Braniff International Airways Flight 250

Braniff International Airways Flight 250 crashed near Falls City, Nebraska, on August 6, 1966, en route to Omaha from Kansas City, Missouri. Thirty-eight passengers and four crew members were killed in the crash, which occurred in a farm field late on a Saturday night. In-flight structural failure due to extreme turbulence in an avoidable weather hazard was cited as the cause.

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 BAC-1-11. He possessed type ratings in other aircraft including the DC-3, DC-6, DC-7, and the Convair family.

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.

Flight

(All times Central Standard Time (UTC–6); Daylight time was used only in Minnesota 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. It departed Kansas City at 22:55 on an IFR clearance to Omaha at FL200 (20000 ft). However, the crew asked if they could remain at 5000 ft because of the weather. The flight remained at 6000 ft until permission was received at 23:06 to descend to 5,000 feet. 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 updraft within an area of active squall line of severe thunderstorms. The 1-11 violently accelerated upward and in a left roll. At this time the right tailplane and the vertical stabilizer 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 entering a flat spin before impacting the ground, approximately midway between Kansas City and Omaha. The probable cause was in-flight structural failure caused by extreme turbulence during operation of the aircraft in an area of avoidable hazardous weather.

This was the first fatal crash of a BAC 1-11 in the United States; it occurred in southeast Nebraska in Richardson County on a farm, about 7 mi north-northeast of Falls City, in a soybean field only 500 ft from a farmhouse. 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. The elevation of the site is approximately 1100 ft above sea level.