A tale of a plane crash that killed 189 passengers on May 9,1987! The pilot bid a final goodbye over the radio, saying–”Dobranoc! Do widzenia! Czesc, Giniemy!” This was a gutwrenching farewell from the pilot. We are talking about the LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055 plane crash. This translates to “Good night! Goodbye! Bye, we’re dying!”
Pilot Zygmunt Pawlaczyk was flying the plane from Warsaw to New York. He communicated this bone-chilling goodbye to everyone. This happened before the flight was scheduled to land for refuelling.
The plane crash killed 172 passengers and 11 crew members after crashing in the Kabaty Woods. The accident happened 56 minutes near Warsaw. This is considered to be one of the most devastating accidents related to Ilyushin II-62M.
All people died on board, causing a heartwrenching mass tragedy. Over the years, precautions have been taken to avoid technical faults while also emphasizing on air safety. Another mass accident occurred on June 12 when a Boeing plane crashed in Ahmedabad. It killed 260 people on board and injured several people in the building it crashed into.
5. LOT Polish Airlines Flight 5055
“Goodnight! Goodbye!”pic.twitter.com/Vt6Xq3ftAK
— Bloke (@UtdBloke_) May 27, 2025
The investigation to find the cause of the Air India crash is still going on. There was only 1 lucky survivor from the crash who got minor injuries. At first, the pilots were considered to have flipped the fuel switch; however investigation into the technical system of the plane is also going on.
Captain Zygmunt Pawlaczyk’s final five-word goodbye tells how he realised there was no hope for the people as it crashed at 11:12am local time. 59-year-old Pawlaczyk’s flying experience was of 19,475 hours. As per the investigation, either there was a fire or loss of cabin pressure. The impact was sudden and massive, leading to the death of 17 Americans and 155 Polish citizens.
Pilot’s chilling final words over tannoy before 183 passengers killed in fireball crash https://t.co/yCR7To6NjT @nri_pravasi #airtravelbargain #fusiondiner #travyel #travyell #iataagents
— travel bargain (@airtravelbagain) July 21, 2025
Earlier ATC had told the crew to ascend quickly to 5,500 feet. At this point, the bearing with fault may not have adjusted to the maximum power needed for take-off. The second engine rose in temperature up to 1800 degrees, resulting in a shaft explosion.
Soon enough, the crew knew about the impending disaster due to the impacted engines. There was a national two-day mourning period over the disaster.
