It looks like you're using an Ad Blocker.
Please white-list or disable AboveTopSecret.com in your ad-blocking tool.
Thank you.
Some features of ATS will be disabled while you continue to use an ad-blocker.
In the readings, pilots received at least ten warnings to increase the plane’s altitude.
Information from the black boxes recovered from the wreckage and now published on the Polish Interior Ministry’s website, shows a warning system in the cockpit repeatedly gave “pull up” warnings as the aircraft was approaching low terrain. "Pull up, pull up. We are approaching the ground," was reported in the last minute before the crash. The last words on the recordings were swear words.
The recordings not only confirm earlier reports that the pilots did not react to the plane’s automatic warning system, but also reveal that two passengers were in the cockpit. There has been speculation that one of the two was president Lech Kaczynski, although the black box tape recordings were not clear enough for a positive identification of speech patterns.
It had been thought the pilots were attempting to land the plane on the orders of the president, in spite of poor weather conditions. The Polish government Russian-made Tupolev Tu-154 crashed in poor visibility. President Kaczynski and 95 prominent Poles died in the tragedy.
* Pilots disregarded many warnings to re-ascend
* No evidence of Kaczynski ordering a landing
(Adds more background)
Russia handed over copies of the cockpit recordings to Polish Interior Minister Jerzy Miller on Monday. The original recordings will stay in Russia until its probe is completed.
although the black box tape recordings were not clear enough for a positive identification of speech patterns.