LOT Polish Airlines Flight 149

LOT Polish Airlines Flight 149 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight from Okęcie, Warsaw to Starachowice, Wrocław. On 24 January 1969, the airliner contacted with trees. While trying to recover, it struck a power line, tearing apart the whole right wing and crashed into a 70-centimeter-high road embankment before came to rest across a road. Three injuries were reported, but no one died.

Accident

The plane took off from Okęcie Airport at 16:35, carrying 44 passengers and 4 crew members. The flight proceeded without deviations and 10 minutes before reaching the airport's non-directional radio beacon, the crew received permission from the area control center to descend from 4,500 meters (14,760 feet) to 1,500 meters (4,920 feet) and to switch to communication with the air traffic controller. After establishing contact with the air traffic controller, the pilots also received permission to descend to 1,500 (4,920 feet) meters with a report of passing the radio beacon. The crew reported passing the radio beacon at 17:22, after which the air traffic controller transmitted the latest weather data: cloud cover with a lower boundary of 150 meters, fog, haze, visibility up to 1,600 meters, wind 300°-310° 3-4 m/s (6-8 knots), airfield pressure 765.5 mm Hg.

The pilots set the altimeter pressure, after which the ground was informed that they had begun their descent to the GNSS when the air traffic controller warned that visibility had dropped to 800 meters. This was below the airport's weather minimum of 1,100 meters, but the crew continued their descent, and at an altitude of 90 meters (300 feet), the captain ordered the engine power to be reduced. The GNSS was passed at an altitude of 50-60 meters (160-200 feet), instead of the specified 225 meters (740 feet), after which the aircraft entered fog. As the captain later recounted at the hearing, visibility in the fog had already dropped to 400 meters, but the crew continued their approach. When the flight engineer reported an altitude of 30 meters (100 feet). The captain pulled back on the control column to halt the descent by raising the nose, but 700 meters beyond the outer locator beacon, the aircraft, still descending, struck the right wing of the aircraft into the trees at an altitude of 10 meters (32 feet). The impact separated a three-meter-long section of the wing, after which the airliner entered a steep right bank of up to 40°, losing altitude. 145 meters from the initial impact point, the right wing struck the ground, leaving a 41-meter-long furrow, after which the crew briefly righted the aircraft. But then the right bank began to increase again, and the right wing, having struck the ground, began to disintegrate. 350 meters from the initial impact point, the airliner, banking to the right, struck a 30 kV power line, snapping several cables, and then raced over Wrocław Zachodni railway station of the 2-track Wrocław Świebodzki–Zgorzelec railway, tearing down the overhead contact wires and communication lines. Entangled in the wires, the right wing separated. Having significantly lost speed as a result, the airliner righted itself, then lowered its landing gear to the ground, skidding for 141 meters before crashing into a 70-centimeter-high road embankment and finally coming to a stop across the road.

The plane crashed at 17:30, 3.5 kilometers from Strachowice Airport. Both pilots and one passenger were injured, but no one was killed.