LOT Polish Airlines Flight 16
 SP-LPC landing on its belly. | |
| Accident summary | |
|---|---|
| Date | 1 November 2011 |
| Type | Belly landing following possible system failures |
| Site | Warsaw, Poland |
| Passengers | 220 |
| Crew | 11 |
| Injuries | 0 |
| Fatalities | 0 |
| Survivors | 231 (all) |
| Aircraft type | Boeing 767-300ER |
| Aircraft name | Poznań |
| Operator | LOT Polish Airlines |
| Tail number | SP-LPC |
| Flight origin | Newark Liberty International Airport Newark, NJ USA (EWR/KEWR) |
| Destination | Warsaw Chopin Airport Warsaw, Poland (WAW/EPWA) |
LOT Polish Airlines Flight 16 was a scheduled LOT Polish Airlines flight between Newark Liberty International Airport and Warsaw Chopin Airport. On 1 November 2011, flight 16, a Boeing 767-300ER, successfully performed a belly landing on runway 33 at the Warsaw airport when its landing gear would not extend. No one was injured in the accident. It was qualified as an aviation accident by State Commission on Aircraft Accidents Investigation.
Accident
On 1 November 2011 at 13:35 CET, LOT Polish Airlines Flight 16 was scheduled to arrive at Warsaw Chopin Airport from Newark Liberty International Airport when the approach was aborted due to the failure of the landing gear to deploy. The technical difficulties were detected by Captain Tadeusz Wrona within 30 minutes after takeoff from Newark Liberty International Airport. The crew indicated that the central hydraulic system had malfunctioned. The decision was made to continue to Warsaw in order to use up the heavy load of fuel needed for the transatlantic flight.
Captain Tadeusz Wrona, a thirty-year veteran pilot with twenty years of experience on the 767, and first officer Jerzy Szwarc informed Warsaw air traffic control (ATC) that they were unable to lower the landing gear due to a hydraulic systems failure. Warsaw ATC instructed them to circle the airport for over an hour and consume excess fuel in order to land light and to allow time for emergency services on ground to prepare for the emergency landing. Visual verification by two Polish Air Force F-16 fighter jets showed that none of the landing gear were down; attempts to lower the gear by alternative means (electrically and mechanically) failed.
The airport was evacuated for the arrival of the aircraft, roads around the airport were closed to accommodate emergency services. Flights which had been scheduled to land in Warsaw were diverted to Kraków, Katowice, Poznań, Łódź and Gdańsk or returned to their point of departure.
On board the LOT Polish Airlines 767-300ER were 231 people, eleven crew and 220 passengers.
At 14:40 CET the cockpit crew successfully performed an emergency landing at Warsaw Chopin Airport on Runway 33 with no loss of life while the aircraft sustained substantial damage in the accident. Upon landing, all 220 passengers were evacuated in 90 seconds.
The airport remained closed to traffic until 4:00 CET, 3 November 2011 due to the effort of removing crash debris and inspection of the airport runways and aprons etc. The aircraft's landing gear was released by LOT technicians and the plane towed to a hangar for repairs and investigation.
Poland's President Bronisław Komorowski congratulated and thanked the crew for their successful landing.
Chesley Sullenberger, who successfully ditched US Airways Flight 1549 in the Hudson River on 15 January 2009 stated that this might have been the first emergency landing of its kind.
Aircraft
Investigation
The incident is currently being investigated, preliminary findings point to a failure in the hydraulic system and in the manual release system for the landing gear.
References
External links
 External media | |
|---|---|
| Images | |
 | "Photograph of aircraft coming to rest". Aircraft-spotting.org. 1 November 2011. http://aircraft-spotting.org/showphoto.php?photo_id=75244. Retrieved 4 November 2011. |
| skrzydla.org photo 2 |
| Airliners.net photo |
| Videos | |
 | OKĘCIE LĄDOWANIE AWARYJNE POLISH AIRLINES LOT BOEING 767 EMERGENCY LANDING WARSAW. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEbRiYDYJe8.(Polish) |
| rmf24.pl video 2 |
| Awaryjne Lądowanie – WARSZAWA 01.11.2011 Boeing 767 cz.4. 1 November 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBgxakhZ8m4. (Polish) |
| Boeing 767 Newark-Warsaw Okecie LOT accident landing 01.11.11. 1 November 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=scUoqzG67-w.(Polish) |
| DRAMATIC EVACUATION Emergency Landing LOT Boeing 767 Warsaw DECK AMATEUR VIDEO. 1 November 2011. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1TM-1tOVAf0.(Polish) |
Media related to SP-LPC (aircraft) at Wikimedia Commons
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