Maria Kaczyńska in the context of 2010 Polish Air Force Tu-154 crash

On 10 April 2010, a Tupolev Tu-154 aircraft operating Polish Air Force Flight PLF 101 crashed near the Russian city of Smolensk, killing all 96 people on board. Among the victims were the president of Poland, Lech Kaczyński, and his wife, Maria; the former president of Poland-in-exile, Ryszard Kaczorowski; the chief of the Polish General Staff and other senior Polish military officers; the president of the National Bank of Poland; Polish government officials; 18 members of the Polish parliament; senior members of the Polish clergy; and relatives of victims of the Katyn massacre. The group was arriving from Warsaw to attend an event commemorating the 70th anniversary of the massacre, which took place not far from Smolensk.

The pilots were attempting to land at Smolensk North Airport — a former military airbase — in fog, with visibility reduced to about 400 metres (about 400 yards). The aircraft descended far below the normal approach path until it struck trees, rolled, inverted and crashed into the ground, coming to rest in a wooded area a short distance from the runway.

The Smolensk air disaster, included Polish Air Force Flight 101 in 2010 killing all 96 people on board. The Polish delegation was heading to Katyn to attend a ceremony marking the 70th anniversary of the Katyn massacre, in which the Soviet NKVD killed about 22,000 Polish military officers.

Among those killed in the crash of Flight 101 were Polish President Lech Kaczyński, his wife Maria Kaczyńska, former President-in-exile Ryszard Kaczorowski, Poland's highest-ranking military officers, lawmakers, heads of the Polish National Bank and other central institutions, presidential aides, bishops and priests of various denominations, relatives of those killed in the Katyn massacre, as well as officers of the presidential security detail and crew members.