Flight recorders from Lech Kaczynski’s plane

Experts from the Interstate Aviation Committee presented three flight recorders from Lech Kaczynski’s Tu-154 aircraft, which crashed near Smolensk on April 10.

The Polish president’s plane had four flight recorders, one of which recorded the crew’s conversation while the other three recorded the state of the engines and the plane’s other systems.

Russian specialists analyzed only three of them.

The fourth recorder, with solid-state circuitry and a processing chip, was sent to Warsaw where Polish experts are currently examining it. Photo: The department for examining flight data and cockpit voice recorders at the Interstate Aviation Committee.

The technical investigation commission has unequivocally determined that there was no evidence indicating foul play, an explosion, a fire, or an aircraft system failure during the Tu-154’s flight. Photo: The department for examining flight data and cockpit voice recorders at the Interstate Aviation Committee.

According to recorder data, the aircraft’s engines were operating until the plane crashed. Photo: The department for examining flight data and cockpit voice recorders at the Interstate Aviation Committee.

The Interstate Aviation Committee also discovered that there were unauthorized non-crew members in the Tu-154’s cockpit during the flight. The voice of one was identified, and experts are still working on the other voices. Both Russian and international rules prohibit the presence of unauthorized persons in the cockpit. Photo: Flight recorders from Lech Kaczynski’s aircraft, which crashed near Smolensk on April 10.

Investigators will still have to identify whether these unauthorized persons could influence the crew’s decisions, but the fact that they were in the cockpit is itself crucial to the investigation into the causes of the crash. Photo: The department for examining flight data and cockpit voice recorders at the Interstate Aviation Committee.

A preliminary analysis of the causes of the crash has not revealed answers to all the questions. The investigation is continuing. Russian investigators have handed passenger and crew cell phones over to their Polish counterparts. The Polish agency will examine whether or not cell phone activity before or during the flight could have had an impact on the aircraft’s systems. Photo: Flight recorder from Lech Kaczynski’s aircraft, which crashed near Smolensk on April 10.

The Investigation Committee of the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office expects Warsaw to provide data on cell phone activity including SMS-messages as well as the data from the fourth flight recorder that is being examined in Poland. Photo: Flight recorders from Lech Kaczynski’s aircraft, which crashed near Smolensk on April 10.