Polish President killed in plane crash.

[juneau]

Polish President Lech Kaczynski and scores of others have been killed in a plane crash in Russia.

Polish and Russian officials said no-one had survived after the plane apparently hit trees as it approached Smolensk's airport in thick fog.

Poland's army chief, central bank governor, MPs and leading historians were among more than 80 passengers.

They were flying in from Warsaw to mark 70 years since the Katyn massacre of thousands of Poles by Soviet forces.

BBC News - Polish President Lech Kaczynski dies in plane crash



Isn't it a bit stupid to fly so many top officials on one flight? Especially on such old planes?

I hope they have a well documented succession plan.

[{CLR} ObiTroy]

Oh my, that's horrible.

[Apache Warrior]

BBC News - Polish President Lech Kaczynski dies in plane crash



Isn't it a bit stupid to fly so many top official on one flight? Especially on such old planes?

I hope they have a well documented succession plan.

I have to agree. They should have flown some of them on commercial flights.
Apache

[Duke{CLR}]

This is a terrible tragedy.

I know many companies have policies that prevent a certain number of it's top management from flying on the same aircraft you would think a country would.

[K PhaNTOM]

Munich air disaster - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ah, my beloved. They should have learned not to put so many important people in one flight.

[DougBob]

We just saw this on the news earlier.

[Trooper110]

They might wake up and do something now, but it's a shame that it always seems to take disasters, wars, deaths, etc. to make some people see the light.

[ViTO]

If I'm not mistaken Englands Prince William & Henry are forbidden to fly on the same aircraft for just this reason.

This type of accident would take many top officials from almost any nation.

Sad Indeed.

[juneau]

If I'm not mistaken Englands Prince William & Henry are forbidden to fly on the same aircraft for just this reason.

This type of accident would take many top officials from almost any nation.

Sad Indeed.

Yes they are. I believe you mean Harry though.

I've just heard that every commander of every branch of the Polish armed forces were on the flight too. Not sure how true that is, but it would be a massive blow to lose the Army, Navy and Airforce commanders. It's a good job Poland isn't an unstable country.

edit: Looks like it is true.

National leaders:
President Lech Kaczynski and wife Maria
Former President-in-exile Ryszard Kaczorowski

Top civil servant:
Slawomir Skrzypek National Bank of Poland chairman

Other politicians:
Wladyslaw Stasiak chief of the president's chancellery
Aleksander Szczyglo chief of the National Security Office
Jerzy Szmajdzinski deputy speaker of the lower house
Andrzej Kremer Foreign Ministry's undersecretary of state
Stanislaw Komorowski deputy minister of national defence
Przemyslaw Gosiewski Law and Justice party deputy chair

Military figures:
Franciszek Gagor chief of the general staff
Andrzej Blasik head of the air force
Andrzej Karweta head of the navy
Tadeusz Buk land forces commander
Aleksander Szczyglo head of the National Security Office

Cultural figures:
Andrzej Przewoznik head of Poland's Council for the Protection of Struggle and Martyrdom Sites
Tomasz Merta chief historical conservator

Still can't believe they had all these people on one flight.

[Skud]

Wow. Not good at all.