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Poland to carry out Tu-154 test flight to probe Kaczynski crash

© RIA Novosti . Oleg Mineev / Go to the mediabankPolish presidential plane
Polish presidential plane - Sputnik International
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The Polish authorities are carrying out a test flight of a Tu-154 airliner as part of their probe into the plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 other people last year.

The Polish authorities are carrying out a test flight of a Tu-154 airliner as part of their probe into the plane crash that killed Polish President Lech Kaczynski and 95 other people last year.

"This experiment is a crucial to scrutinize the last seconds of the flight. This experiment will give an answer to the question of whether the pilots had a chance to pull the plane up and if they could have gone around a second time," Interior Ministry spokeswoman Malgorzata Wozniak said.

She did not disclose the place or duration of the experiment.

On April 10, 2010, the Polish president's plane crashed in heavy fog as it attempted to land at an airfield near the western Russian city of Smolensk. Kaczynski, his wife and a host of other top officials on board were due to mark the 70th anniversary of the 1940 Katyn massacre of thousands of Polish officers by Soviet secret police.

Poland has yet to publish its own report into the crash, saying it would be unveiled after the test flight.

The Russia-based Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK), along with leading flight safety experts, laid the blame for the crash on the Polish crew. Polish politicians denounced the report, saying it was one-sided or a cover-up.

On Monday, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev and his Polish counterpart, Bronislaw Komorowski, paid a visit to the site of the plane crash to commemorate the victims of the disaster.

WARSAW, April 12 (RIA Novosti) 

 

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