Appleton - Minneapolis - Lincoln

On June 12, 1980 at 03:46 PM, Appleton - Minneapolis - Lincoln experienced a crash involving Swearingen SA226 Metro II, operated by Air Wisconsin, with the event recorded near Valley Nebraska.

The flight was categorized as scheduled revenue flight and the reported phase was flight at a plain, valley crash site.

15 people were known to be on board, 13 fatalities were recorded, 2 survivors were identified or estimated. This corresponds to an estimated fatality rate of 86.7%.

Crew on board: 2, crew fatalities: 2, passengers on board: 13, passenger fatalities: 11, other fatalities: 0.

The listed crash cause is technical failure. The airplane departed Appleton, Wisconsin, at 1245LT on a regular schedule service (ZW965) to Lincoln, Nebraska, with an intermediate stop in Minneapolis. En route, while cruising at 12,000 feet, the crew encountered moderate turbulences and precipitation and was cleared to descend to 8,000 feet then later at 6,000 feet. As turbulences were getting worse, the crew was later cleared to descend to 4,000 feet and finally 3,000 feet. While descending to 6,000 feet, massive water ingestion caused both engines to lose power simultaneously. Both engines were restarted but the Metro couldn't recover and struck a muddy field in a slight nose down, right wing-down attitude. The aircraft bounced and hit the ground 288 feet further on. The plane skidded 1,022 feet before coming to rest inverted. There was no fire. Two passengers were seriously injured while 13 other occupants were killed.

Aircraft reference details include registration N650S, MSN TC-228, year of manufacture 1977.

Geospatial coordinates for this crash are approximately 41.5596°, -98.9805°.