1966 — Aug 6, Plane breaks-up, extreme turbulence, Braniff Flight 250, ~Falls City, NE–42

— 42 Aircraft Crashes Record Office (Geneva, Switzerland). Nebraska.
— 42 AirDisaster.Com. Accident Database. Accident Synopsis 08061966.
— 42 Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. Braniff Airways Flight 250, 06 Aug 1966.
— 42 NationMaster.com. “List of Notable Accidents and Incidents on Commercial Aircraft.”
— 42 NTSB. AAR. Braniff Airways… N1553 Near Falls City, Neb. Aug 6, 1966. 1968.
— 42 NTSB. NTSB Identification: DCA67A0001…Aug 06, 1966 in Falls City, NE.
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Narrative Information

ASN: “One-Eleven N1553 departed New Orleans, LA at 18:35 for a passenger flight to Minneapolis, MN with intermediate stops at Shreveport, LA, Fort Smith, AR, Tulsa, OK, Kansas City, MO and Omaha, NE. Flight 250 departed Kansas City at 22:55 on an IFR clearance to Omaha at FL200. However, the crew asked if they could remain at 5000 feet because of the weather. The flight remained at 6000 feet until permission was received at 23:06 to descend to 5000 feet. At 23:08 the crew contacted a company flight which had just departed Omaha. This flight reported moderate to light turbulence. About four minutes later the aircraft entered an area of an active squall line. The One-Eleven violently accelerated upward and in a left roll. At this time the right tailplane and the fin failed. The aircraft then pitched nose down and within one or two seconds the right wing failed as well. The plane tumbled down in flames until stabilizing into a flat spinning-attitude before impacting the ground.

”Braniff regulations prohibit a plane from being dispatched into an area with a solid line of thunderstorms; however the company forecast was somewhat inaccurate with respect to the number and intensity of thunderstorms and the intensity of the associated turbulence.” (ASN. Accident Description. Braniff Airways Flight 250, 06 Aug 1966.)

NTSB Synopsis:

“A Braniff Airways, Inc., BAC 1-11, N1553, operating as Flight 250, broke up in flight and crashed approximately 7.6 miles north-northeast of Falls City, Nebraska, at 2312 c.s.t., August 6, 1966. The 38 passengers and 4 crewmembers aboard the aircraft died in the accident and the aircraft was destroyed.

“Flight 250 was a regularly scheduled passenger operation from New Orleans, Louisiana, to Minneapolis, Minnesota, with intermediate stops at Shreveport, Louisiana, Fort Smith, Arkansas, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Kansas City, Missouri, and Omaha, Nebraska. The flight was without reported in¬cident from New Orleans to Kansas City. The flight departed Kansas City Municipal Airport at 2255 on an IFR flight plan via Jet Route 41, with a planned cruising altitude of 20,000 feet. Following takeoff and after some discussion with the air route traffic controller regarding the weather, the crew requested and received clearance to proceed toward Omaha at 5,000 feet.

“Ground witnesses observed the aircraft fly into or over a roll cloud preceding a thunderstorm and shortly thereafter saw an explosion in the sky followed by a fireball falling out of the clouds. Two large pieces, later identified as major portions of the right wing and empennage, were seen falling separately from the main part of the aircraft. The flaming aircraft fell to the ground at approximately 2312 c.s.t. Shortly after the accident the ground witnesses noted high gusty surface winds and light to moderate rain which accompanied the passage of a squall line through the accident area.

“The Board determines that the probable cause of this accident was inflight structural failure caused by extreme turbulence during operation of the aircraft in an area of avoidable hazardous weather.” (NTSB 1968, pp. 1-2)

“Flight 250 departed from Kansas City at 2255 on an Instrument Flight Rules (IFR) clearance to Omaha via Jet Route 41 at Flight Level (FL) 200 (approximately 20,000 feet). Just prior to takeoff, the flight was restrict¬ed to 5,000 feet until further advised due to conflicting traffic. When the flight was about 12 miles north of Kansas City, air traffic control was transferred to the Kansas City Air Route Traffic Control Center (ARTCC). Radar contact was confirmed and the flight was cleared to climb to and main¬tain FL 200. After some discussion with ARTCC about the weather the flight crew advised that they would like to maintain 5,000 feet to Omaha. They reported they were at 6,000 feet and ARTCC cleared the flight to maintain that altitude until 5,000 was available.

“At 2303 the Kansas City ARTCC initiated a transfer of control of the flight to the Chicago ARTCC but before the transfer could be accomplished the flight requested and received permission from the Kansas City controller to deviate to the left of course. At 2306 the Kansas City controller cleared the flight to descend to and maintain 5,000 feet and contact the Chicago ARTCC. After some discussion of the weather as it was displayed on the Chicago controller’s radar, the flight was advised that another Braniff flight, Flight 255, was on the same frequency and was at 10,000 feet climb¬ing to 17,000 after departing Omaha. The crews of the two aircraft exchanged weather information and the crew of Flight 255 advised that they had encoun¬tered light to moderate chop from about 15 miles southeast of the Omaha airport and that it appeared they would be out of it in another 10 miles based on their radar observations. Flight 250 terminated this conversation at approximately 2308:30. This was the last transmission received from the flight….” (NTSB 1968, pp. 3-4)

“While in Kansas City, Captain Pauly discussed the weather with the captain of another Braniff flight which had just arrived from Chicago. The captain of this latter flight stated, “I told him this was a solid line of very intense thunderstorms with contin¬uous lightning and no apparent breaks, as long and mean a one as I’d seen in a long time and I didn’t feel the radar reports gave a true picture of the intensity.” Captain Pauly replied that he hoped to be west of the line.

“Ground witnesses stated that they saw an explosion in the sky followed by a fireball falling out of the clouds. The aircraft crashed at approximately 2312, 7.6 statute miles on a true bearing of 024.5 degrees from Falls City, Nebraska, at an elevation of 1,078 feet m.s.l.

“Witnesses in the area of the accident reported that they observed the aircraft approach and either fly into or over a shelf of clouds preceding a line of thunderstorms that was approaching from the north and northwest. The clouds in the area of the accident were described as “rolling” or “boiling” in a circular motion forward from top to bottom. The cloud height was es¬timated to be from one to two thousand feet above the ground. Shortly after the accident, witnesses reported that there was a definite wind shift from south to north and that the wind increased in velocity. Estimates of the velocity varied from 30 to 60 miles per hour at different locations in the area. Rain was also reported in the accident area beginning shortly after the accident and was described, according to location, as light to moderate. All the witnesses were sure that the aircraft did not penetrate the main line of thunderstorms which was northwest of the area in which the accident occurred….” (NTSB 1968, pp. 4-5)

“The accident occurred at night with a nearly full moon visible before the cloud shelf obscured the moon and stars….”

“A review of the Braniff training procedures was made to determine the nature of the training given aircrews and flight dispatchers regarding operation in or near areas where turbulence exists or is forecast. This ground school was approved by the FAA and the initial program was monitored by that agency.

‘In regard to penetration of thunderstorms, the Flight Operations Manual read in part: “No flight shall be planned or dispatched that will knowingly require penetration of thunderstorm cells.” The manual further noted: “When more than scattered thunderstorms are forecast or known to exist along the route of flight, the flight will be planned and dispatched to avoid the area of thunderstorm activity if practicable to do so.” and, in reference to squall lines: “When a line of solid and intense storms is known or forecast to exist across the route of flight such as may be antici¬pated in severe squall or frontal activity, and detouring is not practicable, flights will be held on the ground until the line has passed, dissipated or can be circumnavigated.”

‘Since thunderstorm penetration is to be avoided, the meteorology train¬ing given to Braniff pilots did not include instruction in the optimum altitude at which a thunderstorm penetration should be made. Also, specific thunderstorm and turbulence penetration instruction is not given in the BAC 1-11 simulator although some turbulence is given the pilots during their training. This simulator can simulate a degree of turbulence which approaches “moderate”.” (NTSB 1968, 12)

“The dispatchers were aware that Flight 255 had delayed its takeoff from Sioux City because of the terminal weather at Omaha. Also, Flight 234, en route from St. Louis. to Omaha, had diverted to Kansas City after the pilot elected not to penetrate the squall line. These actions were coordinated with the dispatchers. However, the crew of Flight 250 was not informed of the actions of these other crews to avoid the weather. The dis¬patcher handling Flight 250 at the time of the accident testified that he did not believe it was necessary to pass on to Flight 250 the information concerning the diversion of Flight 234 because of the considerable distance between their respective flight paths.

“The dispatcher also testified that, if he received a severe weather warning for an area through which company aircraft were operating, it was doubtful that he would forward this information to en route aircraft. In his opinion the crews in the area would be better able to evaluate the weather than he.” (NTSB 1968, 14)

“The main body of the aircraft impacted in rolling farmland approximately 7.6 miles north-northeast of Falls City, Nebraska…. No evidence of hail damage, lightning strike or static discharge was noted on any of the sections….” (NTSB 1968)

Sources

Aircraft Crashes Record Office (Geneva, Switzerland). Nebraska. Accessed 3/9/2009 at: http://www.baaa-acro.com/Pays/Etats-Unis/Nebraska.htm

AirDisaster.Com. Accident Database. Accident Synopsis 08061966. Accessed at: http://www.airdisaster.com/cgi-bin/view_details.cgi?date=08061966&reg=N1553&airline=Braniff+Airlines

Aviation Safety Network. Accident Description. Braniff Airways Flight 250, 06 Aug 1966. Accessed 3/1/2009 at: http://aviation-safety.net/database/record.php?id=19660806-0

NationMaster.com. Encyclopedia. “List of Notable Accidents and Incidents on Commercial Aircraft.” Accessed 12-15-2008 at: http://www.nationmaster.com/encyclopedia/List-of-notable-accidents-and-incidents-on-commercial-aircraft

National Transportation Safety Board. Aircraft Accident Report. Braniff Airways, Inc., BAC 1-11m N1553 Near Falls City, Nebraska August 6, 1966 (NTSB/AAR 68-AL). Washington, DC: NTSB, Adopted April 18, 1968, 84 pages. Accessed at:
http://libraryonline.erau.edu/online-full-text/ntsb/aircraft-accident-reports/AAR68-AL.pdf

National Transportation Safety Board. NTSB Identification: DCA67A0001…Aug 06, 1966 in Falls City, NE. Accessed at: http://www.ntsb.gov/ntsb/brief.asp?ev_id=23859&key=0