LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007

Infobox Airliner accident
Crash

name=LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007
Date=March 14 1980
Type=Mechanical failure and loss of flight controls
Site=Warsaw, Poland
Fatalities=87 (passengers:77 crew:10)
Injuries=0
Aircraft Type=Ilyushin Il-62
Origin=John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York (JFK/KJFK)
Destination=Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport, Poland (WAW/EPWA)
Operator=LOT Polish Airlines
Tail Number=SP-LAA
Passengers=77
Crew=10
Survivors=0

LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 crashed near Okęcie Airport in Warsaw, Poland. The aircraft was an Ilyushin Il-62 named after Copernicus and was the first Ilyushin-Il62 in Polish airlines (produced in 1971, 16 April 1972 was the first transatlantic flight from Warsaw-New York) The probable cause of the crash was metal fatigue inside the number 2 engine.

On March 14, 1980 about 11.13 a.m., LOT flight 007, en route from New York to Warsaw crashed in the vicinity of Warsaw's airport. While approaching the runway, the pilot reported landing gear problems and proceeded to attempt a go-around procedure. However, when the necessary thrust was commanded from the number 2 engine, it disintegrated. Debris from the engine severed the rudder and elevator control lines and destroyed the number 1 and 3 engines, causing loss of control and an uncontrolled descent. The aircraft impacted the ground at a 20 degree angle 950 m away from the runway threshold (100 m from Aleja Krakowska and near houses in a residential area). At the last moment pilot Pawel Lipowczan avoided hitting a hospice for schoolchildren located at Rozwojowa street.

The crash occurred 15 seconds before planned landing. All 87 people on board including 10 crew members were killed.

Among the fatalities was Polish singer Anna Jantar, American ethnomusicologist Alan P. Merriam and the entire amateur US boxing team. The pilot of the doomed aircraft, Paweł Lipowczan, avoided hitting residential districts, and a street in Warsaw is named in his honor.

ee also

*List of notable accidents and incidents on commercial aircraft

External links

* [http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19800314-1 ASN Aircraft accident description]

* [http://www.planecrashinfo.com/w19800314.htm Planecrashinfo.com photo and report]
* "Cześć! Giniemy... - The worst disasters in post-war Poland" and other polish sources translate to english