
Visibility poor
The swearing occurred in the six seconds between the plane hitting the tree and it crashing.
It is obvious from the transcripts that the pilots were very concerned about poor visibility, caused by heavy fog. Fifteen minutes before the crash, a voice, identified as Mariusz Kazana, Poland’s Director of Diplomatic Protocol who was in the cabin at the time, asks about possibilities to land. The pilot answers that "at this moment, in such conditions, we won’t be ready to land.”
After a while the pilot says that they would make one landing attempt, but that they “probably won’t make it”.
In the cabin, during the last 30 minutes of the flight, there were, apart from the pilots, head stewardess Barbara Maciejczyk, Director of the Diplomatic Protocol Kazana and commander of the Polish Air Force General Andrzej Blasik.
After the pilots started the landing manoeuvre they, calmly, exchanged information on flight parameters and height and received messages from air traffic control centre about altitude.
Fifteen seconds before the crash the co-pilot says that the crew should abandon the landing attempt, but his remark is ignored and the landing attempt continued.
At this time, flight control twice issued the command “Horizon 101”, which means that pilots must abort landing immediately.
A few seconds later the sound of the plane hitting a tree is heard, followed by the cry of the co-pilot and air traffic controller.
At 10.41.05 the black boxes stopped recording sounds from the cockpit.
(pg/mg)
Related stories:
‘We have a problem here’, thenews.pl, June 2
Smolensk crash transcripts ‘inconclusive’, thenews.pl, June 2
TU-154 crew warned of landing danger - transcript shows, thenews.pl June 1
Transcripts of black box recordings released soon , thenews.pl June 1
‘Pilot was flying recklessly' , thenews.pl June 1
Full publication of Smolensk crash recordings blocked? , thenews.pl May 31
TU 154 black box contents to be released to public , thenews.pl May 30
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