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Guys, relax. I am from Poland. Grew up there and have lived in the United States (Rochester) for the last 14 years. Poland is not fucked.
I learned of the crash around 3am Saturday morning. I was sleeping and my phone kept ringing. It was my family calling from Poland as well as my parents who live in Rochester. I got up, got dressed and drove to their house where they have Dish Network with Polish channels. We watched the news events for the rest of the night. It was one of the saddest days i could ever remember in my entire life. Poland shut down for a "7 day morning period".... meaning, all events, festivals, bars, clubs, sporting events, ect, are closed for the week. Many stores closed. Two moments of the night which hit me, were 1.) During the breaking news, they had like 5 news anchors, and everyone was scrambling to find an actual list of people on board. A guy walked to the set handed a piece of paper to a lady, with names, as she read the names, President Lech, his wife, ect, she quickly realized all our fears, that so many of the important people were on board, she started crying right on live tv. The other came when prime minister Donald Tusk announced to the nation what everyone knew, that the president has died. Knowing it is one thing, hearing a major figure, is another.
As for the plane, age does not matter. Planes that you take over seas or cross country, make that trek multiple times a week. The mileage adds up. Presidential planes, don't. Their in great shape. Air Force One is like 21 years old. The Polish plane was 26. Russia has some of the best technology when it comes to planes and such, thus they have a great space program and also have some great military jets. Unlike the United States, they don't show them off in airshows, they keep them low key for the most part. Russia is a poor country, but their military is rich.
I've heard a lot of people in Poland and Europe blame the lack of communication of the radio tower and that it's way behind. Supposedly the airport they were landing at, the radio tower is so out dated that there is no airport in Poland with worse systems. But, we wanted to land there. Russians suggested landing in Moscow. It's a military airport, a very small airport, and no commercial planes ever land there. It's non of our business how they operate a military base. The true reason for the crash was pilot error.
_________________ Impossible Is Nothing.
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