Some Mechanical and Structural Aspects of the Smolensk Crash
By Dr. Gregory Szuladzinski, Ph.D., MSME
SCND2014GS

3. What Happened near Point K?

There is some evidence in the sound records of published by the MAK and by the Miller Commission and the transcription of the audio record prepared at the request of the prosecutor by the Polish Institute of Forensic Research, which together with other data suggests an explosion taking place in the wing. Sound recordings show that shortly before the point K one pilot swore and the passengers began to scream. This recording particularly matches the description of sounds in the cockpit, which in the last moments of the flight one passenger passed by telephone to his wife's voicemail.

You cannot associate this with an explosion in the hull for the simple reason that, after such an event, passengers would no longer be able to scream. So, if this instant is considered as coinciding with the explosion in the wing, the passengers had reason to be fearful: a very strong shock and the beginning of the plane's tilt with perhaps the initial cracks in the fuselage. (Destruction shown in Figure 10 illustrates how powerful was the impulse of explosion).

In the area of point K not only the direction of flight began to change, but there also occurred vertical acceleration, ca 0.27g upwards, as recorded by the instruments, Figure 20. (This does not nearly reflect the acceleration amplitude of the wing, because it was registered in the fuselage). The landing gear system reacted as if the plane was landing.

There is a set of photos taken after the disaster from the point at Gubienki Street, where you can see the tip of the wing leaning against the tree. The surrounding trees bear the traces of which can be interpreted as the result of being bombed by debris. In one area, the smaller trees and branches are lying side - by - side, which could be due to the combined effects of the explosion and the blast of air passing from aircraft engines flying low above.