The Tupolev Tu-154 (NATO code: Careless) was and still is a three-engine, mid-range, all-metal airliner in the low-wing Soviet, and later Russian, low-wing configuration. The drive was provided by three Kuznetsov NK-8 or Soloviev D30KU-154 engines in the Tu-154M version. The flight of the prototype took place in October 1968, and serial production was carried out in the periods 1968-2001 and 2003-2013. In total, approx. 950-1000 machines of this type were produced, of which approx. 100 are still in service in 2017. The Tupolew Tu-154 was created to standardize the fleet of Aeroflot's medium-range aircraft and was to replace the Tu-104, An-10, Il-12 and Il-18 aircraft. In general, the design of the Hawker Siddeley Trident was based on the Tu-154. Despite the advantages of the machine, such as, for example, high flight speed, the ability to operate from airports with poor surface, the Tu-154 also has significant disadvantages: above all, it is characterized by a very high fuel consumption and above-average failure rate, which unfortunately led to 67 crashes of this aircraft. Several development versions of the Tu-154 were created in the course of serial production. The first was the Tu-154A with a new version of the higher thrust engines. Others were: the transport version (Tu-154S) and the passenger version with improved avionics (Tu-154B1 / B2). The last mass produced was the Tu-154M, which already had D30KU engines and significantly increased flight range. The Tu-154M aircraft with side number 101, carrying many important representatives of Polish authorities, headed by the President of the Republic of Poland, the late Mr. Lech Kaczyński, crashed on April 10, 2010 near the Smolensk-Siewerny airport.