LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165

Last updated

LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165
LOT Antonov An-24V Manteufel.jpg
A LOT Antonov An-24, similar to the crashed aircraft
Accident
Date2 April 1969
SummaryBad weather and CFIT
SiteNear Zawoja, Poland
49°38′0″N19°38′0″E / 49.63333°N 19.63333°E / 49.63333; 19.63333
Aircraft
Aircraft type Antonov An-24W
Operator LOT Polish Airlines
IATA flight No.LO165
ICAO flight No.LOT165
Call signLOT 165
Registration SP-LTF
Flight origin Warsaw Chopin Airport, Warsaw, Poland
Destination Krakow Balice airport, Balice, Poland
Occupants53
Passengers47
Crew6
Fatalities53
Survivors0

LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 was an Antonov An-24 aircraft, registration SP-LTF, operating a scheduled passenger flight from Warsaw to Krakow Balice airport. It crashed into a mountain on 2 April 1969 at 16:08 local time (UTC+1) during a snowstorm. All 53 people on board were killed.

Contents

Flight history

Introduction

Much of the known information about the accident comes from two newspaper articles [1] [2] published in 1994. [3] Their author wrote that, even 25 years after the accident, most documentation on the crash remained classified. Reports were based on the accounts of participants in the rescue action and some members of the accident investigation commission who asked for anonymity.

Flight

The aircraft took off at 15:20 local time for a 55-minute flight to Krakow's Balice Airport. The captain was Czesław Doliński.

At 15:49, the first officer received instructions to descend to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) and get in touch with Balice control tower after passing Jędrzejów, less than 80 km north of Krakow. A military radar registered the aircraft at that time at 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) altitude. The pilots informed controllers in Okęcie and Balice when the plane had passed Jędrzejów VOR, but caused confusion by providing three different passage times a few minutes apart.[ clarification needed ] Shortly thereafter and before 16:00, the captain (who by then had taken over control) called Balice, gave his altitude as 3,700 metres (12,100 ft), received the local weather report, and then was instructed to descend to 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).

At 16:01, the aircraft was recorded at 2,400 metres (7,900 ft) and descending. In the next eight minutes, a series of radio exchanges took place between the aircraft and the Balice radar operator, with the captain repeatedly asking for his fix and reporting problems with the beacon signal, and the operator asking for the aircraft's position and altitude to help him find the aircraft on the radar screen. At 16:05, the aircraft was noted near Maków Podhalański, some 50 km past Krakow, at a height of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). The last transmission received from the airplane was, "Left turn to further...-" at 16:08.17. Seconds after that, radio contact was lost. The plane subsequently crashed on the northern slope of Polica mountain, near Zawoja, southern Poland, at an altitude of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).

Controversy

The official death toll of 53 remains controversial. The LOT manifest included 53 passengers and 5 crew members, but two days after the crash Polish press agencies published (based on LOT's information) 46 surnames (part of them without an address or name). Among the passengers were 49 Poles, 3 Americans, and a Briton.

The official accident report, published in 1970, blamed the accident on the captain becoming lost. No reasons were given as to why the aircraft, just before the crash, was flying at low altitude some 50 kilometres (31 mi) past its intended destination.

After the accident, the code 165 was still used by the airline. In 1978, the flight was hijacked by two women who were seeking political asylum in West Germany.

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Air Algérie Flight 702P</span> 1994 air crash in England

Air Algérie Flight 702P, named Oasis and registered 7T-VEE, was a Boeing 737 owned by Air Algérie and leased by Phoenix Aviation. On 21 December 1994, in low visibility conditions, it collided with power transmission cables and a pylon during its final approach to Coventry Airport in the United Kingdom. The aircraft subsequently overturned and damaged several houses before crashing inverted into a wooded area beyond. All five people on board were killed.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 2553</span> 1997 aviation accident

Austral Líneas Aéreas Flight 2553 was an Argentine domestic scheduled passenger flight from Posadas to Buenos Aires. On October 10, 1997, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 that was operating the flight crashed on the lands of Estancia Magallanes, Nuevo Berlín, 32 kilometres away from Fray Bentos, Uruguay. All 74 passengers and crew died upon impact. The accident remains the deadliest in Uruguayan history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Indian Airlines Flight 605</span> 1990 passenger aircraft landing crash in Bangalore, India

Indian Airlines Flight 605 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Bombay to Bangalore. On 14 February 1990, an Airbus A320-231 registered as VT-EPN, crashed onto a golf course while attempting to land at Bangalore, killing 92 of 146 people on board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">China Southern Airlines Flight 3456</span> 1997 passenger plane crash in Shenzhen, China

China Southern Airlines Flight 3456 (CZ3456/CSN3456) was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Chongqing Jiangbei International Airport to Shenzhen Huangtian Airport. On 8 May 1997, the Boeing 737 performing this route crashed during the second attempt to land in a thunderstorm. The flight number 3456 is still used by China Southern and for the Chongqing-Shenzhen route but now with the Airbus A320 family or Boeing 737 Next Generation aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Polica (mountain)</span>

Polica, locally known as Police, is a mountain, 1,369 m (4,491 ft), in southern Poland near Zawoja, in the Żywiec Beskids mountain range.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Turkish Airlines Flight 634</span> 2003 aviation accident

Turkish Airlines Flight 634 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Istanbul Atatürk Airport to Diyarbakır Airport in southeastern Turkey. On 8 January 2003 at 20:19 EET, the aircraft operating the flight, a British Aerospace Avro RJ100, struck the ground on final approach approximately 900 metres (3,000 ft) short of the runway threshold during inclement weather conditions. In the following collision with a slope, a post-crash fire broke out, killing 75 of the 80 occupants, including the entire crew. This is the deadliest aviation accident to involve the BAe 146.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Iberia Flight 610</span> Plane crash on 19 February 1985

Iberia Flight 610 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Madrid to Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. On 19 February 1985, a Boeing 727-200 operating the flight crashed into a ravine after one of its wings sliced a television antenna on the summit of Mount Oiz in Biscay during an approach to Bilbao Airport. All 141 passengers and 7 crew on board died. The crash is the deadliest aviation disaster in both the Basque Country and Iberia history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aviateca Flight 901</span> 1995 aviation accident in El Salvador

Aviateca Flight 901 was a scheduled international passenger flight which crashed into the 7,159-foot (2,182 m) San Vicente volcano in El Salvador on approach to the Comalapa International Airport on 9 August 1995. The accident killed all 65 passengers and crew on board and is the deadliest aviation disaster to occur in El Salvador. An investigation by the Civil Aviation Authority determined that pilot error and air traffic control error in bad weather contributed to the accident.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771</span> 2010 passenger plane crash in Tripoli, Libya

Afriqiyah Airways Flight 771 was a scheduled international Afriqiyah Airways passenger flight that crashed on 12 May 2010 at about 06:01 local time on approach to Tripoli International Airport, about 1,200 metres short of the runway. Of the 104 passengers and crew on board, 103 were killed. The sole survivor was a 9-year-old Dutch boy. The crash of Flight 771 was the third hull-loss of an Airbus A330 involving fatalities, occurring eleven months after the crash of Air France Flight 447.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dan-Air Flight 1903</span> 1970 aviation accident

Dan-Air Flight 1903 was an unscheduled international passenger service from Manchester to Barcelona, operated by Dan Air Services Limited under contract with British tour operator Clarksons Holidays, which arranged for the flight to carry a group of holidaymakers who had booked an all-inclusive package holiday with the operator.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aeroflot Flight 141</span> 1973 aviation accident

Aeroflot Flight 141 was an international flight from Moscow to Prague. On 19 February 1973, the Tupolev Tu-154 crashed 1.5 kilometres short of runway 25 of Prague Ruzyně Airport. Most of the passengers survived the crash, but many died in the fire that followed. Out of the 87 passengers and 13 crew members, 62 passengers and 4 crew members perished with 18 occupants having serious injuries and the remaining 16 with either minor or no injuries. The crash was the first loss of and first fatal accident involving the Tu-154.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aeroflot Flight 217</span> 1972 plane crash in Moscow, Russia

Aeroflot Flight 217 was a non-scheduled international passenger flight from Orly Airport in Paris to Sheremetyevo International Airport in Moscow, with a stopover at Shosseynaya Airport in Leningrad. On 13 October 1972, the Ilyushin Il-62 airliner operating the flight crashed on approach to Sheremetyevo, with the loss of all 164 passengers and crew of 10. At the time, it was the world's deadliest civil aviation disaster, until it was surpassed by the Kano air disaster in Nigeria in 1973. As of 2023, the crash of Flight 217 remains the second-deadliest accident involving an Il-62, after LOT Flight 5055, and the second-deadliest on Russian soil, after Aeroflot Flight 3352.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aeroflot Flight 3932</span> 1973 plane crash in the Soviet Union

Aeroflot Flight 3932 was a flight operated by Aeroflot from Koltsovo Airport to Omsk Tsentralny Airport. On 30 September 1973, the Tupolev Tu-104 operating the route crashed shortly after takeoff from Sverdlovsk, killing all 108 passengers and crew on board.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1951 LOT Li-2 Tuszyn air disaster</span>

The 1951 LOT Li-2 Tuszyn air disaster occurred on 15 November 1951 when a LOT Polish Airlines Lisunov Li-2 flew into power lines near Tuszyn, crashed and burst into flames. All 15 passengers and 3 crew died. It was the first LOT aircraft disaster since the end of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aeroflot Flight 721</span> 1964 aviation accident

Aeroflot Flight 721 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Moscow and Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk in the Russian SFSR. On Wednesday, 2 September 1964, the aircraft flying this route, an Ilyushin Il-18V, crashed into the side of a hill on approach to Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, killing 87 of the 93 people on board. At the time of the accident, it was the deadliest Il-18 crash and the deadliest aviation accident on Russian soil.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aeroflot Flight 109</span> 1973 plane crash caused by hijacker with bomb

Aeroflot Flight 109 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Moscow to Chita with stopovers in Chelyabinsk, Novosibirsk, and Irkutsk. On the final leg of the route on 18 May 1973 a terrorist hijacked the aircraft, demanding to be flown to China; the terrorist's bomb detonated in flight after he was shot by the air marshal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aeroflot Flight 2808</span> 1992 aviation accident

Aeroflot Flight 2808 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Mineralnye Vody to Ivanovo, both in Russia, with a stopover in Donetsk, Ukraine on 27 August 1992. While attempting to land at Ivanovo airport, the Tupolev Tu-134 crashed into a group of buildings in the village of Lebyazhy Lug. Investigators determined the cause of the accident was errors made by the crew and the air traffic controller. There were no fatalities on the ground, but all 84 people on board the flight died in the crash.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aeroflot Flight 5484</span> 1979 aviation accident

Aeroflot Flight 5484 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Odesa to Kazan with a stopover in Kyiv that experienced loss of control followed by breaking up in the air on 29 August 1979 over the Tambov Oblast, killing all 63 people on board. It remains the deadliest Tu-124 crash and regular passenger services with the Tu-124 were permanently suspended after the accident, but the Tu-124 was still used by the Soviet military after the accident.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Aeroflot Flight 1969</span> 1971 aviation accident

Aeroflot Flight 1969 was a passenger flight operated by an Antonov An-10 that crashed during the approach to Luhansk on 31 March 1971, resulting in the death of all 65 people on board. An investigation revealed that the Antonov's right wing failed structurally during approach to Luhansk International Airport.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Siberian Light Aviation Flight 42</span> 2021 aviation incident

Siberian Light Aviation Flight 42 was a domestic Russian scheduled passenger flight from Kedrovy to Tomsk, both in Tomsk Oblast in Siberia. On 16 July 2021, the Antonov An-28 operating the flight suffered icing in the engines leading to a dual engine failure 10 minutes into the flight and crash landed in a remote area in the Vasyugan Swamp in the Bakcharsky District. The pilot suffered a broken leg requiring surgery, but all of the remaining passengers and crew escaped with only minor injuries. An investigation ultimately concluded that the pilots of the aircraft had not activated the anti-icing system, which led to an accumulation of ice, resulting in engine failure. Initially praised as a hero for his handling of the incident, the captain of the flight was ultimately criminally charged for violating safety protocols, leading to the crash.

References

  1. Pałosz, Jerzy (10 June 1994), "Tragedia pod Zawoją (Tragedy near Zawoja)", Gazeta Krakowska , pp. 6–7
  2. Pałosz, Jerzy (11 June 1994), "Tragedia pod Zawoją (2) (Tragedy near Zawoja (2))", Gazeta Krakowska, p. 3
  3. "Aviation tragedy on Polica". Archived from the original on 20 October 2007. Retrieved 1 April 2008.(in Polish)