Why has Poland lost a large part of its elite? Because its members overestimated themselves. This is the most probable cause of the TU-154 crash, even if there is room for conspiracy theories.
It must be envisaged that one, maybe several of the members of government, maybe even President Lech Kaczynski himself, forced the pilot to land despite the adverse conditions.
This raises an old question: Who is in charge of an aircraft? Nobody but the Flight Captain. Whoever the passengers are, he should never yield to pressure. His decisions are always in the flight guests’ interest. Pilots have families as well. It can be taken for granted that Captain Arkadiusz Protasiuk wanted to see his again. So he intended to do his best but was prevented from doing so.
Yet another lesson should be drawn. Decision makers for a country, a company or an organization should never all travel together. There always remains a residual risk.
Both the fact that the pilots should be allowed to do their job in the interest of the people who rely on them and the idea that there should be a minimum of precaution when it comes to group travel of stakeholders have been known for a long time.
One question remains open: When will they ever learn?
Danstanmart
Danstanmart's Aerospace Insights 