A CONFERENCE OF COURAGEOUS SCIENTISTS

ARTUR STELMASIAK

On 22-23 October this year in Warsaw at University of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński there was the first scientific symposium devoted to technical analysis of the Smoleńsk catastrophe. Although the professors have very little credible data about the process of the last flight of the governmental airplane, science has a rich palette of possibilities and methods, in order to draw conclusions from this partial information. – Each of us, in our PhD vow, made a commitment to find out the truth even when it is not going to be convenient for many people – said prof. Piotr Witakowski from the Mining and Metallurgical Academy in Cracow, the co-organizer of the conference with the participation of over 100 scientists.

The confrontation of the scientific world with official decisions of state commissions is devastating. Both the Russian report of MAK, as well as the report of the so-called commission of Miller in key issues diverge with the truth. Both the flight parameters and the mechanics of the catastrophe, during which the governmental airplane crashed, were interpreted in them in a wrong way. The version given for 30 years, about the causes of the catastrophe collapses like a house ofcards.

A birch versus a wing

According to most scientists, the most spectacular and refutable myth is attacking a birch which was to cut off the airplane wing and cause the turning of the airplane onto its back. However, it turns out that the airplane had been too high to hit against the tree. And even if there had been a physical contact with the birch, the airplane wing would have cut it off without any difficulty. – We used a much thicker and stronger birch for calculations and a constructively weaker wing. In all simulations the wing cuts off 40 centimeter trunk of the tree – emphasized prof. Wiesław Binienda from University of Akron. He discussed the results of his investigations both with the experts of the airplane and the best American scientists dealing with the durability of wood. Also a piece of the airplane left wing was lying in the place to which it can’t have flown –in the opinion of physicists.

Even if it is assumed that about 30-centimetre birch was stronger than the steel construction of the airplane, it can’t have done the so-called barrel later and turn over onto the back. According to the commission, the airplane probably hit the tree with its left wing at the altitude of 5m. – It had turned round at that time, then the 30-metre residue of the airplane wing would have dug the ground. However, there were no such traces at Smoleńsk – explains MSc Marek Dąbrowski who deals with the analysis of the flight parameters.

What’s more, in the same place on the route of the airplane right wing, there is another birch which was not damaged. How did it happen that the flying airplane with its wings directed straight towards two trees growing next to each other, cuts one of them but does not leave any trace on the other one?- The Polish Commission of Flight Accident Investigations even does not know in which place the birch hit the airplane wing. The difference between hit pointed in the report and the length of the fragment of the torn off airplane wing is nearly 3 m – emphasized Dąbrowski.

A hypothesis of the explosion

Scientists nearly agree that it is not worth investigating the crash of the airplane with the birch any more, because it did not happen at all. However, there are more tragic mysteries. Prof. Kazimierz Nowaczyk from University of Maryland pointed out to the ‘orphaned’ message of the airplane computer TAWS38. – In both reports we had messages ‘TERRAIN AHEAD’ and ‘PULL UP’, warning against the land getting nearer. Whereas we know from the American report of the producer of the TAWS that there was one more and last message – said prof. Nowaczyk. But it was not an alarm but a normal signal as if the plane had landed.

This kind of a signal at the altitude of about 30 m above the ground is something unusual because the TAWS is connected with the sensor at the wheels of the airplane. It is impossible to explain such secret evidences easily. So, something unusual must have happened with the airplane at that time. So the hypothesis of explosion is becoming more and more credible. In the last seconds of the flight, the system registered information about a dozen failures connected probably with a process of the machine destruction. – Exactly in the place where there was a message TAWS 38, the Russians had cut off all trees and burnt grass – noted Nowaczyk.

The scientific hypothesis about explosion is also suggested by prof. Jan Obręnski from the Warsaw Polytechnics, who investigated the fragment of the exterior sheathing of the airplane Tu-154. The interior fumigation of this element is worrying, broken rivets and its shaping. – It is seen that the centrifugal force is influencing it. So, the explosion can be suspected – emphasized prof. Obrębski.

Similar conclusions from his works were also made by dr. Wacław Berczyński, a constructor working for the Boeing for a few dozens years. He said that the aeroplane body and its wing had been destroyed by a very high pressure inside the aeroplane. – So, everything points to the explosion. I do not know any other explanation for this kind of destructions – emphasized dr Berczyński.

A historical conference

It is the first time when the representatives of the most prestigious Polish universities, beside professors from USA and Australia have started speaking in mass. The conference was also attended by the representatives of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the universities in: Warsaw, Poznań, Cracow, polytechnic schools in: Warsaw, Gdańsk, Cracow, Mining-Metallurgical Academy and the Military Technical Academy. In Poland there are no better technical universities, so one cannot ignore the conference or the presentations of scientific investigations. Therefore the parliamentarian Antoni Macierewicz announced that he would submit an applications that in the budget project for the year 2013, there should be means for continuing independent scientific investigations devoted to the Smoleńsk catastrophe.

The University of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński in Warsaw turned out to be the only university in Poland which is not afraid of organizing scientific conferences on the reasons of the catastrophe at Smoleńsk during which 96 people and the president of the Polish Republic were killed.

– We are extremely interested in this issue. After all, our rector was killed in this catastrophe – Fr. Prof. Ryszard Rumianek and the employee of the University of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński - prof. Lech Kaczyński – said Piotr Czerwiński, the representative of the Academic Circle of PhDs of History at the University of Cardinal Stefan Wyszyński, which was the main organizer of the scientific symposium on the Smoleńsk catastrophe.

(AA)

"Niedziela" 45/2012

Editor: Tygodnik Katolicki "Niedziela", ul. 3 Maja 12, 42-200 Czestochowa, Polska
Editor-in-chief: Fr Jaroslaw Grabowski • E-mail: redakcja@niedziela.pl