Braniff Airways

Braniff Flight 352 departed Houston (HOU) at 16:11 for a flight to Dallas (DAL) and climbed to FL200. Some 25 minutes into the flight, the L-188A Electra was approaching an area of severe thunderstorm activity. The crew requested a descent to FL150 and a deviation to the west. ARTCC then advised the crew that other aircraft were deviating to the east. The Electra crew still thought it looked all right on the west and were cleared to descend to FL140 and deviate to the west. At 16:44 the flight was further cleared to descend to 5000 feet. At 16:47 the aircraft had apparently encountered an area of bad weather, including hail, and requested (and were cleared for) a 180° turn. Subsequent to the initiation of a right turn, the aircraft was upset. During the upset, N9707C rolled to the right to a bank angle in excess of 90° and pitched nose-down to approximately 40 degrees. A roll recovery maneuver was initiated and the aircraft experienced forces of 4,35 g. Part of the right wing failed and the aircraft broke up at an altitude of 6750 feet and crashed in flames a little later. There was no survivor among the 85 occupants.

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.

Crashed in unknown circumstances.

Shortly after takeoff, while in initial climb, the left engine exploded. The crew attempted to return when, during the last turn at 115°, at a speed of 80 knots, the left wing stalled and hit the ground. The aircraft cartwheeled and crashed some 600 metres from the runway end, bursting into flames. The stewardess and seven passengers were killed.
Crew:
Claude H. Seaton, pilot,
Malcolm Wallace, copilot,
Louise Zarr, stewardess.

The crew (two pilots and four engineers of the company) were conducting a local post maintenance flight out from Dallas Love Field. On final approach, the captain elected to make a go around when an engine failed while trying to climb. The aircraft went into a spin and crashed on the north shore of the Bachman Lake, short of runway. All six occupants were killed and the aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and a post crash fire.

On November 9, 1935, at approximately 0445LT within the city limits of East Fort Worth, Texas, a commercially owned airplane, while being flown without passengers, crashed with resultant death of the pilot and the complete destruction of the aircraft. The airplane, a Lockheed Vega, model 5C, was owned and operated by Braniff Airway Inc., Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and bore Department of Commerce licence n° NC980Y. At the time of the accident it was being ferried from Dallas to Waco, Texas, via Fort Worth, and no passengers were permitted to be carried. The pilot, William C. Maus of Waco, Texas, held a Department of Commerce transport pilot's licence and a scheduled air transport rating. The take-off was accomplished at 0410LT, the airplane carrying a 5-hour gasoline supply. The ceiling at Dallas was 1,000 feet with 8 miles visibility. Fort Worth at the time had a ceiling of 500 feet with 7 miles visibility. It had not been the intention of the pilot to land at Fort Worth but to fly beyond it to a lighted airway leading into Waco, Texas, his destination. By the time Fort Worth was reached the ceiling had dropped to about 75 feet and the visibility was zero. This change in weather was broadcast to the pilot from Fort Worth with instructions that he return to Dallas. Whether or not the pilot received this broadcast is not known inasmuch as his airplane was not equipped with two-way radio. However, he had plenty of fuel and could have easily returned to Dallas, where the weather had remained constant, or have flown on to Houston, where the ceiling was practically unlimited. Reports from various people who heard the airplane overhead and saw the accident indicate that the pilot was attempting to get under the 75-foot ceiling, presumably to locate the airport. He was heard flying around for some time and made two complete circles at a low altitude in the immediate vicinity of the accident. Immediately preceding the crash the airplane appeared diving out of the mist. The engine was heard to accelerate as through the pilot had just caught sight of the ground and was making an effort to pull the airplane out of the dive before striking. The aircraft was destroyed by impact forces and the pilot was killed.

The pilot was performing a night mail flight from Kansas City to Chicago. While approaching Columbia, he encountered icing conditions and decided to make an emergency landing. The airplane went out of control and crashed in a open field near a road. The pilot, sole on board, was killed.

En route from Kansas City to Chicago, the crew encountered poor weather conditions with snow falls. The crew decided to divert to Kewanee for an emergency landing. On approach, the airplane impacted the roof of a barn and crashed. Two passengers were killed and four other occupants were injured.

After takeoff from Chicago Airport, while climbing to a height of 700 feet, the engine failed. The crew elected to return and initiated a turn to the right when the airplane stalled and crashed, bursting into flames. The aircraft was destroyed and both crew members were killed.