American Airlines Flight 1420

An American Airlines MD-82 similar to the one involved

Seat chart for American Airlines Flight 1420 created by the NTSB, revealing the location of passengers and lack of injury, severity of injuries, and deaths

The aircraft involved in the incident was a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 (registration N215AA[2]), a derivative of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and part of the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series of aircraft.[1]^:12 It was delivered new to American Airlines in 1983, and had been operated continuously by the airline since, accumulating a total of 49,136 flight hours.[1]^:12 The aircraft was powered by Pratt & Whitney JT8D-217C turbofan jet engines.[1]^:12

The aircraft was equipped with X-band weather radar, which is susceptible to attenuation during heavy precipitation, and did not have an attenuation alert to warn the flight crew of system impairment during heavy rainfall.[1]^:13 The radar weather system had a forward-looking design that offered the flight crew only a limited field of view in front of the aircraft.[1]^:116

Flight 1420 was commanded by Captain Richard Buschmann, age 48, a very experienced chief pilot with 10,234 total flight hours, of which approximately half were accumulated flying the MD-80 series of aircraft.[1]^:10 Buschmann graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1972, serving in the Air Force until 1979. He held the rank of lieutenant colonel with the US Air Force Reserve Command, and was hired by American Airlines in July 1979. Experienced at flying the Boeing 727 for American, he transitioned to flying the twin-engine McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series in 1991.[3]

The flight's first officer was Michael Origel, age 35.[1]^:10 The first officer had been with the airline for less than a year, and had only 182 hours of flight time with American Airlines as an MD-80 pilot.[1]^:11 However, the first officer had trained as a pilot with the United States Navy and had prior commercial flight experience as a corporate pilot, with a total of 4,292 hours of experience at the time of the incident.[1]^:11

Flight 1420 was staffed with four flight attendants, all of whom were qualified on the MD-80 and had recently received refresher training on emergency procedures.[1]^:11

Flight 1420 was scheduled to depart DFW at 20:28 Central Daylight Time and arrive in Little Rock at 21:41.[1]^:1 However, the flight crew was advised before boarding that the departure would be delayed, and that the National Weather Service had issued in-flight weather advisories indicating severe thunderstorms along the planned flight path.[1]^:2 Adverse weather caused the plane that was intended for Flight 1420 to be delayed in arriving at DFW.[1]^:2 Airline policy set a maximum pilot duty time of 14 hours, and Flight 1420 was the flight crew's last flight of the day. The first officer notified the airline's flight dispatcher that the flight crew would therefore be unable to depart after 23:16.[1]^:2 The airline substituted another MD-80, tail number N215AA, which allowed Flight 1420 to depart DFW at 22:40.[1]^:2

At 23:04, air traffic controllers issued a weather advisory indicating severe thunderstorms in an area that included the Little Rock airport,[1]^:2 and the flight crew witnessed lightning while on approach.[1]^:3 The flight crew discussed the weather reports but decided to expedite the approach rather than diverting to the designated alternate airport (Nashville International Airport) or returning to DFW.[1]^:2–3

Air traffic control at Little Rock had originally told Flight 1420 to expect an approach to runway 22L. However, at 23:39 a controller advised the crew of a wind-shear alert and a change in wind direction.[1]^:3 As a result, Captain Buschmann requested a change to Runway 4R so that the flight would have a headwind during landing, and Flight 1420 was cleared for a visual approach to this runway.[1]^:4 Because the plane was already close to the airport, the controller had to direct it away to line it up for a landing on 4R.[1]^:116 As a result, Flight 1420 faced away from the airport for several minutes, and because the plane's weather radar had a narrow and forward-facing field of view, the flight crew could not see thunderstorms approaching the airport during their turn.[1]^:116 As the aircraft approached, a severe thunderstorm arrived over the airport, and at 23:44 the first officer notified the controller that the crew had lost sight of the runway.[1]^:4 The controller then cleared the aircraft to land on 4R using an instrument landing system (ILS) approach.[1]^:4

The pilots rushed to land as soon as possible, leading to errors in judgment that included the crew's failure to complete the airline's pre-landing checklist before landing.[1]^:122 This was a crucial event in the accident chain, as the crew overlooked multiple critical landing systems on the checklist. The flight crew failed to arm the automatic spoiler system, which automatically moves the spoiler control lever and deploys the spoilers upon landing.[1]^:15–16 The pilots also failed to set the plane's automatic braking system.[1]^:21 The flight crew also failed to set landing flaps, another item on the pre-flight checklist, but as the plane descended past 1,000 feet (300 m), the first officer realized the flaps were not set and the flight crew set a 40-degree flap setting for landing.[1]^:123

At 23:49:32, the controller issued the last weather report before Flight 1420 landed, advising that winds at the airport were 330 degrees at 25 knots.[1]^:6 The reported winds exceeded the MD-82's 20-knot crosswind limit for landing in reduced visibility on a wet runway.[1]^:3 Despite the excessive crosswind and two wind-shear reports, Captain Buschmann did not abandon the aircraft's approach into Little Rock, instead deciding to continue the approach to 4R.

The aircraft touched down on Runway 4R at 23:50:20. About two seconds after the wheels touched down, First Officer Origel stated, "We're down. We're sliding!" Because the pilots failed to arm the autospoiler, the spoilers did not deploy automatically on landing, and the flight crew did not deploy them manually.[1]^:167 Autospoilers and autobrakes are essential to ensure the plane's ability to stop within the confines of a wet runway, especially one that is being subjected to strong and gusting winds. Spoilers disrupt the airflow over the wings, prevent them from generating lift, and cause more of the plane's weight to be borne by the landing gear. About 65 percent of Flight 1420's weight would have been supported by the plane's landing gear if the spoilers had been deployed, but without the spoilers this number dropped to only 15 percent.[1]^:134 With the light loading of the landing gear, the aircraft's brakes were ineffective at slowing down the plane, which continued down the runway at high speed.[1]^:134–135 Directional control was lost when Captain Buschmann applied too much reverse thrust, which reduced the effectiveness of the plane's rudder and vertical stabilizer.[1]^:135–136

The aircraft continued past the end of the runway, traveling another 800 feet and striking a security fence and an ILS localizer array. The aircraft then collided with a structure built to support the approach lights for Runway 22L, which extended out into the Arkansas River.[1]^:43 Such structures are usually frangible, designed to shear off on impact, but because the approach lights were located on the unstable river bank, they were firmly anchored.[1]^:159 The collision with the sturdy structure crushed the airplane's nose and destroyed the left side of the plane's fuselage, from the cockpit back to the first two rows of coach seating.[1]^:159 The impact broke the aircraft apart into large sections, which came to a rest short of the river bank.[1]^:43

Captain Buschmann and 10 of the plane's 139 passengers died in the crash, including two passengers who died in the hospital in the weeks that followed.[1]^:47[4] First Officer Origel, three of the four flight attendants, and 41 passengers sustained serious injuries, the remaining flight attendant and 64 passengers sustained minor injuries, and 24 passengers sustained no injuries.[1]^:47

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigated the crash.

Multiple lawsuits were filed after the crash, and on December 15, 1999, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation consolidated the various federal lawsuits for consolidated and coordinated pretrial proceedings and assigned the case to the late United States District Court Senior Judge Henry Woods of the Eastern District of Arkansas. In the lawsuits, the passengers sought compensatory and punitive damages from American Airlines.

Judge Woods separated the passenger cases into those involving domestic and international passengers, because different laws governed the rights of the claimants in each category. For example, passengers traveling on international tickets were prohibited by an international treaty (the Warsaw Convention) from recovering punitive damages. Therefore, Woods ruled that only the domestic passengers would be permitted to pursue punitive damages claims.[7]

The compensatory damages claims proceeded first. American Airlines "admitted liability for the crash and individual trials were scheduled to assess the proper amount of compensatory damages. Thereafter American Airlines reached settlement agreements with a majority of the domestic Plaintiffs."[8]

"Three compensatory damages trials involving domestic Plaintiffs were ultimately tried to a jury and awards of $5.7 million, $3.4 million and $4.2 million were made."[8] These three Plaintiffs pursued but ultimately lost their claims for punitive damages. The District Court granted summary judgment in American Airlines' favor on punitive damages, finding under Arkansas law the evidence was insufficient to submit the issue to a jury to decide.[8] This ruling was later upheld on appeal.[9]

In the only liability trial arising out of the crash of Flight 1420, a federal jury in Little Rock awarded Captain Buschmann's family $2 million in wrongful-death damages following a lawsuit they had filed against Little Rock National Airport.[10] The jury decided Buschmann's death occurred because the aircraft collided with illegal non-frangible approach light supports erected in what should have been the runway safety area. It was concluded that the airport failed to comply with airport safety standards. Buschmann's estate presented evidence that the spoilers were deployed and had malfunctioned (not through the captain's fault), and that the aircraft did not encounter turbulence.[11] The jury rejected the airport's argument that Buschmann was at fault in causing his own death.[10]

It has been stated the jury verdict completely absolved Buschmann of all fault for the crash.[11] However, the NTSB has not changed its probable cause ruling, and American Airlines admitted liability for the crash and "paid many millions of dollars in damages to the passengers and their families."[10]

About 10 years after the crash, David Rapoport, a lawyer who was a member of the court-appointed Plaintiffs' Steering Committee,[12] stated that "after all these years [whether Captain Buschmann was "absolved" of all responsibility for the crash] is still a matter reasonable people who are fully informed may disagree on", however, there should be consensus "flight operations should not be conducted in the terminal area when thunderstorms are on the flight path; and non-frangible objects should not be placed where it is foreseeable an aircraft may go."[10]

• The events of Flight 1420 were featured in "Racing the Storm", a Season 1 (2003) episode of the Canadian TV series Mayday[5] (called Air Emergency and Air Disasters in the U.S. and Air Crash Investigation in the UK and elsewhere around the world). The dramatization was broadcast in the United States with the title "Fatal Landing". The flight was also included in a Mayday Season 8 (2009) Science of Disaster special titled "Cruel Skies",[13] which looked at the role of bad weather in aviation disasters.
• The Weather Channel detailed the story of the flight on an episode of Storm Stories, as did the Biography Channel on the show Flightmares.

A 2004 memorial ceremony was held adjacent to the airport. Survivor Jeana Varnell attended the ceremony and, in a newspaper article, strongly objected to memorializing Captain Buschmann.[14]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to American Airlines Flight 1420.

• Weather satellite imagery (Archive)
• Essay by Survivor Sharon Angleman
• Graphic showing what happened during the last seconds of the crash
• Transcript of cockpit voice recorder
• Story on the crash from Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
• Graphics showing weather radar from around the time of the crash
• Pre-crash photos of N215AA
• Photo of the Crashed Aircraft
• Passenger manifest of AA1420 (Archive)
• Dutch explanation of Crosswind Certification (Archive)