Warsaw hosted a two day conference during which prominent experts in aviation as well as physicists presented their independent research findings concerning the causes of the 2010 Smolensk air crash in Russia that killed 96 Poles including president Lech Kaczynski. The topic of the conference focused on mechanisms of the destruction of the TU-154M plane. This conference was the first major scientific conference on the Smolensk tragedy.

 

The conference participants included around 100 scientists, physicists and academics from around the world from universities and institutes of technology. The assembled scientists agreed that the official versions are unreliable; and that all evidence pointed to explosions on board the plane whilst it was still in the air considering the damage to the wreckage on site, the scattered plane fragments, the number of debris of the wreckage and their disposition on a large area.  It was also agreed that it was necessary to establish an independent body of international experts to carry out a proper investigation of the 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash transparently in accordance with international standards and supervision free of any potential conflict of interests.

 

Family members of the victims also attended the conference.

 

The conference covered all technical aspects associated with the destruction of the plane TU-154 M irrespective of the technical field to which the matter should be eligible. Papers therefore applied to both general issues related to the mechanics of flight and the mechanics of destruction as well as specific issues related to satellite image analysis, flight simulations, on-board data analysis, materials testing, material destruction analysis research, modelling, and others.

 

The organization of the conference had a long-term preparation period and eventually focused on two aims. One was to create a forum for discussion and dissemination of interdisciplinary studies related to the 10 April 2010 crash of the Polish Air Force TU-154, and the other was to bring about collaboration between scientists from different disciplines towards solving various partial problems relating to the general topic of the conference. To that extent the organizers of the conference provided a repository for various materials and sample research resources related to the conference topic.

 

According to Prof. Piotr Witakowski from the AGH University of Science and Technology, a precise analysis of previous documented air crashes from the last approximately 30 years show that in the vast majority of cases, before the plane hit the ground, it would have cut through big areas of trees and forests on its glide path and parts of the plane had never been scattered over such a large area as it did in Smolensk. Prof. Witakowski said that the current findings point most likely to an explosion of the plane in the air and the scattered plane fragments on site are a result of earlier disintegration, as opposed to have been caused by impact with the ground, not to mention the lack of any survivors.

 

Witakowski's findings have been confirmed by Prof. Chris Ciszewski from the University of Georgia, who in his speech carried out a comparative analysis of the satellite photos of the crash site and analysed changes in the photographs taken one after another. The expert came to a conclusion that the scattered wreckage and fragments of the plane could not have occurred by just a collision with the ground. Moreover, the analyses of satellite pictures point to visible changes at the crash site as a result of manipulation.

 

Again, Prof. Jan Obrebki from the Warsaw Technical University said that the cause of the air crash must have been a multipoint explosion.

 

Many other additional experts concluded that due to the number of debris of the wreckage and their disposition on a large area as shown by photos taken at the crash scene proved that the crash could have been due to explosions.  

Applied scientist and engineer Grzegorz Szuladzinski PHD from Australia (an expert of the Parliamentary Committee investigating the Smolensk’s crash) repeatedly pointed out that the plane could not have been destroyed if crashed from low altitude (about 20-30 meters) at a speed of 250 km/h, as was the case. Grzegorz Szuladzinski acknowledged that the first blast took place on the left wing, the subsequent second one - inside the fuselage causing its destruction and defragmentation. 

One of the most important fragments of Szuladzinski's analyse refers to the mechanics of explosions and the subsequent aspects of aircraft's destruction of the aircraft caused by fire - a fundamental analysis to help understand the causes of the crash.

 

Many parts of the interior of the plane have been in a way "blown out," which would again be impossible in the scenario of hitting the ground by the plane with such a low velocity and from such a low altitude. Additionally, dozens of clinches connecting the construction of the wing were torn out of the sheet metal. In the pictures taken just after the crash, we can see a few dozen empty holes after the torn out clinches.

 

Grzegorz Szuladzinski pointed out that in the case of jet fuel bursting upon a crash landing it usually would cause an extended fire leading to incineration or damage to the wreckage.

 

Detonation of explosives executed outside of its hull but above the ground would cause different consequences. Such an explosion must have been accompanied by a sphere of fire which expanding surface would be a shock wave causing rapid destruction of all elements on its way – thus destructive effect of fire would have been limited.

It would be different if we were confronted with an inside fuselage's detonation. In that case the sphere of fire would be gradually expanding inside an aircraft along its interior’s shape, omitting those elements that would part from the fuselage after the blast. In such case the elements stroked with fire would remain burning, while other elements not exposed to explosion source would not have any visible burnings.

The characteristics of the aircraft destruction – opening up the fuselage and a range of fire – point to an explosion onboard. It means that it is likely that there were explosives on the plane. The author pointed out that final validation of his thesis would bring metallurgic analysis of elements’ surface exposed to explosion.

 

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edited from source: freepl.info

http://smolenskcrash.com/index.php/2012/2012/schedConf/overview

http://smolenskcrash.eu/news-36-smolensk-conference-in-warsaw-poland-october-22-2012.html