Scheduled Revenue Flight

Flight 322 was a scheduled domestic flight from Cairo to Aswan and return with an intermediate stop at Luxor. It departed Cairo at 0700 hours GMT and the sectors Cairo - Luxor, Luxor - Aswan and Aswan - Luxor were uneventful. At 1128 hours the aircraft was ready for the last sector Luxor - Cairo and at 1130 hours it entered the second taxiway to Runway 20 at Luxor and shortly thereafter it was cleared for take-off. Instead of back-tracking on Runway 20 the pilot took off directly from the point he entered the runway, approximately 400 m from its threshold. During the take-off run the pilot-in-command and the co-pilot saw a camel entering the runway from east to west approximately 700 m in front of them. The speed of the aircraft at that time was about 160 km/h. In an attempt to avoid a collision with the camel, the pilot-in-command deviated the aircraft slightly to the right and took off as soon as he could; however, the right wheel struck the camel while the aircraft was about 2 m above the ground. The right landing gear bracing was broken by the impact and although several attempts to retract the undercarriage were made the right gear could not be retracted whilst the left and nose gears were locked in the "up" position. The pilot-in-command decided to complete the flight and to carry out a wheels-up landing at Cairo Airport where more ground facilities were available. He landed the aircraft wheels up at 1402 hours on a sand strip to the right of Runway 34 at Cairo Airport. There were no injuries among the 43 occupants while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

On 22 September 1966, the Viscount 832 aircraft registered VH-RMI, was engaged on a regular public transport service, designated Flight 149, from Mt. Isa to Longreach in Queensland, Australia, with a crew of four and twenty passengers on board. The flight departed from Mt. Isa at 1208 hours Australian Eastern Standard Time climbing to Flight Level 175 with an expected time interval of 73 minutes to Longreach. The flight progressed, apparently uneventfully, until 1252 hours when the Longreach Flight Service Unit heard the crew of VH-RMI say that it was on an emergency descent and to stand by. Two minutes later the aircraft advised that there were fire warnings in respect of Nos. 1 and 2 engines, that one of these warning conditions had ceased and that the propeller of the other engine could not be feathered. At 1259 hours information from the crew of VH-RMI, relayed to Longreach through the crew of another aircraft in the vicinity, indicated that there was a visible fire in No. 2 engine and that the aircraft was diverting below 5 000 ft to Winton. The town of Winton is located some 20 miles to port of the planned track and is 90 miles short of Longreach. No further communications were received from the aircraft but at 1303 hours a number of people located in the Winton area saw black smoke in the air west of the town, and it was subsequently established that this was associated with VH-RMI which had crashed in light timber on level ground some 131 miles short of the Winton aerodrome. The aircraft disintegrated on impact and all 24 occupants have been killed.

The aircraft took off from Tenerife airport at 0821. After two minutes of flight the propeller of the left engine began overspeeding. The pilot-in-command applied the normal overspeed procedures, but obtained no response to the manoeuvre. He then actuated the feathering mechanism but this also was ineffective and as the aircraft was losing height he was obliged to ditch it approximately one mile from the coast, since the orography of the locality made a landing impossible. The ditching took place normally. The aircraft remained afloat approximately five minutes and then sank carrying with it one of the passengers who refused to abandon it and who had impeded the evacuation of the other passengers and resisted the efforts of the pilot-in-command and hostess to get him to safety.

The aircraft was performing a flight from Batumi to Sukhumi with an intermediate stop at Poti. Ten minutes after take off from Batumi Airport, while cruising at a height of 250 meters some two km offshore, the engine failed. The crew decided to ditch the aircraft into the Black Sea near a fishing vessel some 1,8 km off Cape Tsikhisdziri. A passenger was killed while all 11 other occupants were rescued and picked up by the crew of the fishing vessel. The aircraft sank and the wreckage was recovered from a depth of some 34-36 meters on 14SEP1966.

During takeoff run at Arkhangelsk-Talaghi Airport, the crew encountered control problems. As the airplane was unstable, the captain decided to abort the takeoff procedure and started an emergency brake maneuver. Unable to stop within the remaining distance, the aircraft overrun and came to rest. Ten passengers were injured while all 111 other occupants were unhurt. The aircraft was considered as damaged beyond repair due to heavy structural damages.

En route, the seaplane went into an uncontrolled descent and crashed in flames in a glacier located in the region of Juneau. The wreckage was found few hours later in a crevasse and all nine occupants have been killed.

Shortly after takeoff from Al Azaiba Airport, the airplane encountered difficulties to gain height. It struck trees, stalled and crashed 500 meters past the runway end. All 20 occupants were rescued while the aircraft was damaged beyond repair.

En route from Brașov to Constanţa, the airplane crashed in unknown circumstances in the Lotrioara Valley. All 24 occupants were killed, among them 2 Austrian citizens.

Flight 250 was a scheduled domestic passenger/cargo flight 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 departed from New Orleans at 1835 hours CST and arrived at Kansas City without reported incident. It departed from Kansas City at 2255 hours on an IFR clearance to Omaha via Jet Route 41 at FL 200. Just prior to take-off, the flight was restricted to 5 000 ft due to conflicting traffic. When the flight was about 12 miles north of Kansas City, control of the aircraft was transferred to the Kansas City Air Route Traffic Control Centre (ARTCC). Radar contact was confirmed and the flight was cleared to climb to and maintain FL 200. After some discussion with ARTCC about the weather the flight crew advised that they would like to maintain 5 000 ft to Omaha. They reported they were at 6 000 ft and ARTCC cleared the flight to maintain that altitude until 5 000 ft was available. At 2303 hours 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 hours the Kansas City controller cleared the flight to descend to and maintain 5 000 ft 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 ft climbing to 17 000 ft after departing Omaha. The crews of the two aircraft exchanged weather information and the crew of Flight 255 advised that they had encountered light to moderate turbulence 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 hours. This was the last transmission received from the flight. Ground witnesses stated that they observed the aircraft approach and either fly into or over a shelf of clouds preceding a line of thunderstorms that was approaching frbm the north and northwest, and that shortly thereafter they saw an explosion in the sky followed by a fireball falling out of the clouds. The aircraft crashed at approximately 2312 hours, 7.6 statute miles on a true bearing of 024.50 from Falls City, Nebraska, at an elevation of 1 078 ft AMSL. All 42 occupants have been killed.

Shortly after takeoff from Medellín Airport, while climbing, the engine failed. The pilot elected to make an emergency landing when control was lost. The airplane crashed in flames an industrial area located near the airport, killing all eight occupants.