LOT Polish Airlines Flight 703 was a plane that crash-landed about 1 kilometre (0.62 mi) north of Rogóżno railway station, on 2 November 1988. In the accident one person was killed and several were seriously injured.
Background
Aircraft
The aircraft involved, purchased in April 1966,[1] was a 22-year-old Antonov An-24B registered as SP-LTD and named Dunajec.[1][2][3] The Antonov An-24 is a Soviet-built twin-engine turboprop aircraft, entering into commercial service in 1963. The aircraft can seat up to 50 people, with the aircraft having a capacity of up to 48 seats.[4]
Passengers and crew
There were 25 passengers and 4 crew members on board the aircraft, with radio journalist Tomasz Beksiński also among the passengers on board the aircraft.[5] Two of the passengers were undercover officers, who were part of the Milicja Obywatelska, insuring the aircraft's safety.[6]
The flight crew consisted of the Captain Kazimierz Rożek, who had 30 years of flying experience,[3][7] and first officer Waldemara Wolskiego.[3]
Accident
The burned wreckage of the aircraft
The Polish Press Agency originally reported that 16 people had been killed.[8] The report was later retracted, confirming the account of a local police officer who told the Associated Press that one person had been killed,[9] as officials from LOT Polish Airlines said that the confusion might have been caused by several passengers leaving the crash site, before making their way to a nearby road and hitching rides from motorists, leading authorities into initially presuming that they were dead.[1][4]
Aftermath
The crash-landing has been the last fatal air crash in Polish commercial aviation so far. It was one of the main reasons for which LOT Polish Airlines removed all An-24 served planes (this particular aircraft was 22 years old) and replaced them with ATR 42 and ATR 72.
