LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007

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LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007
Summary
Date March 14, 1980
Type Mechanical failure and loss of flight controls
Site Warsaw, Poland
Passengers 77
Crew 10
Injuries 0
Fatalities 87 (passengers:77 crew:10)
Survivors 0
Aircraft type Ilyushin Il-62
Operator LOT Polish Airlines
Tail number SP-LAA
Flight origin John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York (JFK/KJFK)
Destination Warsaw Frederic Chopin Airport, Poland (WAW/EPWA)

LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 crashed near Okęcie Airport in Warsaw. The aircraft was an Ilyushin Il-62 named after Copernicus and was the first Ilyushin-62 in Polish airlines (production: 1971, 16 April 1972 - first transatlantic flight Warsaw-New York) The probable cause of the crash was metal fatigue inside the no. 2 engine.

On March 14, 1980 about 11.13 a.m., LOT flight 007, en route from New York to Warsaw crashed in the vicinity of Warsaw's airport. While approaching the runway, the cockpit reported landing gear problems and proceeded to attempt an overshoot procedure. However, when the necessary thrust was implemented to the no. 2 engine, it disintegrated. Debris from that engine severed the rudder and elevator control lines and destroyed engine nr 1 and 3, causing loss of control and an uncontrolled descent. The aircraft impacted the ground at a 20 degree angle 950 m away from the runway threshold (100 m from Aleja Krakowska and near houses in residential area; pilot Pawel Lipowczan in last time avoid hitting into hospice for schoolkids located at Rozwojowa street), 15 seconds before planned landing - on final approach - ending the flight catastrophically. All 87 people on board including 10 crew members were killed.

Among the fatalities was Polish singer Anna Jantar, American ethnomusicologist Alan P. Merriam and the entire amateur US boxing team. The pilot of the doomed aircraft, Paweł Lipowczan, avoided hitting residential districts, and a street in Warsaw is named in his honor.

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