Braniff International Airways Flight 250
accident | |
---|---|
Date | August 6, 1966 |
Summary | In-flight structural failure |
Site | Richardson County, near Falls City, Nebraska, U.S. 40°10′29.80″N 95°32′20.30″W / 40.1749444°N 95.5389722°W |
Aircraft | |
Aircraft type | BAC 1-11-203AE |
Operator | Braniff Airways |
Registration | N1553 |
Flight origin | New Orleans International Airport |
1st stopover | Shreveport Regional Airport |
2nd stopover | Fort Smith Regional Airport |
3rd stopover | Tulsa International Airport |
4th stopover | Kansas City Municipal Airport |
5th stopover | Omaha Eppley Airfield |
Destination | Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport |
Passengers | 38 |
Crew | 4 |
Fatalities | 42 |
Survivors | 0 |
Braniff International Airways Flight 250 crashed near Falls City, Nebraska, on August 6, 1966,[1] en route to Omaha from Kansas City, Missouri.[2][3] Thirty-eight passengers and four crew members were killed in the crash, which occurred in a farm field late on a Saturday night.[4][5][6] In-flight structural failure due to extreme turbulence in an avoidable weather hazard was cited as the cause.[7][8]
Aircraft
The aircraft was a BAC 1-11-203AE, registration N1553[9]. It was manufactured by British Aircraft Corporation in December 1965.[7][10]
Flight crew
The cockpit crew consisted of Captain Donald Pauly, 47, and First Officer James Hilliker, 39.
Captain Pauly was highly experienced with 20,767 flying hours, 549 of which were in the
First Officer Hilliker was less experienced, with 9,269 flying hours, 685 in the BAC-1-11. According to the NTSB report, he had two type ratings in the BAC-1-11 and the Convair family.[7][11]
Flight
(All times
along the flight's route until 1967.)Flight 250 was operated by Braniff between New Orleans and Minneapolis with stops in between at Shreveport, Fort Smith, Tulsa, Kansas City, and Omaha.[5] It departed Kansas City at 22:55 on an IFR clearance to Omaha at FL200 (20,000 feet (6,100 m)). However, the crew asked if they could remain at 5,000 feet (1,520 m) because of the weather. The flight remained at 6,000 feet (1,830 m) until permission was received at 23:06 to descend to 5,000 feet.[7] At 23:08, the crew contacted a Braniff flight that had just departed Omaha's Eppley Airfield, which reported moderate to light turbulence.
About four minutes later, Flight 250 entered an
This was the first fatal crash of a BAC 1-11 in the United States;[12] it occurred in southeast Nebraska in Richardson County on a farm, about seven miles (11 km) north-northeast of Falls City, in a soybean field only 500 feet (150 m) from a farmhouse.[5][12][13][14] The farm owner and his family were returning home in an automobile at the time of impact (23:12), and were about a half-mile (0.8 km) away.[2][4][12] The elevation of the site is approximately 1,100 feet (340 m) above sea level.
Investigation
Braniff regulations prohibited a plane from being dispatched into an area with a solid line of thunderstorms; nonetheless, the company forecast was somewhat inaccurate with respect to the number and intensity of thunderstorms and the intensity of the associated turbulence. Braniff dispatchers were aware that their flight 255 had delayed departing
Notably, the accident was the first with a U.S.-registered aircraft in which a
Aftermath
At its fortieth anniversary in 2006, a memorial was placed at the crash site.[4][17] A fiftieth anniversary memorial event,[18] planned by the county's historical society, was attended by a hundred in 2016.[17]
In popular culture
This crash is covered in detail in the book Air Disaster (Vol. 1) by Macarthur Job, illustrated by Matthew Tesch, and also in Deadly Turbulence: The Air Safety Lessons of Braniff Flight 250 and Other Airliners, 1959-1966, by Steve Pollock.[19]
The U.S. television drama Mad Men referenced this accident briefly in the season 5 episode "Signal 30". In the series, client Mohawk Airlines also operated the BAC 1-11.[20]
See also
References
- ^ Finlay, Mark (2022-08-06). "56 Years On: The Structural Failure That Downed Braniff Flight 250". Simple Flying. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
- ^ a b "Flaming jet crashes killing all 42 aboard". Spokesman-Review. (Spokane, Washington). Associated Press. August 8, 1966. p. 1.
- ^ Schock, Bill (August 19, 1966). "Back to normal after hectic days". Falls City Journal. (Nebraska). (reprinted August 8, 2016). Retrieved April 24, 2021.
- ^ a b c Salter, Peter (August 1, 2016). "Fire in the sky: 50 years ago, a jetliner carrying 42 people fell out of a stormy sky near Falls City". Lincoln Journal Star. (Nebraska). Retrieved April 24, 2021.
- ^ a b c "Plane crash kills 42". Milwaukee Sentinel. Associated Press. August 8, 1966. p. 1, part 1.
- ^ "Clues sought in Nebraska crash". Milwaukee Journal. wire services. August 8, 1966. p. 2, part 1.
- ^ a b c d e f g "Aircraft Accident Report: Braniff Airways, Inc., BAC 1-11, N1553, Near Falls City, Nebraska, August 6, 1966" (PDF). National Transportation Safety Board. April 18, 1968. Retrieved April 8, 2014 – via Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Library.
- Aviation Safety Network. Retrieved 2020-07-26.
- ^ "FAA Registry (N1553)". Federal Aviation Administration.
- ^ "42 Die In U.S. Air Crash; "Fireball" of One-Eleven". The Times. August 8, 1966. p. 1. Retrieved 2022-04-18.
- ^ "Passenger List". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 2020-07-26.
- ^ a b c "Probe continues in Braniff plane crash". Lawrence Daily Journal-World. (Kansas). Associated Press. August 8, 1966. p. 1.
- ^ "Ball of fire seen coming from sky". Herald-Tribune. (Sarasota, Florida). Associated Press. August 8, 1966. p. 1.
- ^ "Satellite image of crash location". Google Maps. Retrieved 2020-07-26.
- ^ Olberding, Matt (30 July 2016). "Braniff crash probe was first to use cockpit voice recorder". Retrieved 31 January 2018.
- ^ "Crash probe: Recorder is 'useless'". Deseret News. (Salt Lake City, Utah). UPI. August 8, 1966. p. 1A.
- ^ a b McKim, Nikki (August 8, 2016). "A day of emotional remembrance and healing". Falls City Journal. (Nebraska). Retrieved April 24, 2021.
- ^ McKim, Nikki (August 1, 2016). "50th anniversary of air crash to be observed". Falls City Journal. (Nebraska). Retrieved April 24, 2021.
- ^ "Deadly Turbulence – The Air Safety Lessons of Braniff Flight 250 and Other Airliners, 1959-1966". Retrieved 2023-10-20.
- ^ Hale, Mike (2012-04-16). "'Mad Men' Recap: Despair and Fisticuffs". ArtsBeat. Retrieved 2023-10-20.
External links
- NTSB brief of the accident National Transportation Safety Board
- DeadlyTurbulence.com - Braniff Flight 250
- BAC 111 N1553 BraniffPages.com
- Braniff 250 Pilotfriend
- Aviation Safety Network - Braniff - N1553
- Nebraska Air Crash - Braniff Airways - Flight 250