{"id":3149,"date":"2012-05-09T23:45:14","date_gmt":"2012-05-09T23:45:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/?p=3149"},"modified":"2012-05-09T23:45:14","modified_gmt":"2012-05-09T23:45:14","slug":"polands-worst-aviation-catastrophe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.transparent.com\/polish\/polands-worst-aviation-catastrophe\/","title":{"rendered":"Poland’s worst aviation catastrophe"},"content":{"rendered":"

The worst aviation disaster (najgorsza katastrofa lotnicza<\/strong>) 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.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

With maximum thrust applied to the engines so as to climb to 6000 metres, one engine exploded and a fire took hold.<\/p>\n

Captain Zygmunt Pawlaczyk resolved to turn back to Warsaw, but the fire (ogie\u0144<\/strong>) spread quicker than initially expected, causing a series of malfunctions (usterki<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Just 5700 metres from the Warsaw Airport runway, the plane nosedived, crashing into the Kabaty Forest.<\/p>\n

The captain managed to make a last announcement that was preserved in the black box.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoodnight! Goodbye! Bye! We’re dying!\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=iBtXOgNASXg<\/a><\/p>\n

Two days of national mourning (\u017ca\u0142oba krajowa<\/strong>) were declared.<\/p>\n

Polish investigators found that the Soviet Ilyushin II-62M plane, named by LOT after Polish 18th century hero Tadeusz Ko\u015bciuszko<\/strong>, had had a defective engine (uszkodzony silnik<\/strong>).<\/p>\n

Although improvements were subsequently implemented by LOT on the model, Poland was obliged to continue using Soviet planes.<\/p>\n

After the revolution of 1989, Poland began purchasing Boeings, and the last Ilyushins were sold off in 1991.<\/p>\n

Do nast<\/strong>\u0119pnego razu… <\/strong>(Till next time…)<\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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…<\/p>\n

Continue Reading<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"content-type":""},"categories":[3,10166],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3149","post","type-post","status-publish","hentry","category-culture","category-current-news"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t