1962 LOT Vickers Viscount Warsaw crash
LOT Polskie Linie Lotnicze Vickers 804 Viscount · Loss of control on approach
From Brussels Airport (BRU) to Warsaw Chopin Airport (WAW)
Event
- Event typeAccident: someone killed or seriously injured, or the aircraft substantially damaged (NTSB definition). Incident: an occurrence that affected or could have affected safety, short of that. Glossary
- Accident
- Event fatalities
- 33 · all aircraft and ground
- Ground fatalities
- Unknown
- Occupants
- 33
- Survivors
- 0
- InjuriesFatal: death within 30 days. Serious: over 48 hours in hospital within a week, most broken bones, severe bleeding, nerve or organ damage, or serious burns. Minor: anything less. Glossary
- Unknown
- OperationWhat kind of flying it was, grouped by the rules it flew under: airline (US Part 121), air taxi and commuter (Part 135), general aviation (Part 91 and similar), military or government. Glossary
- Airline
Vickers 804 Viscount
- Aircraft type
- Vickers 804
- Category
- Airplane · from aircraft type
- RegistrationThe aircraft's tail number, such as N12345 or G-ABCD. Registrations are reissued, so the same one years apart can be a different aircraft. Glossary
- SP-LVB
- Operator
- LOT Polskie Linie Lotnicze
- Onboard fatalities
- 33
- Route
- From Brussels Airport (BRU)To Warsaw Chopin Airport (WAW)
Cause areas
- Personnel issues › Experience/knowledge
- Aircraft › Aircraft oper/perf/capability
From the investigation findings the Wikipedia article reports, sorted into the NTSB's cause areas with AI assistance.
Approximate · Coordinates from the Wikipedia article; not checked against an investigation report.
From the Wikipedia article
The 1962 LOT Vickers Viscount Warsaw crash occurred on 19 December 1962 when a Vickers Viscount 804, operated by LOT Polish Airlines on a flight from Brussels to Warsaw, crashed on landing. All 33 passengers and crew died.
Accident
The plane was returning from Brussels and had a stopover in Berlin, from where it took off at 5:55 pm. While on approach on runway 33 in Warsaw at 7:30 pm the crew received landing clearance. 46 seconds later the plane crashed and burned 1335 meters from the threshold.
All 33 people aboard died – the crew of five and 28 passengers. Among the victims was Heinz Rauch, head of the East German statistical service, along with his wife and two children.
Investigation and cause
Investigation
The Chief Committee of Aircraft Accident Investigation stated that at the time of the accident the plane was configured for landing (flaps set and landing gear lowered). It also stated there was no explosion mid-air and all damage was a result of the crash. The plane was landing in harsh winter weather conditions, with dense near-ground fog, 6/8 overcast, fractostratus clouds at 250 meters, 7 km visibility and a temperature of −5 °C.
Causes
One of the probable causes of the stalling due to low speed was attributed to turboprop engine features, which change the propellers pitch during acceleration. As such, sudden throttle increase is not recommended. Such a maneuver was likely executed by the captain, who was accustomed to flying piston engine aircraft in which such maneuvers are allowed. The Vickers Viscount 804 was one of three recently bought from British United Airways in England. On LOT's roster the airliner had logged only 84 flight hours.
Official accident causes:
Crew training errors
There is a possibility that one of the NDBs during approach was broken, unknown to the crew.
Text from the Wikipedia article “1962 LOT Vickers Viscount Warsaw crash” (revision 1339317379, retrieved 2026-09-18) by its authors, under CC BY-SA 4.0. Extracted as plain text: references, tables, images and some sections are left out. Read the article
Sources
Wikipedia article: 1962 LOT Vickers Viscount Warsaw crash
- Revision
- 1339317379 · 2026-02-19 · retrieved 2026-09-18
- Wikidata
- Q11737206
- Licence
- Text CC BY-SA 4.0, by the article's authors; Wikidata CC0; town positions GeoNames (CC BY 4.0)
Where each value comes from
- Record
- Wikipedia article "1962 LOT Vickers Viscount Warsaw crash" (page 39698757, revision 1339317379)
- Date
- Wikipedia infobox: date
- Place and country
- Wikipedia infobox: site; country from Wikidata (P17)
- Map position
- Wikipedia article coordinates
- Aircraft, operator and route
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft type, registration, operator, origin and destination; route airports from the linked airport articles' Wikidata codes (OurAirports)
- Operation
- operator is an airline according to Wikidata
- Fatalities
- Wikipedia infobox: aircraft fatalities
- Ground fatalities
- not stated in the Wikipedia infobox
- Summary
- Wikipedia infobox: summary
Source notes (1)
- Wikipedia · Facts from the Wikipedia article's infobox and coordinates, not checked against an investigation report. Independent review pending.