Part 103: Poland

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This plane crash takes us to the European country of Poland, which is located next to the following countries: Germany, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Ukraine, Belarus, Lithuania and Russia.

WARNINGS OF A PLANE CRASH

  Pictured above is the accident aircraft, photographed in October 1986

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Pictured above is the accident aircraft, photographed in October 1986.

LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055, registered as Sierra Alpha- Lima Bravo Golf (SA-LBG), was a scheduled international passenger flight from Warsaw Chopin Airport (IATA: WAW, ICAO: EPWA), Warsaw, Poland to John F. Kennedy International Airport (IATA: JFK, ICAO: KJFK), New York, New York City, United States, in the late morning hours of the 9th of May 1987, the Ilyushin IL- 62M operating this flight and route crashed in the Kabaty Woods nature reserve on the outskirts of Warsaw around 56 minutes after departures all 183 people on board the plane were killed in the crash, which makes it the deadliest aviation disaster in Polish history.

The chartered aircraft to New York City took off from Runway 33 at Chopin Airport at 10:18am local time, the flight was to continue to San Francisco after refuelling in New York, the pilots were cleared to climbed to 31,000 feet, on a course set to Grudziadz VHF omnidirectional range (VOR), which was reached at 26,500 feet, soon after Flight 5055 took off from Warsaw, the crew was instructed by ATC to climb to an altitude of 18,000 feet as quickly as possible, at that moment, the crew applied maximum thrust, nine minutes after the thrust was applied, the plane was at 26,900 feet at a speed of 810 kilometres per hour, the faulty bearings inside the Number 2 engine (the engine closest to the fuselage on the left side of the plane) exploded destroying the shaft, the freed disc spun and exploded, debris punctured the fuselage, it also caused damage to the Number 1 engine (the furthest engine on the left side of the plane), which also caught fire, at 10:53am local time, fuel vapours drifted into the burning cargo and it also exploded, the plane nosedived, after it declared and emergency and it was returning to Warsaw, with a slight left bank (11 degrees to the left) and it was in a 12 degrees downwards pitch, the plane crashed into the ground at 475 kilometres per hour and it exploded into pieces in the forest, 5.6 kilometres from the runway at Warsaw, the wreckage was scattered over a rectangular area, roughly 1,210 feet by 160 feet.

The summary of the crash was Uncontained engine failure leading to an in flight fire and destruction of control systems.

Pictured below is a stone that is placed in the exact location the plane crashed into the ground in the forest.

It reads in English the following : Site of the Polish Airlines Flight Il-62 crash. SP-LBG "Tadeusz Kosciuszko", May 9, 1987. 183 people died in the disaster. 172 Passengers and 11 Crew Members.

Below is a video which explains what happened on board that day, video credit goes to Disaster Breakdown on Youtube, video is done by Chloe Howie

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Below is a video which explains what happened on board that day, video credit goes to Disaster Breakdown on Youtube, video is done by Chloe Howie.

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