Region: Pilots at fault for Smolensk - Polish report

A 15-month investigation has concluded the plane crash that killed former Polish President Lech Kaczyński was caused by mistakes made primarily by Poland's military pilots.

But the 328-page report released July 29 by the Polish government committee tasked with examining the cause of the disaster also placed considerable blame on Russia, threatening to damage relations between the neighboring nations.

Kaczyński and all 95 passengers on the plane, including the pilots, were killed in the April 2010 crash, which occurred when the president was on his way to a memorial service honoring the more than 20,000 Polish nationals murdered by the Soviet secret police in Russia's Katyn Forest. The plane went down in the Russian city of Smolensk.

The report concluded that the bulk of the blame rests with the pilots, who were not properly trained and were flying too low and too fast in dense fog.

The report also indicated Russian air traffic controllers incorrectly told the pilots they were on course and waited too long to issue the pilots an altitude warning. The small airfield in Smolensk was also not adequately prepared to receive the Polish airliner, the report said.

The conclusions of the Polish investigation clashed with a report issued Jan. 12 by the Russian Interstate Aviation Committee of former Soviet republics that placed all of the blame on Poland.

"The truth has turned out to be pretty painful for Russia, too," Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk told journalists July 29.

Shortly after the release of the report, Tusk accepted the resignation of his Defense Minister Bogdan Klich. The prime minister said Klich was not directly responsible for the crash but added it would be "inappropriate" if he carried on in his post to implement the changes to the ministry proposed in the report. The recommended changes include a wholesale overhaul of methods used to train pilots, as well as tougher security measures for heads of state traveling abroad.

"There was no single cause, but an accumulation of causes led to the crash," Jerzy Miller, interior minister and head of the committee investigating the accident, said while presenting the report.

Russian officials immediately responded to the report claiming Poland had been intent all along on leveling accusations against Russia and refusing to shoulder the entire blame for the crash.

"The report is not a technical but a political one," Russian Deputy Chairman of the Duma's International Affairs Committee Andrei Klimov told reporters. "The results were compiled with a nod to the political situation in order to show that Russians were to blame for at least something.

Jack Buehrer can be reached at
jbuehrer@praguepost.com