This Plane Crash Led to One of the Darkest Days in Poland’s History | Air Disasters | Smithsonian

The Air Force Flight 101 flight crew were from Poland’s Special Aviation Regiment, personally selected to fly president Lech Kaczyński to Smolensk, on April 10, 2010-a day that would end in tragedy for all of Poland.
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[@mrkefir2137]

Im from Poland and that is a one of the bad memories. R.I.P to all victims of this tragedy.

[@dorotagodoy1730]

I am from poland and still remember this tragedy of becoming a pilot

[@frankrex923]

What year did it happen

[@jcjcjunk1881]

@@frankrex923 April 10 2010

[@starry53]

I feel sorry for the loss of your president

[@LRRPFco52]

Russia was supposed to formally apologize for the Katyn massacre/war crimes. Instead, they raided the crash site, stripped the bodies of all their valuables, and left them there to rot. Everything points to sabotage of the aircraft, with plausible deniability.

[@seneca7239]

The plane should he punished. 😡

[@josepharmstrong1531]

Smithsonian: "This is one of the darkest days in Polish history." Also Smithsonian: ITS BRIGHTER HERE

[@blackninja04010]

i know right

[@maxgodtankspubg3089]

Lmao😂

[@canineatnight6026]

Irony

[@nathancard884]

R.I.P Everyone on board including the Polish President 🙏☮⚰😭

[@nathancard884]

@NateTheGreat Hiiii

[@yuvalnatekar1]

@@nathancard884 Yoo :)

[@Bikram11822]

What's the symbol of coffin means... Other one is of peace right

[@brucewayne3602]

absolutely ... Eternal Blessings to all !!!

[@ok_ej00]

Dziękujemy ♥️

[@mstaniszewski3469]

I am indeed polish and I will never forget this crash, us polish people are heartbroken these days☹️

[@Bismillah-hu3or]

I felt like a prophet on this day

[@prestonburton8504]

and probably you were sir/ma'am - for this was intentional (many feel now, after going through 2020)@@Bismillah-hu3or

[@user-ex9xh4bk9j]

But now there is a new president I don't think it's that sad

[@suasponte8363]

We were in Warsaw training when this happened. It was easy to see that the president was well loved by all. I give the guys we were training with credit. They continued training and were completely on point.

[@akolangtoh8137]

1st - They cannot speak english only russian 2nd- they do not have equipment for radio guided landing 3rd- Spatial disoriented ( too dependent to the instruments of the plane) Some major cause of the crash

[@travelerforever8849]

you forget interference from goverment official who went to talk to the pilots. There were some problems but the order was, land the plane anyway. I watched the whole episode. The pilots tried the best to land eventhough the fog was very thick.

[@tbgng]

they're speaking english in the video because many people don't know russian + it's an english channel

[@akolangtoh8137]

@@tbgng ? i mean the cause of the plane crash not the channel lol

[@vishnuprasad9804]

Can't imagine these constraints..

[@bmozdzen1]

... and the wreck of the plane in Russian hands for eleven years despite repeated demands to have it returned.

[@slec22]

Well, I remember being on military exercise on that faithful Saturday morning. Then I remeber that someone turned on radio. At first we thought that it was some kind of radio drama. When we realized that those are news everyone thought that war with Russia has just begun. I will never forget that moment in my life...

[@justalpha9138]

Except war with Russia now has begun, except with Ukraine instead of Poland. Putin must suffer

[@sorosaltgaming]

I like how they show the same clip of the plane flying in the air 4 seperate times

[@peterj5083]

The Polish delegation was going to commemorate the Katyn Forest massacre of 22,000 Polish officers and educated class

[@RobbyHouseIV]

So, the Soviets errr Russians finally admitted to the deed of having off'd around 24,500 Polish officers and uniformed men taken prisoner from the Soviet's partition of Poland in 1939 vis-a-vis Ribbentrop-Molotov? Mighty nice of them! ;o)

[@Airplaneworld-p7j]

This was so sad man):

[@nameit2014]

the last words were so gruesome,i think the voice actor for this episode could not do it,just you here the cvr and it is LEGIT SCARY

[@constantinegeist1854]

The Russian ATC clearly said they don't have landing conditions but the pilots went with it anyway. Since this was a foreign military plane, the ATC had no other option but accept their decision.

[@arober9758]

Very good job fellows!! R.I.P Everyone on board including the Polish President. 🙏☮⚰😭

[@zuzauramek9850]

Not only he died there. There was also a first lady ... and all ministers and generals and civilians...

[@seneca7239]

Imagine this year I flew with an Ryanair but the flight was too long. 💫

[@seneca7239]

It was literally boring.

[@reallyrealbirb]

@@seneca7239who here asked? we are talking about dead people

[@erajehaidery2019]

I was 3 when this happened. RIP

[@rogerlineyt]

W końcu o naszej tragicznej Polskiej katastrofie

[@Americaninthesun_0518]

Im from the US & I’m also polish, and this was a tragedy, because it’s really sad to think of, because the president & First Lady died in the plane and they had a daughter who was 30 I believe when her parents died in this horrible tragedy.

[@taiwoidowu2854]

RIP EVERYONE.

[@naiyuu1623]

Read about this in book of the year. My condolences to all the victims and relatives of the victims 🙏😔😭.

[@mstaniszewski3469]

3:18 no. They actually didn’t listen to the alarms, they were not struggling to pull up or something

[@doubleinfinityxdoubleinfin7249]

I'm from The Netherlands: Why the president had to be killed? Don't tell me this was just an accident. When a president, politician or royal dies not on a natural way gouvernements did it. Always. So why?

[@call.meastro]

They were trying you “aviation enthusiast”

[@mik_karbo]

They did indeed struggle. They tried to perform a go around using autopilot, but the autopilot wasn't engaged for the landing as there was no ILS on the airfield. So they wasted precious seconds trying to get aircraft to climb by clicking the button. They should have immediatly applied full thrust, which they eventually did it, but it was too late

[@serbonenator]

Wrong alarm too

[@nhjuznbbzuohgbv1415]

I remember finding out that the Pilot from the crash is actually from my Village Chochianow. It was kinda weird because Chochianow is very small and unknown

[@Bismillah-hu3or]

It is rumoured he was sucking on a amerikkkan carrot when he died. I like, very nice

[@mailkhanifmohammad6106]

So sad. RIP

[@Justavideogamer1352]

I'm feel bad about the polish president and the captain and the people 😭😭😭😭😭😭😭😢😢😢😢

[@shaileshsahu4784]

Why you give us incomplete videos. Please provide us complete video

[@RobbyHouseIV]

Holy fuck!?! What a horrible disaster. I consider myself pretty well read regarding foreign events and this one seems to have escaped my notice back then. Damn. That was bad.

[@Bismillah-hu3or]

This was a amazing disaster

[@konradhenrykowicz1859]

This is a falsification.

[@AngelikaCiurej]

96 people were kill by russia

[@Polandrf24]

​@@AngelikaCiurej+999999999

[@Polandrf24]

​@@Bismillah-hu3orin your dreams

[@KingK2205]

Dang imagine just losing your President like this...

[@janpospisil4954]

the pilot knew the altitude but didn't know there was a forest there

[@Polandrf24]

Yes

[@Lemmi7810]

Now I remember taking notice of it in the news back then

[@dafneydouglas8356]

RIP to the victims on board including Poilsh president and his wife 😔 💔 🌼🌸🌻 💐🌹🌸🏵🌼💐.

[@johnsonwdavid]

Pilots involved had low experience on TU-154M and made several catastrophic errors, first of which was resetting pressure altimeter and reliance on radio altimeter only. Error 2, the worst of all is attempting to land visually in foggy condition without Instrument Landing System. Error 3, " Go around" function needs ILS, lack of training. Error 4, pilot ignoring "terrain" warning and "pull up" total cockpit error, no problem with aircraft was found on 2 data recorders.

[@LRRPFco52]

Russia doesn't apologize for war crimes committed by Stalin at Katyn massacre, which was the purpose of this visit. The political implications suggest something else happened to the aircraft, because to apologize to the Poles would be a sign of weakness to the Russian people. Regardless, Russian soldiers pilfered the crash site, robbed the bodies of their valuables, and left them there to rot. Also, if you trust the Russian crash investigation, you're judgment is suspect.

[@konradhenrykowicz1859]

And this LOAD OF MISTAKES caused the disintegration of airframe in midair? Impressive.

[@kosatochca]

@@konradhenrykowicz1859 what do you expect from tu-154M😂

[@prestonburton8504]

or - hear 'terrain! terrain! pull up! pull up! and just simply dismiss it - especially when you have no visual clues. good lord!

[@prestonburton8504]

@tsssddd3981 so, there were multiple videos of this 'squad' but the reality? they were rescuers. No person survived that horrid crash and we now have enough evidence to show that it was extremely poor pilot judgement. However, the cockpit voice (CVR) id's a mystery woman that entered the cockpit just before they hit the trees. That's always been of interest. Yes, Russian rescuers did have agents and they took all available documents/thumbdrives and other nato info and kept it. And they kept the wreckage furthering the conspiracy that a bomb took it out - but in the end, the plane descended to low in bad weather and hit trees on an approach none of the pilots had been expecting (plane diverted last minute)

[@LivL-gy8wo]

I watched this on air crash investigations. Apparently, there was a member of the delegation in the cockpit, and the pilots felt under pressure to land the plane. This unknown voice was captured on the voice recorder.

[@bookworm5436]

I'm pretty sure it was Kaczyński that forced them to land. There was the whole document that explained it (in Polish).

[@htos1av]

RIP to all. Much respect to the Polish people for all their sacrifice and perseverance. And also for their part in defeating soviet communism.🛡

[@Bismillah-hu3or]

😂 The whole west got roasted out of Afghanistan and blamed my Pakistan army. W Without my Pakistan army your get toast again by Tesla 😂 As Pakistan army will no longer be fooled again

[@menyo2874]

​@@Bismillah-hu3orPakistani army isn't a threat with its broke ass economy 😂. Better keep your eyes on India.

[@arty5876]

Soviet communism defeated itself, there was no Poland in this story. Soviets allowed Poland and other Eastern European states to do what they wanted, and later there was a military coup attempt in Moscow by KGB leader Vladimir Kruchkov, president of USSR Michail Gorbachev was arrested by KGB offucers in Crimea, but later this coup attempt was defeated by Russian democratic forces under leadership of Boris Yeltsin, head of Russian Soviet Republic, and Soviet Communist Party was banned on Soviet territory, and later Russia, Belarus and Ukraine have signed Belovezhe accords, leaving the USSR, so for 5 days only Kazakhstan remained part of USSR.

[@axlrad1586]

Very sad and very strange flying a president on airplane on those conditions only amateur pilots no sense

[@therusticcollectionebaysto7028]

Thanks

[@Bobi-ow6ou]

How can four best pilots fail to listen to a Pull up terrain message in deep fog. At least abandon the landing

[@wiking7446]

To this day Russia is keeping all the evidence and refuses to give it to Poland so the cause of the crash is likely something much worse

[@kidpagronprimsank05]

The alarm would sound on this airport regardless because it's not on database.

[@Mrbimmer11]

Easy sabotage

[@nunyanope4988]

Russians

[@Yvlkr]

There are multiple rumours about a bomb on the plane. But Russia never opened up their investigations.

[@tonymontana1702]

Well, pilots didn't really struggle technically to land this plane. One of the causes was the psychological pressure. There was one Polish military minister on board who was drunk. He had left some signs for pilots that if they wouldn't land from the first try they would face consequences. Despite the critical landing conditions and all the factors to divert to the back up airport, pilots had to try to land in these conditions, otherwise they would have lost their jobs. I don't know why there is no mention of this incident in the video.

[@bmozdzen1]

Well, Tony Montana, or Pjetja, or Sergey, whatever your true name is: you're repeating Russian propaganda credibility of which has been well presented in the days of Russian invasion of Ukraine. The fact that Russia has for eleven years failed to return the wreckage proves there is something to hide. The civilized world has never seen anything like that. Lies make Putin's Russia go.

[@tonymontana1702]

@@bmozdzen1 Well, i don't think we should talk in such a passive agressive way. The truth can reached only through dialogue. I can't deny the power of Russian propaganda. But trust me, i don't support this war and have never been to Ukraine, so i guess we can just talk to each other. Anyways, no media can't be trusted 100% no matter if it is eastern of russian. Maybe the version i presented is not true, but it doesn't really make sense why the pilot decided to land with such visibility - there was an oficially registered back up airport. Nevertheless, there are so many mysteries around this crash. What is your version then?

[@countrylivingflat680]

How dare you say the minister was drunk or there was some 'psychological pressure'?!!! It was proved there was nothing like that - be more thorough and better informed before making such an offensive judgement!!! As I see russian propaganda works!!!

[@konradhenrykowicz1859]

Bullshit. This is not what official Russian state report says. It seems you just lie or transmit mass media rumours.

[@annmaryjohn3258]

They were afraid they would lose their jobs; but in the end they lost their lives!! The strings of fate!

[@AbdulRashid-ho8qg]

THANKS FOR THIS VIDEO SIR , Abdul Rashid WAZIRABAD PAKISTAN

[@xflushestmean93x54]

I can think of a darker day 💀

[@shielajadechavez5133]

Pls do Aeroflot 3321 I think

[@Daleaviotions]

The alarm pull up is not true instead of terrain ahead terrain ahead pull up ins yead of that

[@latifahindra8509]

1:13 Did he just say cold or cole?

[@fs10inator]

Cold.

[@latifahindra8509]

But I here Cole?

[@fs10inator]

​@@latifahindra8509 To be fair, I've heard a few instances where it sounds like that. But the question one crew member asked just before was about the weather, so that should clarify that it's "cold".

[@latifahindra8509]

@@fs10inator ok.

[@aashrayakunwar7855]

Good marks

[@lachguine255]

So sad😭😭😭

[@kapitan4036]

There is a theory about a missile or bomb destroying the plane

[@kapitan4036]

You can never trust the Russians

[@justalpha9138]

But that is false

[@justalpha9138]

@@yellowforester998 Unless there is evidence to point in a different direction, this crash was attributed to pilot error for the most part.

[@justalpha9138]

@@Cartmanfan99 Source?

[@katarzyna8221]

I wonder why this happened in Russia 🇷🇺🙄 Like you say, maybe that was their plan

[@orlene4072]

From the investigation report, they are NOT an elite crew apparently.

[@konradhenrykowicz1859]

This investigation is a load of bullshit

[@chakraborty1989]

Avg crew: oh no!! The weather is simply too bad to land, must divert. Elite crew: we are country's best pilots all 130+ IQ, but we orally ordered by president & our boss, both of whom we are carrying to land at this airport at any cost even if 20-80 in our favour...I am the best, I should fucking try atleast Aka , VIP syndrome

[@TheThirdFall]

@@chakraborty1989 I mean, there was really no harm in going down to 130m to have a look at the runway. They didn't have much chance of being able to spot it and land, but it was worth trying a couple of approaches. The mistake was in not preparing properly for the approach. They essentially didn't prepare well at all, so when they went below 130m without spotting the runway, they should have immediately diverted.

[@FareedKhan-td8eo]

Where are the full episodes???

[@piotrborowski775]

We were just kids Unable to understand the pain We were just kids Unable to understand the sorrow We were just kids Who never seen such things We were just kids Whose childhood was cut in half.

[@kliberalsing]

Very informative video. There was clearly some level of stupidity involved here....

[@kimberlyannpairat9580]

I just watch the cvr

[@tobbe5189]

Can anyone update me on if the assasination video on the crash site is real or fake?

[@gabriellima7900]

The footage is real but the audio is fake.

[@Julia-uv7nz]

i remember seeing this on the news

[@C2112-s7y]

You missed the explosion just before the crash and the shooting of survivors caught on video after the crash!!

[@tytan7772]

I'm from Poland 🥰

[@jankowalski6338]

I co?

[@mcowicz4648]

@@jankowalski6338 i nic

[@marlenaura8791]

To jego brat

[@IQuittednow]

Co

[@thisaccountdoesnotexist7297]

Fact: This crash happened when I turned 1 year old. Now I'm 14, rip to everyone and the president on board

[@alexandarvoncarsteinzarovi3723]

Still think it was sabotage

[@konradhenrykowicz1859]

It was. In fact many clues are in Russian official report.

[@johnbenjiebarnuevo1489]

Disturbing for me the actual cvr recording😔

[@TobiasMathesonRacing]

Hope they have a good time in heaven

[@Mrbimmer11]

They have and Putin is soon going to hell

[@nathancard884]

Everyone on board dies including the President of Poland 😭⚰☮🙏 Music: 💃🕺💃🕺

[@kirilmihaylov1934]

nice one

[@taiwoidowu2854]

President _elect.

[@careyamos485]

Best video ever

[@kunaldebbarma8086]

nice idea whoever chose such an ill equipped airfield for landing the prez

[@rewardilicious]

Q. How many Polacks does it take to land a plane? A. Three-one to speak Russian and two to watch him crash the plane.

[@CUBETechie]

2 detonations on the left wing. It was probably placed during maintain work.

[@jonathanlovgren3819]

RIP

[@sirilcosta8991]

Wait didn't the polish pilots said that they were going around on autopilot they are just manually going around

[@Blakeplayz-ot8ol]

hmmm terrain terrain? no it has to be terrain ahead.

[@Hemlichen2]

Thre is more data, that this is just Russian Narrative

[@AlexaviationPlayz9247]

Rip polich president 😭😭😭😭

[@Threwmygrandma]

Szkoda naszych ludzi umierają w takiej męce

[@Yvlkr]

To jest życie …

[@konradhenrykowicz1859]

Nic nie poczuli. Kiedy fala uderzeniowa detonacji dociera do ludzkiego ciała jest szybsza od impulsów nerwowych. Ciała były pofragmentowane w wyniku przeciążeń o wartości ponad 100g. Tak jest napisane w raporcie MAK To oznacza wyłącznie detonację albo zdeżenie samolotu z betonowa ścianą. Podobno nic takiego nie zaszło.

[@Threwmygrandma]

@@konradhenrykowicz1859 zrozumiano dobrego dnia👍👍🤝🤝

[@Polandrf24]

​@@konradhenrykowicz1859jak nie poczuli chcieli uciec ale go zabili Ruscy odczuli strzał chyba

[@JodyCooper-f9p]

The last words KURWA

[@konradhenrykowicz1859]

This video shows falsified reality. In these conditions, in that type of plane, at least 60% of souls on board should have been survived! But all (according to ridiculous russian report) died INSTANTLY. It is extremely unlike. It never happened before or after that a hard landing of airliner of this class killed all on board. This is the only one example. This vid is a misinformation.

[@eddiemurffy467]

russians killed those people

[@KkedldLgamertagGD]

April 10 2010 Year On Accident

[@coroamanicolai4527]

That outro is so disrespectful!

[@tym0notangomange]

Im In Poland In Szczecin

[@FilipKlasky]

Cause: Controlled flight into terrain due to pilot error

[@konradhenrykowicz1859]

Where are the proofs?

[@jankowalski6338]

Unfortunately it's not nit even close to being the darkest day in thistory of Poland

[@DarkThundert]

Damn im Polish but the actual cause of the crash was bc the president told the pilots to land and it was bad weather

[@konradhenrykowicz1859]

And this powerful will of Kaczyński caused rapid disintegration of airframe in midair. Sure

[@Iliketriple7]

Why is this so nice to wacht

[@HarborSubHughley]

1:50

[@marlenaura8791]

On żyje

[@mulindwahussein5114]

So sad

[@searideroffical8802]

wow really

[@latifahindra8509]

Oh wait it’s 1:12

[@W-Nieznane]

Do dzis nie rozumiem dlaczego nie ladowali w Moskwie zeby potem 400 km dojechac autokarem lub bys eskortowanym przez sluzby to Lotnisko w Smolensku nie mialo oswietlenia, kontrolerzy mowili tylko po rosyjsku i nie mialo profesjonalneh wiezy kontroli lotowz przyjmowali tylko loty wojskowe

[@Jaja-hx6ch]

Bo na styk wylecieli i żeby zdążyć dojechać z Moskwy to by musieli lecieć dzień wcześniej

[@jkpakosz6698]

Ego Kaczynskich nie pozwolilo.

[@nikka00]

And out of the blue you decided it's the theme of the day. Wondering, why? Hmmm...

[@mindmagic767]

Host why don't you inform about the cause of the crash?

[@lolawall3765]

RIP TU-154m

[@samuelreimaravilla8565]

The Tu 154M is have something wrong with its pull up alarm it's not the same alarm the alarm is [ terrain ahead terrain ahead pull up pull up pull up terrain ahead terrain ahead terrain ahead pull up pull up pull up pull up pull up pull up]

[@juliefaulkner5497]

They fly lowwer and visibility is worse, should have abandoned that landing there and then.

[@konradhenrykowicz1859]

They were going up when airframe disintegrated.

[@johnny5805]

It doesn't increase your faith in flying when even the best pilots on the planet make stupid schooboy errors.

[@chakraborty1989]

Except u r not VIP and without"VIP syndrome" the pilot would probably diverted ur flight to a safer airport .

[@sinamark-com]

the elite pilots ...announcer keep saying.

[@rewardilicious]

Pilots don't usually land for the first time ever in a military airport in fog.

[@solidsnake2023]

ou est le passage du général polonais qui est allé leur foutre la pression

[@DDHRH-jd2sg]

Bruh

[@williamsweis6582]

that plane is a boeing 727 from ebay

[@classicicemc2848]

Lol

[@mexmex784]

Plz sir job visa

[@davidyolchuyev2905]

All the worst things in the history happen to the polish all the time!

[@pieskobi943]

No. Not really

[@dand-ov6bj]

Польский 101 poleh 101

[@TheMrExemplar]

Pretty inaccurate

[@mountainbikingmilosvini1410]

Ayup

[@trex700ful]

Za ten zamach w Smoleńsku Rosja musi upaść

[@mr.jonniewalker6032]

please keep in clean your brain filled up with agressive anti Russian propaganda. Have a good day 🙂

[@samfisher7288]

Flight model Tupulev from Russia Totally understandable

[@konradhenrykowicz1859]

A very rigid and strong airframe of military origin. But killed on board just during hard landing. Bullshit.

[@sat.aviation]

E

[@Pubglover-rp4np]

I m from pakistan being a pilot i know its pilot fault

[@doubleinfinityxdoubleinfin7249]

The British Laboratory in Kent near London and the Italian laboratory have shown traces of high-energy explosives, including those used in thermobaric weapons. What's more analyzes and comparisons were made to one flight, similar height, only a larger number of passengers and those passengers almost all survived the plane crash and the plane was almost completely. But no one survived the Polish "catastrophe". In addition, the wreckage broke into thousands of pieces of various sizes, as in the case of the explosion. The former Pentagon chief said recently that it was not an ordinary plane crash. A German investigative journalist wrote several books about it and admitted that everyone know but prefer to remain silent. The Polish mistake was that the president and the Polish elite were still flying Soviet machines and the planes were serviced in Russia by Russians even before their departure to Smolensk. Then they planted the explosives.

[@travelerforever8849]

@@doubleinfinityxdoubleinfin7249maybe they just tired.. its very dangerous because you cannot focus..

[@anon003]

I am one of the first comments

[@Pedrinho503]

Literally, no one cares, wrong video to coment " I am one of the first comments".

[@anon003]

@@Pedrinho503 I can write whatever I want

[@gamma_dablam]

@@anon003 and we can drag you for doing so