The crew of a Yak-40, which had landed earlier at Smolensk airport earlier on April 10, informed the pilots of the TU-154 that landing conditions were very difficult, the transcriptions of the plane‘s black boxes released today reveal.

"You know, generally, it doesn’t look well. You can see some 400 meters and clouds are 50 meters [above ground]" said one of the Yak-40 pilots at 8.25. Then the co-pilot of the president’s plane asked the Yak-40 if they already had landed. “Yes, we managed to land at the last moment. To be honest, you can try…certainly… but if you fail after a second attempt, then I suggest that you fly to Moscow or somewhere else," said a crew member of Yak-40.

It was reported soon after the crash killing Lech Kaczynski and 95 others on April 10 that traffic control had advised the plane to divert to another airport as landing conditions were severe.

At 10.27 the highly experienced crew of the Tu-154 again spoke with the Yak-40, which had already flown journalists who were attending the Katyn anniversary memorial ceremony, along with the 96 politicians, military top brass, veterans and VIPS into Smolensk. The co-pilot of Lech Kaczynski’s plane asked what the base of the clouds were. “About 400-500 meters. As far as I remember, at 500 meters we were still above the clouds,” a crew member of the Yak-40 said.

Next, the Tu-154 asked whether "the Russians have arrived already?" The Yak-40 crew replied: "Il [the Russian plane] tried twice but probably flew off somewhere else." (pg/mg)

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