Erroneous on-track, on-glide-path callouts by an air traffic controller during a radar-assisted nonprecision approach likely encouraged the flight crew to continue the approach despite the presence of thick fog, according to an independent report by Polish authorities on the April 10, 2010, crash of a Tupolev 154M at Smolensk, Russia.
The report by the Polish Committee for Investigation of National Aviation Accidents said that the Tu-154 was not within flight-path deviation limits and concluded that the controller’s guidance errors were caused by a malfunction or mistuning of the radar system at Smolensk Severny Airdrome.
The aircraft struck terrain short of the runway, killing all 96 people aboard.
Similar to the report published last year by the Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC), the Polish committee’s report primarily faults the flight crew for the accident, saying, “The immediate cause of the accident was the descent below the minimum descent altitude at an excessi…
