LOT Flight 7
SP-LAA, the aircraft involved in the accident, on the apron at John F. Kennedy International Airport in 1979.
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| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 14 March 1980 |
| Summary | Uncontained engine failure, loss of flight controls |
| Site | Warsaw, Poland |
| Passengers | 77 |
| Crew | 10 |
| Fatalities | 87 (all) |
| Injuries (non-fatal) | 0 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft type | Ilyushin Il-62 |
| Aircraft name | Mikołaj Kopernik |
| Operator | LOT Polish Airlines |
| Registration | SP-LAA |
| Flight origin | John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York (JFK/KJFK) |
| Destination | Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport, Poland (WAW/EPWA) |
LOT Flight 7 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 disintegration of one of the turbine discs in one of the plane's engines, leading to uncontained engine failure. The turbine disc was later found to have manufacturing faults.
LOT initiated their transatlantic routes in the early 1970s, for which it decided to purchase Ilyushin Il-62. The aircraft which crashed was the first Il-62 that LOT had purchased for this purpose, manufactured in 1971. As with all Ilyushins purchased, it was named after a famous Polish historical figure, in this case Nicolaus Copernicus ("Mikołaj Kopernik" in Polish).
On its final flight, the aircraft was piloted by Captain Paweł Lipowczan and First Officer Tadeusz Łochocki. Flight 007 was scheduled to depart from Kennedy International Airport at about 19:00 local time on 13 March 1980, but it was delayed because of a heavy snowstorm. It finally departed at 21:18, and after nine hours of an uneventful flight, it was approaching Okęcie Airport at 11:13 local time. During their final approach, about one minute before the landing, the crew reported to Okęcie Air Traffic Control that the landing gear indicator light was not operating, and that they would go-around and allow the flight engineer to check if it was caused by a burnt-out fuse or light bulb, or if there was actually some problem with the gears deploying.
(11:13:46) Okęcie Air Traffic Control: LOT 007, 5 degrees to the right.
(11:13:52) Okęcie ATC: LOT 007?
(11:13:54) LOT: Roger that... One moment, we have some problems with landing-gear-down-and-locked indicator, request a go-around.
(11:13:57) Okęcie ATC: Roger, runway heading and altitude 650 meters. [At that moment, "Kopernik" was at an altitude of 250 metres.]
(11:14:00) LOT: Runway heading and 650.
This was the last transmission from "Kopernik". Nine seconds later, the aircraft suddenly entered a steep dive. At 11:14:35, after 26 seconds of uncontrolled descent, the aircraft clipped a tree with its right wing and impacted the ice-covered moat of a 19th-century military fortress with the speed of about 380 km/h (238 mph) at a 20-degree down angle, 950 meters away from the runway threshold and 100 meters from a residential area. At the last moment Captain Paweł Lipowczan, using nothing but the plane's ailerons, managed to avoid hitting a correctional facility for teenagers located at Rozwojowa street. On impact, the aircraft disintegrated; a large part of the main hull submerged in the moat, while the tail and parts of the main landing gear landed a few meters further, just before the entrance to the fort. On the scene, a diving team was later trying to recover parts of the aircraft (including some of the engines) from the moat, but it was far too murky; ultimately, the moat had to be drained to allow the air crash investigation team to recover parts of the disintegrated plane. The body of Captain Lipowczan was found lying on the street about sixty meters from the crash site; other bodies were scattered between the plane parts.
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Wikipedia