Braniff International Airways Flight 250
| Braniff International Airways Flight 250 | |
|---|---|
 The unlucky machine in July 1966 |
|
| Accident summary | |
| Accident type | Structural failure |
| place |
Richardson County near Falls City , Nebraska , United States
|
| date | August 6, 1966 |
| Fatalities | 42 |
| Survivors | 0 |
| Aircraft | |
| Aircraft type |
 BAC 111-203AE
|
| operator |
Braniff Airways
|
| Mark |
N1553
|
| Departure airport |
New Orleans International Airport , Louisiana , United States
|
| 1. Stopover |
Shreveport Regional Airport , Louisiana , United States
|
| 2. Stopover |
Fort Smith Regional Airport , Arkansas , United States
|
| 3. Stopover |
Tulsa International Airport , Oklahoma , United States
|
| 4. Stopover |
Kansas City Municipal Airport , Kansas , United States
|
| 5. Stopover |
Eppley Airfield , Omaha , Nebraska , United States
|
| Destination airport |
Minneapolis-Saint Paul International Airport , Minnesota , United States
|
| Passengers | 38 |
| crew | 4th |
| Lists of aviation accidents | |
On August 6, 1966, a BAC 1-11-203AE (N1553) of the US airline Braniff Airways had an accident on Braniff Airways Flight 250 (flight number: BN250 ) . The machine broke apart in midair and fell to the ground near Falls City , Nebraska . All 42 people on board were killed in the accident.
plane
The aircraft was a British-made BAC 1-11-203AE that made its maiden flight on December 5, 1965 and was delivered to Braniff Airways on December 8, 1965 as the first US operator of this type of aircraft. The twin- engine, medium - range, narrow-body aircraft with the factory number 070 was equipped with two Rolls-Royce Spey 506 engines. At the time of the accident, the machine had completed 2307 operating hours with 2922 take-offs and landings.
crew
The cockpit crew consisted of the 47-year-old flight captain Donald Pauly and the 39-year-old first officer James Hilliker. With 20,767 hours of flight experience, including 549 with the BAC-1-11, Captain Pauly was considered to be extremely experienced. He had type ratings for other types of aircraft such as the Douglas DC-3 , Douglas DC-6 , Douglas DC-7 and Convair aircraft. First Officer Hilliker had 9,269 hours of flight experience, including 685 with the BAC-1-11. He had two type ratings, one for the BAC-1-11 and one for a Convair type.
Flight history
Braniff Airways Flight 250 was a scheduled domestic flight from New Orleans to Minneapolis with stopovers in Shreveport , Fort Smith , Tulsa , Kansas City and Omaha . After the stopover in Kansas City, the aircraft took off at 10:55 p.m. local time for the onward flight to Omaha and received clearance to climb to 20,000 feet (approx. 6100 meters) under instrument flight conditions . The crew asked if because of the weather it could sink to 5000 feet (about 1520 meters) for the time being. The machine remained at an altitude of 6000 feet (approx. 1830 meters) until it was cleared to descend to 5000 feet at 23:06.
the accident
At 11:08 p.m., the crew contacted another Braniff plane that had just departed from Omaha. This crew reported slight to moderate turbulence. About four minutes later, the machine got into an updraft within a heavy storm front. The machine was initially promoted into an upward flight with a violent acceleration with a roll angle directed to the left . Shortly afterwards the right horizontal stabilizer broke off. The machine then fell into a steep dive, two seconds later the right fin and then the right wing also broke off. The kerosene in it exploded and the machine fell to the ground , burning and spinning .
The machine crashed into a soybean field about 7 miles north-northeast of Falls City, only 150 meters from a country house. All 42 occupants of the aircraft were killed in the accident.
root cause
The alleged cause of the accident was a structural failure caused by extreme turbulence in flight. This was caused after the machine was flown into an area with dangerous weather which should have been avoided.
According to Braniff's regulations, it was forbidden to fly an aircraft into an area with severe thunderstorms. Regardless of this, the company's forecast regarding the number and intensity of the expected thunderstorms and the intensity of the associated turbulence was somewhat inaccurate. The Braniff Control Center staff knew that the machine on which Flight 255 was operated was one hour late departing from Sioux City for Omaha. This was due to a waiting break that was planned in order to let the storm pass Omaha. Staff were also aware that Flight 234 from St. Louis to Des Moines had been diverted to Kansas City because of the storm. Believing that these events were too far from the flight path of Flight 250 to be relevant, they failed to inform the crew of BAC 1-11. The crew were nevertheless aware of the adverse weather conditions and the first officer suggested flying around the storm front. Instead, the captain decided to continue the flight to the foothills of the storm front.
Scientific studies related to the accident
The weather researcher Dr. Ted Fujita , who held a professorship for meteorology at the University of Chicago , was commissioned by the manufacturer of BAC 1-11, the British Aircraft Corporation , to research what influences weather conditions can have on the machine. Dr. Fujita is considered to be the discoverer of squalls and microbursts and developed the Fujita scale, which differentiates between tornado intensities and relates the destruction caused by tornadoes to wind speeds.
The aircraft that crashed was the first aircraft to be registered in the United States in which data from a cockpit voice recorder were available for the analysis of an aircraft accident . Immediately before the breakup, the device picked up a statement from Captain Pauly, who instructed First Officer Hilliker to adjust the engine thrust. In the middle of his sentence, a fluttering noise began that was so loud that no further dialogues could be heard from the recording. Even after the wings and stern broke off the plane, the flapping sound could still be heard. Since the flight data recorder was destroyed in the accident, the changes in the fluttering noise perceptible on the recording were later used to determine the changes in speed and altitude of the machine during the accident.
Commemoration
A memorial was erected at the crash site to mark the 40th anniversary of the crash.
See also
- Northwest Airlines Flight 705 with a Boeing 720 that crashed on February 12, 1963 under similar circumstances.
swell
- Aircraft Accident Report: Braniff Airways, August 6, 1966 , National Transportation Safety Board, April 18, 1968.
- Accident report in the Aviation Safety Network
- Flaming jet crashes killing all 42 aboard , Spokesman Review , Associated Press, Aug. 8, 1966, 1.
- Plane crash kills 42 , Milwaukee Sentinel , Associated Press. Aug 8, 1966, page 1.
- Clues sought in Nebraska Crash Milwaukee Journal , Wire Services. Aug 8, 1966, page 2.
- Ball of fire seen coming from the sky Herald-Tribune , Sarasota, Florida. Associated Press. Aug 8, 1966, page 1.
- Braniff crash probe was first to use Cockpit Voice Recorder
Coordinates: 40 ° 10 ′ 29.8 " N , 95 ° 32 ′ 20.3" W.