| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 2 April 1969 |
| Type | Bad weather and CFIT |
| Site | Near Zawoja, Poland |
| Passengers | 47 |
| Crew | 6 |
| Fatalities | 53 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft type | Antonov An-24W |
| Operator | LOT Polish Airlines |
| Tail number | SP-LTF |
| Flight origin | Warsaw |
| Destination | Cracow Balice airport |
LOT Polish Airlines Flight LO 165, operated by an Antonov An-24 aircraft, registration SP-LTF, en route from Warsaw to Cracow Balice airport crashed during a snowstorm on the northern slope of Polica mountain near Zawoja in southern Poland on 2 April 1969 at 16:08 local time (UTC+1), killing all 53 people (47 passengers and 6 crew) on board. There were three Americans and one London resident among the passengers, all others being Polish citizens.
The aircraft hit the mountain at an altitude of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).
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The official accident report, published in 1970, blamed the pilot for getting lost. No reasons were given why the aircraft, just before the crash, was flying at such a low altitude some 50 kilometres (31 mi) past its intended destination.
Information given below comes from two newspaper articles [1][2] published in 1994, with a summary written by a third party available on-line [3]. The journalist wrote that even 25 years after the accident, most of the documentation remained classified, so his main sources were interviews with participants in the rescue action and some members of the accident investigation commission who asked for anonymity.
The aircraft takes off at 15:20 local time for a 55 minute flight to Cracow's Balice airport. Capitain was Czewsław Doliński (with 20 years of flying in PLL LOT and more than two million kilometres of experience). At 15.49 the first officer receives a routine instruction: after passing Jędrzejów, less than 80 km north of the destination, descend to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) and get in touch with the Balice control tower (VOR in Jędrzejów is a border point of Warsaw/Krakow ATC centre). At that time a military radar registers the aircraft at 4,000 metres (13,000 ft). Pilots informed Okecie and Balice about time, when the plane passed Jędrzejów VOR, but given three circumscription: 15.52, 15.55 for Okecie and 15.49 for Balice. Pilots informed Balice also about time of passed next VOR - 15.53. Shortly before 16:00 the captain (who took over controls in the meantime) calls Balice, gives the altitude as 3,700 metres (12,100 ft), gets the local weather report and is instructed to descend to 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). At 16:01 the aircraft is at 2,400 metres (7,900 ft) and descending. In the next eight minutes a series of radio exchanges takes place between the aircraft and the Balice radar operator, with the captain repeatedly asking for the fix and reporting problems with the beacon signal, and the operator asking for the aircraft's position and altitude to help him to find the aircraft on the radar screen. At 16:05 the aircraft is near Maków Podhalański, some 50 km past the destination, at 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). The last message was: "Left turn to further..." - at 16.08.17. Seconds after that the radio contact is lost.
For today, the official death toll of 53 killed is controversial. LOT manifest included 53 passengers and 5 crew members, but two days after the crash Polish press agencies published (based on LOT's informations) 46 surnames (part of them without an address or name).
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