Search for cause of Smolensk disaster continues

It seems there may have been a problem with the beacon....

The paper speculates this might have led to the pilot’s misinterpretation of the actual flight level, which caused the tragic accident of the Polish presidential plane on April 10th. Typically, such beacons are placed 1 and 4 kilometers from the start of the landing strip. This is only partially true at Smolensk, because their location on one side of the airport is 1 and 6 kilometers, respectively. This could certainly explain why on the fatal day the plane had descended to barely a few meters above ground level almost one and a half kilometers short of the runway. Three days earlier the same pilot, flying the same machine, with the Polish PM on board approached from the other side where the beacons are at standard distance. His personal experience coupled with lack of information on the difference between the two approach routes and extreme conditions of dense fog could have brought the tragic effects, is the attempted conclusion.