Flight History
LOT Polish Airlines Flight 165 was a scheduled passenger service from Warsaw to Krakow Balice Airport, operated with an Antonov An-24 aircraft registered as SP-LTF. On 2 April 1969, the aircraft took off at 15:20 local time for a planned 55-minute flight. The captain was Czesław Doliński.
At 15:49, the first officer received instructions to descend to 1,500 metres (4,900 ft) and contact Balice control tower after passing Jędrzejów, less than 80 km north of Krakow. Military radar registered the aircraft at that time at 4,000 metres (13,000 ft). The pilots informed controllers in Okęcie and Balice when passing the Jędrzejów VOR, but confusion arose as they provided three different passage times within a few minutes. Shortly thereafter, before 16:00, the captain (who had taken over control) called Balice, reported an altitude of 3,700 metres (12,100 ft), received the local weather report, and was instructed to descend to 1,200 metres (3,900 ft).
At 16:01, the aircraft was recorded at 2,400 metres (7,900 ft) and descending. Over the next eight minutes, multiple radio exchanges occurred between the aircraft and the Balice radar operator. The captain repeatedly requested his fix and reported problems with the beacon signal, while the operator asked for the aircraft's position and altitude to locate it on radar. At 16:05, the aircraft was noted near Maków Podhalański, about 50 km past Krakow, at 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). The last transmission from the aircraft, at 16:08.17, was "Left turn to further...-" after which radio contact was lost. The aircraft crashed on the northern slope of Polica mountain, near Zawoja, southern Poland, at an elevation of 1,200 metres (3,900 ft). All 53 persons on board were killed.
Controversy
The official death toll of 53 has been questioned. The LOT manifest listed 53 passengers and 5 crew members, but two days after the crash, Polish press agencies published 46 surnames based on LOT's information. Among the passengers were 49 Poles, 3 Americans, and one Briton.
The official accident report, published in 1970, stated that the cause was the captain becoming lost. No explanation was provided for why the aircraft was flying at low altitude about 50 kilometres (31 mi) beyond its destination before the crash.
After the accident, the flight number 165 remained in use. In 1978, the same flight was hijacked by two women seeking political asylum in West Germany.