LOT Polish Airlines Flight LO 165 was an
Antonov An-24
The Antonov An-24 (Russian/Ukrainian: Антонов Ан-24) (NATO reporting name: Coke) is a 44-seat twin turboprop transport/passenger aircraft designed in 1957 in the Soviet Union by the Antonov Design Bureau and manufactured by Kyiv, Irku ...
aircraft, registration SP-LTF, operating a scheduled
passenger flight
An airline is a company that provides air transport services for traveling passengers and freight. Airlines use aircraft to supply these services and may form partnerships or alliances with other airlines for codeshare agreements, in which ...
from
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 ...
to
Krakow Balice airport. It crashed into a mountain on 2 April 1969 at 16:08 local time (UTC+1) during a
snowstorm
A winter storm is an event in which wind coincides with varieties of precipitation that only occur at freezing temperatures, such as snow, Rain and snow mixed, mixed snow and rain, or freezing rain. In temperate continental climates, these sto ...
. All 53 people (47 passengers and 6 crew) on board were killed.
Flight history
Introduction
Much of the known information about the accident comes from two newspaper articles
published in 1994.
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
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
was Czesław Doliński.
At 15.49, the
first officer received instructions to descend to and get in touch with Balice
control tower
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 airsp ...
after passing
Jędrzejów, less than 80 km north of Krakow. A military radar registered the aircraft at that time at 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. Shortly thereafter and before 16:00, the captain (who by then had taken over control) called Balice, gave his altitude as , received the local weather report, and then was instructed to descend to .
At 16:01, the aircraft was recorded at 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
Maków Podhalański (known as ''Maków'' until 1930) is a town in southern Poland, on the Skawa
Skawa (german: Schaue) is a river in southern Poland, a right tributary of the Vistula. It originates in the Western Carpathians (Beskids), is lon ...
, some 50 km past Krakow, at a height of . 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
Zawoja is a village in southern Poland located close to Maków Podhalański. It is situated in Sucha County ( Lesser Poland Voivodeship). With neighbouring village of Skawica it constitutes a rural Zawoja Commune. It has 6,200 inhabitants (200 ...
, southern
Poland
Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populous ...
, at an altitude of .
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
Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...
becoming lost. No reasons were given as to why the aircraft, just before the crash, was flying at low altitude some 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 are seeking political asylum in West Germany.
See also
*
List of Poland disasters by death toll
*
LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007
LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 was an Ilyushin Il-62 that crashed near Okęcie Airport in Warsaw, Poland, on 14 March 1980, as the crew aborted a landing and attempted to go-around. All 87 crew and passengers died. It was caused by the disintegr ...
*
LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055
LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055 was a scheduled international passenger flight from Warsaw, People's Republic of Poland, Poland, to New York City, United States. In the late-morning hours of 9 May 1987, the Ilyushin Il-62, Ilyushin Il-62M operati ...
*
LOT Polish Airlines Flight 703
LOT Polish Airlines Flight 703 was a plane that crash-landed about north of Rogóżno railway station, on 2 November 1988. In the accident one person was killed and several were seriously injured.
Flight
The plane, an Antonov An-24W, reg ...
References
External links
*
{{Aviation accidents and incidents in 1969
Aviation accidents and incidents in 1969
1969 in Poland
165
Aviation accidents and incidents in Poland
Accidents and incidents involving the Antonov An-24
Airliner accidents and incidents caused by weather
Airliner accidents and incidents involving controlled flight into terrain
April 1969 events in Europe
1969 disasters in Poland