Decrepit Smolensk airport should nothave been even considered.
You're right. What on earth were the Presidential staff doing even considering the use of Smolensk-North?
The Russians should have arranged to have the plane land at a decent, fully equipped airport.
The Poles never requested to go to one. International protocol requires a formal request to do such a thing - but then, that ruins your story doesn't it? Don't forget that it's highly unlikely that a man like Lech Kaczynski would want to fly into Vnukovo - which according to Google Maps is 4 hours away from Katyn.
Who knows if Tusk didn't put them up to it:
Bear in mind that Tusk landed at the same airport.
The airport was actually acceptable *if* conditions had been clear. The Tupolev 154 was designed to land at all sorts of runways - so on a clear day, Smolensk-North would actually have been fine.
Hey mates, why not have the plane land at some ramshackle air strip to make our head of state look ridiculous!
Do you think the Head of State in question would have liked to travel 4 hours on Russian roads to reach Katyn?
Polonius, all this stuff has been discussed to death - it's pretty obvious that you know nothing about aviation and diplomatic protocol.
Who knows if people involved in PiS didn't 'put them up to it' in order to rid themselves of an embarrassing laughing stock and political liability.
Certainly one of the more interesting theories. He was headed for electoral disaster - a first round defeat would have been incredibly humiliating.