CVR Picked Up Voices 16-20 Minutes Before The Plane Went Down

New evidence has surfaced about the crash of a Polish aircraft which went down April 10, killing the President of Poland, his wife, and many other high-ranking government officials.

Polish and Russian officials held a news conference Wednesday to announce that the cockpit voice recorder recovered from the Russian-built TU-154 captured the voices of unidentified passengers in the cockpit some 16-20 minutes before the crash. The New York times reports that the pilot had already received at least one advisory concerning poor weather at the airport when the cockpit conversation was recorded.

The delegation was traveling to Russia for the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, in which more than 20,000 Polish officers and others were killed by the Soviets during World War II. The presence of the voices of non-crew members in the cockpit has led to rampant speculation that the pilots may have been pressured to land so that the President and others would not be late for the ceremony.

Tatyana Anodina, the head of the Interstate Aviation Committee, said one of the non-crew members in the cockpit had been identified, but aviation rules prevent her from naming that person or what was found on the CVR. However, the Polish News Agency PAP identified one of the voices as General Andrzij Blasik, the head of Poland's Air Force. “As for the influence on the decision making of the crew, this should be investigated,” Anodina said. “This is important for the investigation and for establishing the cause” of the crash.

Shortly before the accident occurred, a Russian airliner reportedly missed two approaches to the airport and diverted to an alternate. The crew was informed about 4 minutes before the crash that visibility had dropped to 650 feet in heavy fog.

Investigators also said they were looking into the possibility of a cell phone being used while the aircraft was in flight. What is still not known is why the crew ignored ground proximity warnings before the airplane struck trees short of the runway before impacting the ground.

FMI: www.mak.ru/english/english.html