Tragic final words of pilot who crashed plane killing Poland's president and 95 others
The chilling final words of those onboard the doomed Polish Air Force Flight which left President Lech Kaczynski dead were immortalised by recordings from the cockpit.
The late leader of the European country, 60, was among the 96 victims who perished in the Smolensk air disaster on 10 April, 2010.
He was travelling alongside his wife, First Lady Maria Kaczyńska, as well as a string of other senior Polish political figures and military officials when tragedy struck in the skies.
A number of relatives of victims of the Katyn massacre - which was a series of mass executions in the Soviet Union ordered by Joseph Stalin - were also onboard the Tupolev aircraft.
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The group were making their way from Warsaw, Poland to the Russian city of Smolensk to attend an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the massacre, but they tragically never made it.
Weather conditions quickly deteriorated when the Polish Air Force Flight 101 took off, leaving those in the cockpit, Captain Arkadiusz Protasiuk, 36, co-pilot Major Robert Grzywna, 36, navigator Lieutenant Artur Ziętek, 32, and flight engineer WO2 Andrzej Michalak, struggling to see.
There was a thick fog unexpectedly looming over Smolensk which dangerously reduced visibility to just 200 metres, according to The Guardian.
Captain Protasiuk told Russian air traffic controllers that he was still going to attempt a landing, despite them reportedly advising him to approach another airfield and warning of the intensifying fog.
He explained he was going to take a 'trial' approach to getting the plane on the ground, before thanking the staff for their advice and informing them of his plan.
"If it's fine, we will try landing but if weather conditions are bad we re-ascend and make a second circle," Captain Protasiuk said, as per the Mirror.
Fatefully, the pilot then followed through with this decision.
The Tupolev aircraft carrying a host of prominent figures then dropped to a dangerously low altitude which was way below what is required for a safe landing - although the crew weren't aware.
Investigators were later able to find out what went on in the cockpit during the final 15 minutes of the flight before it crashed, thanks to a voice recorder in the cockpit.
The plane's warning system could be heard alerting the crew that there was 'terrain ahead' while urging the pilots to 'pull up' repeatedly.
The air traffic controller then instructed the Polish Air Force Flight crew to 'reascend for a second circle', as Captain Protasiuk had previously suggested he would do.
But sadly, it was too late for those manning the aircraft to do anything - and the last things picked up by the voice recorder are the commotion of the impending crash and one of the crew member's final words.
It is not clear who was speaking, however, one of the men in the cockpit who had seemingly realised what fate awaited them was head yelling: "F**k!"
At 10.40am that morning, the plane struck trees before rolling over and smashing into the ground, before finally coming to a stop just a short distance from the runway.
It is thought that all those onboard were killed instantly when the nose of the plane pummelled into the ground, but the wreckage then caught fire.
Both Poland and Russia pointed the finger at one another when it came to taking the blame, while the incident also sparked a host of conspiracy theories.
Further suspicions about the crash emerged as Russia refused to return the wreckage of the plane, making it more difficult for Poland to investigate.
A report released by a Polish government special commission in 2022 claimed that Russia was responsible, with the investigating panel alleging that the crash was caused by an 'act of unlawful interference by the Russian side', the Associated Press reported.
Previous reports by both Polish and Russian experts on aviation incidents suggested the crash was the result of human error made amid the dense fog, and found no proof of foul play.
Russia rejected claims that errors by air traffic controllers were the reason for the aviation tragedy which killed 96 people.
On the 15th anniversary of the Smolensk air disaster earlier this month, Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk shared a statement on X.
He wrote: "Memory of the Smolensk disaster and its victims should no longer divide us. Rebuilding community and mutual respect is possible and necessary, even though it remains very difficult.
"Let’s try. This is the tribute they deserve. May they rest in peace."
Topics: History, Russia, Travel, World News
Olivia Burke