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The News Thread

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 10:33 am
by OlafK

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 10:45 am
by dead14vii1640
OMFG :shock:
I'm not Polish but I'm quite concerned about politics all over the World. Damn, not only the Polish president has died but also a couple of presidents of other institutions: Polish olympic comitee, National bank of Poland, etc.
I think Poland's gonna need some time to re-structurate so many things.

R.I.P.

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 11:37 am
by Lukeno94
Oh good grief. So you've got no government basically. :(

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 11:54 am
by XYY
This won't be a good day in the polish history, will it?
Very sad, especially for you. :sorry:

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 11:56 am
by Trigger Happy
Lukeno1 wrote:Oh good grief. So you've got no government basically. :(
Yes, they have - prime minister & head of one parliament chamber will share the highest points of power. But army is without almost whole highest commanders (president, air-force commander, marine commander, ground-field commander, commander of special forces, field bishop - all lost lives). :(

:rip: to all on board the plain today and all the 20 000 brave men murdered there in 1940.

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 12:30 pm
by GeneSuomi
They said that the plane was 20 years old :really:
Was he a good and liked president? :sorry:

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 1:03 pm
by OlafK
Well, many people don't wanted him to be the president, but no one wanted his term of office to end in THAT way...

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 1:04 pm
by FogoRJ
I'm impressed, they were going to honor Polish soldiers killed. Really a very sad day ... :rip:

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 2:01 pm
by Lukeno94
GeneSuomi wrote:They said that the plane was 20 years old :really:
A well-maintained plane can easily make 20 years. From what I understand, the pilot was partly to blame, and there was a lot of fog. ;)

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 2:16 pm
by Trigger Happy
My personal hypothesis about pilot - maybe he was under pressure to land there (he tried it 4 times) from his high passengers, who all had strong influence (on possible future carrier of pilots in army too btw). Because if not, they would have to fly back to Minsk (in Belarus) and then long way in cars, so the president could be very delayed on the ceremony, which would not be good at all for so important occasion, so he would have an order or strong informal request. On board was highest commander of Polish Air Force and many other officers. So the pilot could decide to risk maybe. :scratch:

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 2:57 pm
by Lukeno94
They were also offered Moscow, how far that is from Smolensk I don't know.

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 3:05 pm
by thegreatfalcon
Lukeno1 wrote:
GeneSuomi wrote:They said that the plane was 20 years old :really:
A well-maintained plane can easily make 20 years. From what I understand, the pilot was partly to blame, and there was a lot of fog. ;)
Yeah. Our Air Force CF-18 have about that and USA F-16 are even older if I don't mistake... I guess Brother Wright's plane could even still fly...

Sad thing... :scratch:

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 3:50 pm
by Areen
Ewww... It's nuffin to say... just pray to God...

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sat Apr 10, 2010 5:28 pm
by Buka
Ivo Porč wrote:My personal hypothesis about pilot - maybe he was under pressure to land there (he tried it 4 times) from his high passengers, who all had strong influence (on possible future carrier of pilots in army too btw). Because if not, they would have to fly back to Minsk (in Belarus) and then long way in cars, so the president could be very delayed on the ceremony, which would not be good at all for so important occasion, so he would have an order or strong informal request. On board was highest commander of Polish Air Force and many other officers. So the pilot could decide to risk maybe. :scratch:
Some media write that most likely it was a mistake of russian operators. Why? They say that the plane was forced to land on military airfield, not in airport of Smolensk. This airfiel is secret object and, of course, pilots never knew about that and had to fly on their own risk where russian operators say. As there was fog, very likely that operators had a mistake - accidental or not. I really doubt that presidential pilot could make a mistake, I really doubt.

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 12:50 am
by Trigger Happy
Yes, this is possible, but IMHO the crucial mistake was, that they didn't changed the airport, even if they were requested by operators to fly to Minsk or Moscow. The person, who blindly decided, that no matter on local circumstances they will land there, is responsible for the lives. It weren't operators, but somebody on board - captain or somebody other from passengers. If later the pilot made a mistake during the 4th try of landing or operators told wrong info them by mistake or the plane had a failure (e.g. of high-meter or something similar), it's all a mistake too, but derived from the primary mistake - which author is blamed most IMHO. :shrug: I believe like you, that the presidential pilots were responsible men and great aviators, so that's why I suspect somebody from passengers.

@ Lukeno1: Moscow-Smolensk-Minsk distances are something similar like, if your plane flies to Paris, but is requested to land at Frankfurt or at Heathrow. :shock:

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 6:08 pm
by Paw
Ivo Porč wrote:If later the pilot made a mistake during the 4th try of landing (...)
Well, it's not sure if there were 4 tries - it might be possible, that the plane circled above the airport 4 times before trying to land. I also think that the pilot was under big pressure of president and other personas on board. It was important for them to not be late on the celebrations. Well, we will know it (hopefully, but it can be secret) from the info saved in black boxes.

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 6:14 pm
by Alonsomania
Lukeno1 wrote:
GeneSuomi wrote:They said that the plane was 20 years old :really:
A well-maintained plane can easily make 20 years. From what I understand, the pilot was partly to blame, and there was a lot of fog. ;)
I don't remember the sources, so you'll have to take my for word it, but the used plane was actually one of the safest around.

RIP all, but I do find it incredibly dumb to put all important people onto one plane.

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 6:17 pm
by Buka
Paw wrote:Well, it's not sure if there were 4 tries - it might be possible, that the plane circled above the airport 4 times before trying to land. I also think that the pilot was under big pressure of president and other personas on board. It was important for them to not be late on the celebrations.
In 2008 captain of this plain refused to land in Tbilisi and landed in Azerbaijan because of dangerous situation and he didn't listen to Kaczynski then who pressed on him (Interfax.ru).

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 6:18 pm
by AleksiNir
Alonsomania wrote:I do find it incredibly dumb to put all important people onto one plane.
I find it dumb to put people go to a memorial ceremony in two different planes, when they would fit in one.

:rip: :(

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 6:52 pm
by OlafK
Buka wrote:In 2008 captain of this plain refused to land in Tbilisi and landed in Azerbaijan because of dangerous situation and he didn't listen to Kaczynski then who pressed on him (Interfax.ru).
And he got honored with the Silver Medal for Merit for the Country Defense.

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 7:31 pm
by 1nsane
Alonsomania wrote:RIP all, but I do find it incredibly dumb to put all important people onto one plane.
That's pretty much what I thought too.

It must be a big shock for the Polish people though. Have strength.

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Sun Apr 11, 2010 8:24 pm
by Paw
Alonsomania wrote:RIP all, but I do find it incredibly dumb to put all important people onto one plane.
And it wasn't the first time. Two or three years ago few military officers died in other plane crash.
Buka wrote:In 2008 captain of this plain refused to land in Tbilisi and landed in Azerbaijan because of dangerous situation and he didn't listen to Kaczynski then who pressed on him (Interfax.ru).
The flight-plan said they are flying to Azerbaijan, but during the flight Kaczyński wanted the pilot to fly directly to Tbilisi. After that he said that he (the pilot) was coward.

Re: Ohh it's a sad day

Posted: Mon Apr 12, 2010 2:06 pm
by OlafK

News Thread

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 6:26 pm
by Doorslammer
OK, since everything I've come up with hasn't been original or is woefully out of date, how about this? A news thread, where we discuss current affairs and the like. Plenty to talk about, what with Assange and the lads keeping the journos busy. So, cite a source of news and discuss away.

Anyway, to kick off, how's that weather up north. Chuffing 'eck, it looks a bit parky outside... :scratch:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-12038847

Mind you, our weather here today has been diabolical, with high winds and even a sprinkling of rain about the place. Perth is the second windiest city, but this is taking the... :sleeping:

Re: News Thread

Posted: Mon Dec 20, 2010 7:15 pm
by The Noose
Snow hasn't been a problem here in Finland since we're quite used to it. At least I am since I live in "quite north."