LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 (1969)

LOT Polish Airlines

Industry	Airline
Founded	January 1, 1929 (1929-01-01)
Headquarters	Warsaw , Poland
Products	Air transport services

This article is about the 1969 crash. For the 1978 hijacking, see LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 (1978).

LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 was operated by an Antonov An-24 with registration SP-LTF, conducting a regular passenger service from Warsaw to Krakow Balice airport. On 2 April 1969 at 16:08 local time (UTC+1), the aircraft collided with mountainous terrain amid a snowstorm. All 53 individuals aboard lost their lives.

Overview

The majority of details about this accident derive from two newspaper reports published in 1994. According to the author, even a quarter-century later, much of the official documentation remained classified. The available accounts were primarily sourced from rescue personnel and certain members of the investigation team who preferred to remain unnamed.

Flight details

The flight departed at 15:20 local time for an estimated duration of 55 minutes en route to Krakow Balice Airport. The pilot in command was Captain Czesław Doliński.

At approximately 15:49, the first officer received clearance to descend to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) and to establish contact with Balice control tower after passing the Jędrzejów waypoint, situated less than 80 kilometers north of Krakow. Military radar tracked the plane at about 4,000 metres (13,000 ft) altitude during this period. The crew informed controllers at Okęcie and Balice upon crossing Jędrzejów VOR but created confusion by reporting three different crossing times within a few minutes.Template:Fix/category Shortly before 16:00, with the captain having resumed control, a radio call was made to Balice indicating an altitude of 3,700 metres (12,100 ft); after receiving the local weather update, the aircraft was instructed to descend further to 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).

By 16:01, radar showed the aircraft descending through 2,400 metres (7,900 ft). Over the next eight minutes, multiple radio communications occurred between the flight crew and Balice radar operator. The captain repeatedly requested position fixes and reported issues with beacon signals, while the radar operator asked for precise position and altitude data to assist in locating the aircraft on radar displays. At 16:05, the plane was detected near Maków Podhalański, approximately 50 kilometers beyond Krakow, flying at around 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) altitude. The final message received from Flight 165 was "Left turn to further...-" transmitted at 16:08:17. Moments later, radio contact ceased. The aircraft subsequently impacted the northern slope of Polica mountain, close to Zawoja in southern Poland, at roughly 1,200 metres (3,900 ft) elevation.

Controversy

The officially reported death count of 53 has been subject to dispute. The LOT manifest listed 53 passengers along with 5 crew members; however, two days following the crash, Polish media outlets released a list of 46 surnames based on information from LOT, some entries lacking full names or addresses. Among those on board were 49 Polish nationals, 3 Americans, and one British citizen.

The formal accident investigation report released in 1970 attributed the cause to the pilot losing his way. The report did not clarify why the aircraft was flying at a low altitude approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) beyond its planned destination shortly before the crash.

Following the incident, the airline continued to use the flight number 165. In 1978, the flight was hijacked by two women seeking political asylum in West Germany.

See also

• List of Poland disasters by death toll
• LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007
• LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055
• LOT Polish Airlines Flight 703

External links

• Template:ASN accident