The disaster in the Kabacki Forest in Warsaw left its mark on the pages of Polish history. The passenger plane of PLL LOT crashed on May 9, 1987, while flying from Warsaw to the United States. A moment after the machine was started, a serious failure occurred. The plane had to go down for an emergency landing. Unfortunately, the rescue operation failed. There were 183 people on board. They all died. This is the biggest plane crash in Poland that changed the history of Polish aviation.
The Ił-62 M "Tadeusz Kościuszko" passenger plane was one of those that Poles purchased in 1983 in the Soviet Union. Before the last flight, the plane has flown correctly over long distances without any faults. Until the day of the crash, the total flight time of the machine was 6,971 hours, and the plane landed as many as 1,752 times. The day before the crash, the plane arrived at the airport in Okęcie from the Chicago-Warsaw flight. He was inspected for several hours before he set off on his next, unfortunately, final journey. This time to New York. The crew on May 9, 1987, consisted of 11 people. 172 passengers flew with her. The commander of the flight crew that day was captain Zygmunt Pawlaczyk. There were no signs that tragic events could happen. It was cloudless and sunny, so the Ił-62 M "Tadeusz Kościuszko" machine took off from Warsaw-Okęcie at 10:18. Until 10:41 am, the passenger plane was flying without any disruptions. Nobody expected a tragedy to happen in a moment.
At 10:41 the plane was over the town of Warlubie. It was only 23 minutes of flight. The flight crew noticed the decompression of the fuselage, as well as the loss of two engines. Soon after, a fire broke out in the machine. Captain Zygmunt Pawlaczyk immediately reported the failure and decided to return the plane to Warsaw. In connection with the loss of engines, everyone was in great danger. When turning back, it turned out that the plane's rudder was also malfunctioning. The fire was partially extinguished, but the fuel still had to be dumped. The plane was too heavy to land safely. At the time of landing of this particular model of aircraft, it should not weigh more than 107 tons. The plane, however, has only just taken off, so it did not manage to use even 10 tons of fuel. So an emergency landing was very risky.
During the attempt to dump fuel, it turned out that only one electric current generator worked properly - and there were as many as four of them in the machine. As the fuel dump valves were electrically operated, they did not work properly. The elevator also didn't work as it should. The plane flew only on two engines, the crew could not throw off the fuel loading the machine, and Captain Pawlaczyk had a damaged rudder. Gradually, the flight altitude began to be lowered, and the captain decided to make an emergency landing at the Warsaw military airport Modlin. The situation was critical. Permission to land in Modlin was issued at 10:54 am.
Unfortunately, it was still difficult for the crew to obtain information about the weather conditions at the airport where the plane was to make an emergency landing. The direction of the wind was unknown. Eventually, the captain changed his mind and decided to direct the plane to Warsaw-Okecie. The airport had better security, as well as rescue services, firefighting, and rescue equipment. The plane was about 90 km from Warsaw-Okęcie when the captain made an emergency landing at this airport. Meanwhile, passengers were prepared for an emergency landing and as much fuel was dumped as possible. However, the exact location of the machine in relation to the runway could not be determined. So the captain decided that he would land in direction 33 from Piaseczno. To land safely, the plane had to circumnavigate the airport from the west. The burnt parts of the machine began to fall off, starting a fire near Józefosław. The moment of landing was approaching. At 11:08 the passenger plane Ił-62 M "Tadeusz Kościuszko" began to approach the landing. The landing gear did not extend and Captain Pawlaczyk had more and more problems with the helm of the plane. Had the landing gear not retracted, the plane would have had to land "on its stomach." In addition, another fire broke out in the cargo hold and spread rapidly. He was already visible from the ground, which was noticed by the witnesses of the tragedy on land. Approx. 6 kilometers before the airport, the control system was damaged, so the plane was flying inconsistently - descending and rising. The rescue operation was coming to an end. The plane was heading towards the ground, entering Las Kabacki.
A minute before the disaster, Captain Pawlaczyk informed passengers that he would do everything he could. At 11:12 am, "Tadeusz Kościuszko" started cutting trees in the Kabacki Forest at a speed of about 470 km / h. The last words that Captain Zygmunt Pawlaczyk had time to say were: "Good night, goodbye! Hi, we're dying! ”. A moment later, the plane collided with the ground and broke into small pieces that were scattered over a distance of almost 400 meters. Fuel caught fire, causing a huge fire to break out. There were 183 people on the plane. They all died. The bodies of the victims were not found in their entirety, so only 121 passengers were identified.
The disaster in the Kabacki Forest took the lives of many more people than the 1943 plane crash in Gibraltar. The cause of the tragedy in Poland was the destruction of one of the engines while flying over Grudziądz. The engine was permanently damaged by a rupture of the low-pressure turbine - its shaft broke. Elements of the torn turbine destroyed the second engine, which led to a fire in the plane. At the first damaged engine, a breach was formed, through which a fragment of the turbine flew, damaging the signaling systems and the power grid. The crew was not aware that a fire was developing inside the trunk. Even though the situation was hopeless, the flight crew acted rationally and wanted to save passengers' lives at all costs. All the captain's decisions and the actions of the shore maintenance were correct, even in such extremely difficult conditions. Due to the tragic events, LOT Polish Airlines gave up the use of aircraft with the Il-62 M engine.
All the passengers who died in the plane crash were buried on May 23, 1987, in Warsaw at the Northern Communal Cemetery. Thousands of people came to say goodbye to the victims of the Kabacki forest tragedy. The 11-person crew of 62 M "Tadeusz Kościuszko" was posthumously awarded with state decorations. Captain Zygmunt Pawlaczyk, in accordance with the will of the family, was buried in the family grave in the Powązki cemetery.
The victims of the plane crash were commemorated by our compatriots. Near the crash site, there is a commemorative cross and a plaque with the names of all passengers, as well as a stone with an information plaque. Every year, a mass for the dead is celebrated at the monument. In Warsaw's Ursynów, it was also decided to commemorate the crew members, naming two of the Warsaw streets. One was called Zygmunt Pawlaczyka Street, and the other was called “Kościuszko” Airplane Crew Avenue. Thanks to this, no one will ever forget the tragedy that happened on May 9, 1987. 183 passengers were killed in the crash. So how is it possible that someone has survived? Janina Szulc-Tomaszewska was to fly "Tadeusz Kościuszko" instead of one of the passengers. However, Janina did not fly that day.
Janina was in Poland visiting relatives. She has lived in the United States for 7 years. During her stay in Poland, she bought her dream black mink fur coat. On the day of departure to the USA, she packed them in hand luggage, instead of checking them in the hold. She was late for the airport and there was no time left to clear her fur as it should be. Meanwhile, when everyone was in the line to check-in, a friend of one of the customs officers begged him to arrange her flight to New York. The customs officer agreed. However, he had to stop someone waiting in line to let his friend on board. Janina with a large bag caught his eye. Inside - fortunately, the customs officer - was a fur. Janina was arrested and the plane flew without her. During the writing of the protocol, the news reached the customs officer and the interrogated woman that the plane had fallen. The mink fur saved Janina's life.
Janina Szulc-Tomaszewska returned to New York five days after the disaster, safe and sound. Janina's passport remains from the tragic events - a stamp with a crossed-out pen, dated May 9, 1987.
Bibliography:
- Jarosław Reszka: Hello, we're dying! The greatest catastrophes in post-war Poland, PAP Publishing House, Warsaw 2001
- Mirosław Kozłowski: 60 minutes to death. The mystery of the disaster in the Kabacki Forest, MK Konsulting Publishing House, Warsaw 2018
No comments:
Post a Comment