The crashed plane, registered as SP-LAA, was at one point named after astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus (Polish: Mikołaj Kopernik).

Future world heavyweight champion boxer Tony Tucker was supposed to be on Flight 007 but could not go because of a shoulder injury.

All 87 people on board were killed, including 14 boxers and 8 staff members of the U.S. boxing team,[2] and Polish pop singer Anna Jantar.

Flight 007 was scheduled to depart from New York's Kennedy International Airport at about 19:00 local time on 13 March 1980, but it was delayed because of a heavy snowstorm.

During their final approach, about one minute before the landing, the crew reported to Okęcie Air Traffic Control (ATC) that the landing gear indicator light was not operating, and that they would go around and allow the flight engineer to check if it was caused by a burnt-out fuse or light bulb, or if there was actually some problem with the gears deploying.

According to investigators analyzing the wreckage, at the last moment Captain Lipowczan, using nothing but the plane's ailerons, managed to avoid hitting a correctional facility for teenagers located at Rozwojowa Street.

[3] Among the 87 fatalities were Polish singer Anna Jantar, American ethnomusicologist Alan P. Merriam, six Polish students returning home from an AIESEC conference in New York, and a contingent of the U.S. amateur boxing team (who were scheduled for a series of exhibition fights in Europe instead of the boycotted Summer Olympics).

According to doctors who arrived at the scene, many of the passengers were apparently asleep when the plane hit the ground, but some of them – including many of the boxers – were supposedly aware that they were about to crash, as they gripped their seats so tightly that on impact, the muscles and tendons in their arms became severed.

A total of 22 U.S. boxers, trainers, and doctors died in the accident, including the 1979 Pan American Games light welterweight winner Lemuel Steeples.

The Polish TV documentary Czarny serial (Black series) interviewed Captain Tomasz Smolicz, a pilot who flew thousands of hours on transatlantic Ilyushins Il-62 and Il-62M, including SP-LAA's flight from Warsaw to New York the day before the crash.

Smolicz stated that the planes returning to Warsaw from the United States usually landed on runway course 150 (150 degrees, south-south-east), and if they landed at or before noon on a sunny day such as 14 March 1980, the sun would be shining almost directly in their eyes, which were weary after several hours of night flight and constant monitoring of cockpit instruments.

No conclusive answer was received, but calculations based on the official technical data suggested that, while one engine's thrust was insufficient for the aircraft to maintain altitude, it was enough to reach the runway and try to land.

According to the Polish government's Special Disaster Commission, the crash was caused by defects in materials, faults in the manufacturing process of the Kuznetsov NK-8 jet engine's shaft, and weaknesses in the design of its turbine.

The improper machining[further explanation needed] and impurities facilitated an accelerated fatigue fracture of this key engine component via unmitigated formation of micro-cracks through the shaft's core, ultimately leading to its failure.

A press article, released in Poland in 2010 and based on the review of archival documentation kept in IPN, claimed that Polish government authorities contributed to the crash by demanding savings from LOT and excessive exploitation of engines.

Conversely, they had a relatively small amount of fuel in reserve on the return flight, which sometimes forced them to land in bad weather.

In spite of the low reliability, the airline decided to lengthen overhaul intervals to reduce the frequency of repairs, which were carried out in Soviet factories and quite expensive.

LOT sent a letter to the Ilyushin Design Bureau reporting a test finding that the engines could operate normally for 8,600 hours without maintenance.

The design bureau replied that the Poles could fly the engines for as long as they wanted, but the manufacturer was responsible only for 5,000 flight hours.

John F. Kennedy Airport reported two cases in the previous two years when the IL-62 flew from the United States to Warsaw without passengers, on three engines.

Before the flight to New York, the aircraft was checked by mechanic Zdzisław Jarmoniak, who found that engine 1 had a defect in one of the turbine blades.

[7] The graves of LOT Polish Airlines Flight 007 crew are located at the Powązki Military Cemetery in Warsaw.