The worst aviation disaster (najgorsza katastrofa lotnicza) in Polish history took place 25 years ago today, when 183 people died after a flight from Warsaw to New York crashed in Kabaty forest to the south of Warsaw.

LOT Polish Airlines 5055 flight from Warsaw’s Okecie airport took off at 10.18 am on 9 May 1987, but problems emerged within half an hour of being airborne.

With maximum thrust applied to the engines so as to climb to 6000 metres, one engine exploded and a fire took hold.

Captain Zygmunt Pawlaczyk resolved to turn back to Warsaw, but the fire (ogień) spread quicker than initially expected, causing a series of malfunctions (usterki).

Just 5700 metres from the Warsaw Airport runway, the plane nosedived, crashing into the Kabaty Forest.

The captain managed to make a last announcement that was preserved in the black box.

“Goodnight! Goodbye! Bye! We’re dying!”

Owing to the severity of the crash, 62 of the 183 bodies were never positively identified. The victims included 166 Polish citizens and 17 Americans.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iBtXOgNASXg

Two days of national mourning (żałoba krajowa) were declared.

Polish investigators found that the Soviet Ilyushin II-62M plane, named by LOT after Polish 18th century hero Tadeusz Kościuszko, had had a defective engine (uszkodzony silnik).

Although improvements were subsequently implemented by LOT on the model, Poland was obliged to continue using Soviet planes.

After the revolution of 1989, Poland began purchasing Boeings, and the last Ilyushins were sold off in 1991.

Do następnego razu… (Till next time…)