LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055: Difference between revisions
mNo edit summary |
→Emergency: CVR translation - corrected obvious errors & some tweaking |
||
| Line 39: | Line 39: | ||
Many people believed at the time that the officials decided the airliner must not land at a military airport and (contrary to official reports) denied the crew's request to land at Modlin. While it is plausible, no conclusive evidence supporting this theory was ever presented. |
Many people believed at the time that the officials decided the airliner must not land at a military airport and (contrary to official reports) denied the crew's request to land at Modlin. While it is plausible, no conclusive evidence supporting this theory was ever presented. |
||
'''CVR fragment - moment of engine explosion''' |
'''CVR fragment - the moment of engine explosion''' |
||
'''10.41.28''' |
'''10.41.28''' |
||
'' |
''Intermittent acoustic signal of autopilot disengage'' |
||
'''10.41.30''' |
'''10.41.30''' |
||
'''Crew:''' Hey! |
'''Crew:''' Hey! Pressurization! |
||
'''10.41.32''' |
'''10.41.32''' |
||
''Acoustic signal of decompression |
''Acoustic ringing signal of cabin decompression'' |
||
'''10.41.34''' |
'''10.41.34''' |
||
'''Crew:''' |
'''Crew:''' Is [there a] fire? What's going on? |
||
'''10.41.35''' |
'''10.41.35''' |
||
'''Crew:''' |
'''Crew:''' Probably a fire. |
||
'''10.41.37''' |
'''10.41.37''' |
||
'''Crew:''' Engine? Shut |
'''Crew:''' Engine? Shut it down! |
||
'''10.41.39''' |
'''10.41.39''' |
||
'''Crew:''' ...shut |
'''Crew:''' ...shut down. That first one is burning! |
||
'''10.41.42''' |
'''10.41.42''' |
||
| Line 75: | Line 75: | ||
'''10.41.44''' |
'''10.41.44''' |
||
'''Crew:''' ...all small |
'''Crew:''' ...all small [referring to engines' throttles] |
||
'''10.41.45''' |
'''10.41.45''' |
||
| Line 87: | Line 87: | ||
'''10.41.48''' |
'''10.41.48''' |
||
'''Crew:''' Two engines |
'''Crew:''' Two engines are gone! |
||
'''10.41.49''' |
'''10.41.49''' |
||
'' |
''Continuous acoustic signal of engine fire.'' |
||
'''10.41.50''' |
'''10.41.50''' |
||
'''Crew:''' Two engines |
'''Crew:''' Two engines are gone! |
||
'''Crew:''' Shut |
'''Crew:''' Shut down... |
||
'''Crew:''' We're |
'''Crew:''' We're turning around! Fire! |
||
'''10.41.55''' |
'''10.41.55''' |
||
'''Crew:''' Danger!!! Warsaw radar LOT! Warsaw radar! |
'''Crew:''' Danger!!! Warsaw radar LOT! Warsaw radar! [calling flight control] |
||
== Crash == |
== Crash == |
||
Revision as of 20:17, 10 September 2009
 |
 | This article needs additional citations for verification. (July 2009) |
 | This article includes a list of references, related reading, or external links, but its sources remain unclear because it lacks inline citations. (July 2009) |
 Memorial to crash victims | |
| Accident | |
|---|---|
| Date | May 9, 1987 |
| Summary | engine failure and loss of flight controls |
| Site | Warsaw, Poland |
| Aircraft type | Ilyushin Il-62M |
| Operator | LOT Polish Airlines |
| Registration | SP-LBG |
| Flight origin | Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport, Poland (WAW/EPWA) |
| Destination | John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York (JFK/KJFK) |
| Passengers | 172 |
| Crew | 11 |
| Fatalities | 183 |
| Injuries | 0 |
| Survivors | 0 |
LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055 crashed in the Kabaty Woods nature reserve on the outskirts of Warsaw on May 9, 1987. The aircraft involved was an Ilyushin Il-62M which bore the name, Tadeusz Kościuszko. According to the Polish investigatory commission, the cause of the crash was the disintegration of an engine shaft due to faulty bearings inside the number 2 engine, which seized, causing extensive heat. This in turn caused the consequent damage to engine number 1 (and its fire), rapid decompression of the hull, a fire in the cargo hold (which was not detected due to a damaged fire alarm system sensor), as well as the loss of elevator controls and progressive electrical failure.
The cause of incident was similar to that of LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007's crash seven years earlier. After the disaster of Flight 007, the Polish investigatory commission established that its engine shaft disintegration was the result of metal fatigue, improper alloy preparation resulting in a defective mechanism which was less resistant to fatigue, and a faulty design of the engine shaft. These concerns were addressed by the Polish Government's Special Disasters Commission in the 1980 inquiry, but the Russian designers, engineers and scientists disagreed with these findings, stating that the turbine disintegration was the result of engine failure, not its cause. After Flight 5055's demise, a similar report was sent to Moscow, and once again it was denied. Soon after the crash, LOT Polish Airlines started purchasing Boeing 767s for their transatlantic destinations. The last Polish Il-62 was sold to Ukraine in late 1991.
Flight and crew
The chartered plane to New York City took off from runway 33 at Okecie Airport at 10:18 am. The pilots were cleared to climb to 31,000 feet with a course set to Grudziadz VOR, which was reached at 26,500 feet.
The Captain was Zygmunt Pawlaczyk, 59, with 19745 hours in the air (5542 on Ilyushin-62s, and a captain from 11 May 1978). The first officer was Leopold Karcher, the flight engineer was Wojciech Kłossek, flight navigator was Lesław Łykowski, radio operator was Leszek Bogdan and Ryszard Chmielewski an instructor of flight engineers on a routine observation of the progress of Wojciech Kłossek. The chief stewardess was Maria Berger-Sanderska with: Hanna Chęcińska (who was in the technical cabin-bay, next to the engines, and probably — after decompression — lost consciousness and burned in the fire or was sucked out of a plane; her body was never found), Małgorzata Ostrowska, Beata Płonka and Jolanta Potyra.
Emergency
An Engine exploded and stayed on fire at 10.41 a.m., when the plane had just passed Lipniki village, near Warlubie (near Grudziadz City, at 8,200 m and 810 km/h). The exploded turbine disc explosively disintegrated onto engine two and engine one - next to it. A piece of debris burst into cargo hold number 4 and caused a rapidly spreading fire.
Immediately, the crew noticed that the elevator control systems failed — only vertical trim remained operative. The pilots started an emergency descent to 13,200 ft. The closest airport where Il-62 might land was Gdańsk airport, but landing there was not possible because the crew could not dump enough fuel for emergency landing attempt, so they turned their heading to Warsaw instead. Due to the damaged electrical system, the crew had problems with fuel dumping and they didn't realise that the fire spread to the cargo holds in the back of the plane (cargo hold 4 and 6, and in final minutes probably reached into passenger cabin). First, crew decided to land at the military airport in Modlin, but — in final moment — they decided to continue the flight to Okecie (there was a better fire and medical equipment). Many people believed at the time that the officials decided the airliner must not land at a military airport and (contrary to official reports) denied the crew's request to land at Modlin. While it is plausible, no conclusive evidence supporting this theory was ever presented.
CVR fragment - the moment of engine explosion
10.41.28
Intermittent acoustic signal of autopilot disengage
10.41.30
Crew: Hey! Pressurization!
10.41.32
Acoustic ringing signal of cabin decompression
10.41.34
Crew: Is [there a] fire? What's going on?
10.41.35
Crew: Probably a fire.
10.41.37
Crew: Engine? Shut it down!
10.41.39
Crew: ...shut down. That first one is burning!
10.41.42
Crew: ...fire...
10.41.44
Crew: ...all small [referring to engines' throttles]
10.41.45
Crew: Warsaw?
10.41.46
Crew: ...all small. Decompression.
10.41.48
Crew: Two engines are gone!
10.41.49
Continuous acoustic signal of engine fire.
10.41.50
Crew: Two engines are gone!
Crew: Shut down...
Crew: We're turning around! Fire!
10.41.55
Crew: Danger!!! Warsaw radar LOT! Warsaw radar! [calling flight control]
Crash
The crew tried to land there from the south (due to strong wind) and turned the plane 180 degrees to runway 33 but a rapidly spreading in-flight fire, which spread to the exterior of the plane (plane was trailing a huge flame and with black smoke), caused a total failure of surviving flight controls, the plane trim. A very straight turn to the left was started at 11.09 at 4900 ft with an airspeed of 480 km/h. When aircraft passed the town of Piaseczno, it went into sinusoid-shaped flight for the final seconds and nose-dived with a slight 11 degrees left bank and 12 degree pitch downwards, crashed into the ground at 480 km/h and exploded into pieces in the forest 6 kilometers from the Warsaw airport. The last words recorded by the flight recorder inside the cockpit at 11:12:13 were: "Cześć! Giniemy!" (eng. Bye! We're dying!). On board the fatal plane were 172 passengers (17 were from the United States) and 11 crew; all died.
Last words
11.09.47 am
Okecie Tower: From your current position, you have about 15 kilometers to runway.
Crew: Understood.
Crew: ...left! Engines to the left!
11.10.13 am
Tower: 5055, to the left, to left zero-five-zero.
Crew: OK.
11.10.40 am
Tower: 50-55, turn to the left, course 360.
Crew: We want turn, we want just...
Tower: Turn, turn to three-six-zero. Now you have about 12 kilometers to runway.
Crew: OK.
11.11.02 am
Tower: 5055, turn to the left, course 330.
Crew: We are turning to the left.
Tower: Start final approach about 11 kilometers from runway.
Crew: We will do all we can do.
Tower: Understood.
Tower: Turn to the left, course 320.
Crew: Understood.
11.11.34 am
Tower: You came on the right side of the runway centreline, continue left, course 300.
Tower: Wind is 290 degrees, 22 kilometers per hour. You are cleared for runway three-three.
Crew: OK.
11.12.10 am
Fourfold disconnect of radiostation on board the plane. Fragment of unintelligible sentences.
11.12.13 am
Crew: Goodnight!!! Goodbye!!! (scream) Bye!!! We are dying!!
Today
After the crash, the place where the plane came down and exploded was - during three months of cleanup - ploughed and sown with new trees. But - even today - the long mark in the forest is perfectly visible from the sky.
On the north edge of that mark is a monument - high, black christian cross and a black stone with engraved names of 183 victims of that crash. In Ursynów district there is a Zygmunt Pawlaczyk street and through Kabaty Forest run a Grove of "Kościuszko" Plane Crew.
Symbolic graves of the crew members are on Powązki Cemetery and a massive grave of unidentified victims are in Wólka Węglowa Cemetery - place, where identification of victims proceeded.
Transatlantic route from Warsaw to destinations in the USA did not change since 1987. Every time a plane departing from Warsaw passes Lipniki village, its crew honors the memory of their perished colleagues by a minute of silence.
See also
External links
- Articles needing cleanup from January 2009
- Cleanup tagged articles without a reason field from January 2009
- Wikipedia pages needing cleanup from January 2009
- LOT Polish Airlines
- Airliner accidents and incidents caused by mechanical failure
- In-flight airliner fires
- Aviation accidents and incidents in Poland
- Aviation accidents and incidents in 1987
- History of Warsaw