Polish President Lech Kaczynski died in a plane crash

President Lech Kaczynski along with 88 members of the polish delegation a total of 95 passengers just died in a plane crash in Smolensk (russia) at  10h50 local (6h50 GMT)  . The plane a Tupolev 54 was heading for the memorial service of the massacre of Katyn.
 
The number of deaths is not entirely certain right now, i'm finding conflicting sources.
 
It was very misty on the military airport of Smolensk
 
The plane tried to land 3 times and crashed the 4th time.
 
 

Just heard about that on morning news but the taste of my pancakes overshadowed it

Besides the president i think their army chief and vice Foreign Minister died. Also Vladimir Putin is to conduct the investigation regarding the whole accident.

Its so sad that they were assassinated. :(

" Its so sad that they were assassinated. :( "

" @Emilio said:

" Its so sad that they were assassinated. :( "

Eh? You'll need to have a really good source for me to even take that seriously. So far one of the black boxes of the plane has be retrived and according RIA Novosti who say to be told that by the Russian authorities it was the pilot who messed up the landing.  "

It's not an assassination, but it is sad for the Polish people, losing not just the President but many senior members of Government and I believe the President's whole family.

What bothers me more is why the related videos that pop up at the end are Monty Python videos >_>

Must have been a fuckin' terrifying end. 3 shots at landing then stuffing up the fourth. RIP

Geez, that's an extremely unfortunate event. Poland must be in a state of utter chaos right now. The irony is of course that they were heading to a memorial service. 

Pretty messed up.

Really sucks! Sad day!

This is terrible!  Why the fuck is Putin involved in this?

How the hell does this still happen in this day and age? Terrifying.

Wow.
 
Man, that sucks. That's what, 89 high-ranking officials? Crazy.

" That's what, 89 high-ranking officials? Crazy. "

Not exactly. 20 high-ranking government officials, including President Kaczyński and his wife; 12 members of the parliament and 2 senators; 12 highest ranked Generals of the Polish Army; the rest being the families of officers that died in Katyń, security and others. 88 people + 8 crew members. One person was not on the plane, she failed to get on the debriefing in time.

Basicly, we are without the head of the country and the Army. No one fucking believes in this here in Poland, it's like a situation from Air Force One going very wrong.

Fuck. I didn't love everyone in that plane, including Kaczyński, but this is damn ridiculous. I think we're a phenomenon in world history with this.

They put the 12 highest ranked Generals and the President in the same plane?  And then flew it over Russia?

Sad news indeed, apparently the pilot did not heed warnings from air traffic controllers regarding the heavy fog in the area and ignored advice to divert to another airport. My condolences to the family of the deceased.

Rest in peace.

That's messed up, R.I.P

" They put the 12 highest ranked Generals and the President in the same plane?  And then flew it over Russia? "

Wow, after reading the article I can clearly see it's all the pilots fault. This airport was not even set up for an Instrument Landing System which means this dick tried to land this plane VISUALLY in thick, dense fog. He was even warned to divert to another airport. Again I could make a polish joke here about the pilot but I won't.

" Wow, after reading the article I can clearly see it's all the pilots fault. This airport was not even set up for an Instrument Landing System which means this dick tried to land this plane VISUALLY in thick, dense fog. He was even warned to divert to another airport. Again I could make a polish joke here about the pilot but I won't. "

" @yakov456 said:

" Wow, after reading the article I can clearly see it's all the pilots fault. This airport was not even set up for an Instrument Landing System which means this dick tried to land this plane VISUALLY in thick, dense fog. He was even warned to divert to another airport. Again I could make a polish joke here about the pilot but I won't. "

You are probably right. Although the machine should be replaced by something new too - maybe someone would survive that crash in a different plane. "

Oh man... That sucks.

" @Ghostiet: Maybe or maybe not, the plane, as far as I know, was about 20 years old. Most passenger planes are built to last for over 40 years even the Soviet-era ones. "

Yeah, but it went through several renovations. The discussion about replacing it raged for more than a year. Also, it was a military-type one. I don't know shit about planes, but I feel there wouldn't be any discussion at all a year back if its age wasn't relevant.

@CaptainObvious said:

" Well, knowing Kaczyński, he could have forced the pilot to land... "

Jeez this is a sad day.

" They put the 12 highest ranked Generals and the President in the same plane?  And then flew it over Russia? "

This is why I have a fear of flying.

What the hell was the pilot thinking?
 
Also, what the hell where they thinking of putting so many damn people in one plane? >_<
 
This is pretty shocking, least to say.

That is very unfortunate. It's made even more so by the whole reason they were visiting Russia for, and by the history of the two countries. Hopefully this doesn't rattle Poland too much in terms of their upcoming elections.

Why couldn't have it been Stephan Harper, I don't like that douche bag 

My thoughts and prayers go to the families who lost loved ones during this tragic event.

" What the hell was the pilot thinking?  Also, what the hell where they thinking of putting so many damn people in one plane? >_<  This is pretty shocking, least to say. "

We have some dumb law, that only special VIPs (the President, Prime Minister and the Marshals of the Sejm and Senate - as both are the first and second succesor of the President in case of his death or other "disability" to perform his task, respectively) are forbidden from flying together. The rest are normal VIPs.

It's stupid like fucking hell, because if the full six of the six most important commanders of the Armed Forces aren't special VIPs, then no one is.

Ironically, after a recent plane crash where the more important Army pilots were killed, they forbidded them from flying together. Of course, nobody thought of extending the new law to the most important people in the state.