Investigators inspect the American Airlines jet crash in Arkansas in June 1999

January 26, 2000
Web posted at: 2:59 p.m. EST (1959 GMT)

In this story: Pilots were warned about the weather NTSB to look at weather, flight crew and airplane RELATED STORIES, SITES

From staff and wire reports

LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas -- The pilot and co-pilot of American Airlines Flight 1420 talked about being "way off" course shortly before their plane touched down in a thunderstorm, skidded off the runway and crashed last year, killing 11 people, including the captain.

VIDEO CNN's Carl Rochelle hears from the co-pilot and others. Windows Media 28K 80K Watch an animation of what the NTSB thinks the plane looked like during the approach and crash 56 sec/1.9Mb QuickTime movie   MESSAGE BOARD Air safety

The National Transportation Safety Board on Wednesday released a transcript from the plane's cockpit voice recorder.

About a minute before landing, Capt. Richard Buschmann complained: "This is a can of worms," but continued toward the airport. When the plane was several hundred feet from the runway, Buschmann, who died in the crash, uttered an expletive and said, "We're off course."

"We're way off," co-pilot Michael Origel replied.

The transcript was made public just before the NTSB opened a three-day hearing into the crash. The MD82 aircraft was heading from Dallas to Little Rock, Arkansas, with 139 passengers and a crew of six on board when it crashed on June 1, 1999.

The crash was the deadliest on U.S. soil in 1999, although 217 were killed in the crash of an EgyptAir jet off the coast of Massachusetts in October.

Safety inspectors will focus on the decision to continue the plane's approach in bad weather

Transcripts previously released by the Federal Aviation Administration reveal conversations between the cockpit and the Little Rock control tower describing a break in the storms, called a "bowling alley," through which the pilots could try to reach the airport.

Buschmann is heard on the cockpit recording saying, "This is the bowling alley right here," shortly before beginning his descent.

But several times, the two pilots make references to getting to the airport "as soon as we can," as Origel put it.

As the plane closed in on the runway, the controllers warned the crew that weather at the airport was getting rough.

Richard Buschmann, senior captain, died in the crash

"American 1420, Little Rock Approach, roger, we have a thunderstorm just northwest of the airport moving through the area now," the control tower said.

The storm was kicking up winds gusts of 44 knots or 51 mph -- winds strong enough to rock the jet. The tower repeatedly warned of strong thunderstorms and high winds, and gave the plane a "wind shear alert" about two minutes before it was to have touched down shortly before midnight. Wind shears, dangerous shifts in wind speed and direction, are major hazards to aircraft.

"It's kind of rocking and rolling here," one controller said.

Buschmann, one of American's most senior captains, was at the controls of Flight 1420. He and Origel had been working for 13 hours and this was the last stop of the day. The plane touched down, then skidded off the end of the runway, ran down a bank and crashed into the steel supports for the airport navigation system.

It took airport emergency crews nearly 10 minutes to reach the crash site

The plane broke apart and caught fire.

The NTSB hearing will focus on the crew's decision to continue their approach to the airport despite the severe weather and on whether fatigue clouded the crew's judgment.

Investigators also will try to determine why Flight 1420's spoilers weren't deployed. The devices should have helped slow the jet. And the probe will also look into why airport emergency crews initially went to the wrong end of the runway. It took them nearly 10 minutes to reach the crash site.

The hearing is expected to run through Friday. Witnesses will include the co-pilot. A final report on the crash may take six months to complete.

Correspondent Carl Rochelle and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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