Poland Air Force Tupolev Tu-154M/crashed aircraft, originally uploaded by Armenian_Spotter.
Breaking news – The Tupolev Tu-154M Presidential plane carrying Polish President Lech Kaczynski, his wife and some of Poland’s most prominent military and civilian leaders crashed Saturday while attempting to land in thick fog. Early reports indicate that the plane hit some trees on final approach and broke apart in the air.
More details to follow.
Update:
The presidential plane was at least 20 years old, and there had been talk of replacing the aging craft recently, but the Polish parliament determined that it lacked the funds to replace the plane. According to the Aviation Safety Network, there have been six crashes involving Tu-154 models in the past 5 years. There have been 66 crashes involving this model of aircraft since it went into service.
According to the Polish constitution, the parliament speaker will assume presidential duties. There was to be a general election in Poland in November of this year. There appears to be no word on whether the elections will be moved up because of this tragedy.
Check out Fox News for more info on the crash
Other pictures credit: Andrey Belenko
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