American Airlines Flight 1420

American Airlines Flight 1420

N215AA's final resting place, having overrun the runway and crashed into the runway landing lights.
Accident summary
Date	June 1, 1999
Summary	Runway excursion in inclement weather due to pilot error
Site	Little Rock National Airport Little Rock, Arkansas, United States
Passengers	139
Crew	6
Fatalities	11 (10 passengers; the captain)
Injuries (non-fatal)	110
Survivors	134
Aircraft type	McDonnell Douglas MD-82
Operator	American Airlines
Registration	N215AA
Flight origin	Dallas/Fort Worth Int'l Airport
Destination	Little Rock National Airport

American Airlines Flight 1420 was a flight from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) to Little Rock National Airport in the United States. On June 1, 1999, the McDonnell Douglas MD-82 operating for Flight 1420 overran the runway upon landing in Little Rock and crashed. 11 of the 145 people aboard, the captain and ten passengers, were killed in the crash.

The aircraft involved in the incident was a McDonnell Douglas MD-82 (registration N215AA), a derivative of the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 and part of the McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series of aircraft. 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. The aircraft was equipped with Pratt & Whitney JT8D-217C turbofan jet engines.

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

Flight 1420 was helmed by Captain Richard Buschmann, age 48. Captain Buschmann was a very experienced chief pilot for American Airlines with 10,234 total flight hours, of which approximately half were accumulated flying the MD-80 series of aircraft. Buschmann graduated from the United States Air Force Academy in 1972, serving in the Air Force until 1979. Buschmann 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-engined McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series in 1991.