Widow of Pilot Awarded $2.1M in Ark. Crash
By DAVID HAMMER
The Associated Press
Thursday, June 2, 2005; 11:22 PM
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. -- A federal jury Thursday ordered the Little Rock National Airport to pay more than $2.1 million to the widow of a pilot killed when his American Airlines jet crashed during a severe thunderstorm six years ago.
While the National Transportation Safety Board had cited errors by Capt. Richard Buschmann, his widow Susan sued the airport in an effort to clear his name. She said the airport had a runway safety zone that failed to meet government standards.
Jurors deliberated less than a half-day before ruling. They rejected the airport's argument that Buschmann contributed to his own death _ and the deaths of 10 others _ when he elected to land during bad weather.
Flight 1420 sped off a runway near the Arkansas River on June 1, 1999. The plane, still traveling about 90 mph, hit a structure supporting approach lights, broke apart and caught fire. Witnesses said the light tower was 453 feet off the north end of the runway _ shy of the government's 1,000-foot standard.
After the accident, the airport reconfigured the safety area to remove obstructions.
"I feel like my husband's been exonerated," Susan Buschmann said after the verdict. After jurors left the room, she hugged her lawyers.
Defense lawyers said they would consider an appeal.
In closing arguments, Susan Buschmann's lawyer had told jurors to ask themselves why the approach light system was so close to the runway and why wasn't it designed to break away on impact.
"How could anybody justify putting that two-story steel structure in a place where an airplane is supposed to be safe?" attorney Arthur Wolk asked.
Wolk repeatedly took offense at the airport's lawyers and witnesses' questioning of Buschmann's piloting skills, saying they were impugning a dead man "who can't stand up for himself."
Defense lawyer Richard Watts asked the jury to look at the evidence and not be swayed by such emotional appeals.
"There's no indication that Richard Buschmann wasn't that type of (skillful) pilot, a family man and a good man. (Evidence) simply says that on that night, he was human and made mistakes," Watts said.
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