LOT Polish Airlines Flight 16 was a

Boeing 767 The Boeing 767 is an American wide-body aircraft developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. The aircraft was launched as the 7X7 program on July 14, 1978, the prototype first flew on September 26, 1981, and it was certified on ...

passenger jet on a scheduled service from

Newark Newark most commonly refers to: * Newark, New Jersey, city in the United States * Newark Liberty International Airport, New Jersey; a major air hub in the New York metropolitan area Newark may also refer to: Places Canada * Niagara-on-the ...

, United States, to

Warsaw Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...

, Poland, that on 1 November 2011 made a successful gear-up

emergency landing An emergency landing is a premature landing made by an aircraft in response to an emergency involving an imminent or ongoing threat to the safety and operation of the aircraft, or involving a sudden need for a passenger or crew on board to term ...

Warsaw Chopin Airport Warsaw Chopin Airport ( pl, Lotnisko Chopina w Warszawie, ) is an international airport in the Włochy district of Warsaw, Poland. It is Poland's busiest airport with 18.9 million passengers in 2019, thus handling approximately 40% of th ...

, after its landing gear failed to extend. All 231 aboard survived without serious injuries. A leak in one of the aircraft's

hydraulic system Hydraulics (from Greek language, Greek: Υδραυλική) is a technology and applied science using engineering, chemistry, and other sciences involving the mechanical properties and use of liquids. At a very basic level, hydraulics is th ...

s occurred shortly after takeoff, resulting in the loss of all of the hydraulic fluid supplying the primary landing gear system.

History of the flight

LOT Polish Airlines LOT Polish Airlines, legally incorporated as Polskie Linie Lotnicze LOT S.A. (, ''flight''), is the flag carrier of Poland. Established in 1928, LOT was a founding member of IATA and remains one of the world's oldest airlines in operation. Wit ...

Flight 16 was scheduled to arrive at

from

Newark Liberty International Airport Newark Liberty International Airport , originally Newark Metropolitan Airport and later Newark International Airport, is an international airport straddling the boundary between the cities of Newark in Essex County and Elizabeth in Union Count ...

on 1 November 2011 at 13:35

CET CET or cet may refer to: Places * Cet, Albania * Cet, standard astronomical abbreviation for the constellation Cetus * Colchester Town railway station (National Rail code CET), in Colchester, England Arts, entertainment, and media * Comcast Ente ...

with 220 passengers and 11 crew on board. The aircraft operating the service was a Boeing 767-35DER, registered SP-LPC, named ''

Poznań Poznań () is a city on the River Warta in west-central Poland, within the Greater Poland region. The city is an important cultural and business centre, and one of Poland's most populous regions with many regional customs such as Saint John ...

'', serial number 28656. It was first delivered to LOT in 1997. Within 30 minutes of departing from Newark, the crew received a warning that the center hydraulic system had malfunctioned. The decision was made to continue to Warsaw in order to use up the heavy load of fuel needed for the transatlantic flight. The aircraft proceeded to approach as normal, but aborted when the

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...

failed to deploy. The crew informed

air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

(ATC) that they were unable to lower the landing gear due to a hydraulic system failure. The captain decided to circle the airport for over an hour, to consume excess fuel and to allow time for ground emergency services to prepare for the landing. Visual observation by two

Polish Air Force The Polish Air Force ( pl, Siły Powietrzne, , Air Forces) is the aerial warfare branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 16,425 mil ...

F-16 The General Dynamics F-16 Fighting Falcon is a single-engine Multirole combat aircraft, multirole fighter aircraft originally developed by General Dynamics for the United States Air Force (USAF). Designed as an air superiority day fighter, it ...

fighter jets verified that none of the landing gear were down; attempts to lower the landing gear by alternative means failed.

Preparation for landing

The airport was evacuated for the arrival of the aircraft, and roads around the airport were closed to accommodate emergency services. Other flights which were due into Warsaw were diverted or returned to their point of departure. At 14:40 CET the crew made a successful gear-up landing on Runway 33, with no injuries to anyone. The aircraft however, sustained substantial damage, resulting in a hull loss. All of those on board were evacuated within 90 seconds. The airport remained closed to traffic until 16:00 CET, 3 November 2011, to enable removal of crash debris and then a final inspection of runways and aprons. Shortly after the evacuation, a team from the Polish

State Commission on Aircraft Accidents Investigation The State Commission on Aircraft Accidents Investigation (SCAAI, pl, Państwowa Komisja Badania Wypadków Lotniczych, ''PKBWL'') is the civil air accident investigation agency of Poland and a division of the Ministry of Infrastructure. The agency ...

(SCAAI) discovered that the C829

circuit breaker A circuit breaker is an electrical safety device designed to protect an electrical circuit from damage caused by an overcurrent or short circuit. Its basic function is to interrupt current flow to protect equipment and to prevent the risk ...

, which protects a number of systems including the alternate landing gear extension system, was "popped", or opened, interrupting the circuit. The C4248 breaker for the alternate landing gear system remained closed. After the plane was lifted off the runway, the C829 circuit breaker was closed, and the landing gear was extended using the alternate system. The plane was then towed to the LOT maintenance hangar for further investigation.

Flight crew

The captain of Flight 16 was Tadeusz Wrona, a 57-year-old veteran pilot with twenty years of experience on the 767. Both the captain and 51-year-old first officer Jerzy Szwarc held

Airline Transport Pilot License The airline transport pilot license (ATPL), or in the United States of America, an airline transport pilot (ATP) certificate is the highest level of aircraft pilot certificate. In the United States, those certified as airline transport pilots ...

s, accumulating over 25,000 hours of flying time between them, of which 15,000 were on 767 aircraft.

Investigation

The preliminary report by the SCAAI found that a hydraulic leak occurred shortly after takeoff, after the

and flaps were retracted. /www.transport.gov.pl/files/0/30680/20111400RWenglish.pdf Preliminary report 30 November 2011 The leak was caused by excessive bending of a flexible hose in the center hydraulic system, resulting in the loss of all fluid in that system. The drop in pressure was indicated by the

EICAS An engine-indicating and crew-alerting system (EICAS) is an integrated system used in modern aircraft to provide aircraft flight crew with instrumentation and crew annunciations for aircraft engines and other systems. On EICAS equipped aircraft th ...

and recorded by the

flight data recorder A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. The device may often be referred to as a "black box", an outdated name which has b ...

. Later investigation indicated a popped circuit breaker just to the right of the F/O at floor level would have enabled the electric motor for releasing the undercarriage. The breaker was reset after landing and the undercarriage extended normally. The final report of the accident was released in 2017. The causes of the accident were the center hydraulic hose leak, the C829 circuit breaker popping, and the flight crew's failure to detect the C829 breaker during the approach, which could have allowed them to lower the landing gear. Contributing factors were the lack of safeguards to prevent accidental opening of circuit breakers, the C829 circuit breaker being in a low position where the flight crew would have difficulty noticing its condition, LOT's operations center inadequate procedures, and LOT's failure to incorporate a Boeing service bulletin on the prevention of excessive bending in the hydraulic system hose.

Aftermath

Polish President

Bronisław Komorowski Bronisław Maria Komorowski (; born 4 June 1952) is a Polish politician and historian who served as President of Poland from 2010 to 2015. Komorowski served as Minister of Defence from 2000 to 2001. As Marshal of the Sejm, Komorowski exercised ...

praised and thanked the crew for the successful landing. The Boeing 767, registration SP-LPC, was extensively damaged and LOT deemed the aircraft a hull loss. The accident represents the 14th

hull loss A hull loss is an aviation accident that catastrophically damages the aircraft beyond economical repair, resulting in a total loss. The term also applies to situations in which the aircraft is missing, the search for their wreckage is terminated ...

of a Boeing 767. In November 2013, two years after the incident, the aircraft was scrapped. As of August 2022, the flight was operated by the

Boeing 787 The Boeing 787 Dreamliner is an American wide-body jet airliner developed and manufactured by Boeing Commercial Airplanes. After dropping its unconventional Sonic Cruiser project, Boeing announced the conventional 7E7 on January 29, 2003, ...

. LOT ended its Boeing 767 services by 2013, replacing them with the Boeing 787.

References

External links

:
Lata 2010–2012

Drugie Oświadczenie Tymczasowe Państwowej Komisji Badania Wypadków Lotniczych dotyczące badania wypadku lotniczego nr 1400/2011
– 31 October 2013
Archive

Second Interim Statement of the State Commission on Aircraft Accident Investigation on investigation into air accident No 1400/2011
– 31 October 2013
Archive
** tp://193.23.63.158/Komisja/archiwum/20111400InterimStatementAccidentNo14002011B767SPLPC.pdf Interim Statement** tp://193.23.63.158/Komisja/archiwum/20111400OwiadczenieTymczasowe14002011B767SPLPC.pdf Interim Statement
Preliminary Report

Archive

Preliminary Report

Archive

Final report

Alternate

Final report
– the Polish version is the report of record
Accident: LOT B763 at Warsaw on Nov 1st 2011, forced gear up landing

Aviation Safety Net database entry for Aircraft accident Boeing 767-35DER SP-LPC Warszawa-Frédéric Chopin Airport (WAW)
(contains copy of final accident report) * {{Portal bar, Aviation, Poland 2011 in Poland 16 Airliner accidents and incidents caused by mechanical failure Accidents and incidents involving the Boeing 767 Aviation accidents and incidents in Poland Aviation accidents and incidents in 2011 Airliner accidents and incidents involving belly landings 2010s in Warsaw November 2011 events in Europe Airliner accidents and incidents caused by pilot error 2011 disasters in Poland