Jet’s Pilot Had Been on Duty for 13 1/2 Hours

American Airlines pilot Richard Buschmann had been on duty for 13 1/2 hours as he tried to land in a severe thunderstorm.

Capt. Buschmann, who had significant experience with MD-80 jets, was nearing his maximum of about 14 hours on duty when the plane skidded off an Arkansas runway shortly before midnight Tuesday.

The jet crashed against a light tower at Little Rock National Airport and burst into flames, killing at least nine people, including Buschmann.

American’s chief pilot, Cecil Ewell, said such long days and difficult flying conditions are not talked about often but are not infrequent.

Buschmann was the airline’s chief pilot in Chicago, with 9,600 flight hours, 5,500 of them on MD-80s, the twin-engine jet that crashed.

His experience qualified him to check other American pilots on their handling of that aircraft, American spokeswoman Andrea Rader said.

He and the other pilot in the cockpit, First Officer Michael Origel, were nearing their federally regulated maximum of about 14 hours when the plane crashed. Their scheduled 11-hour day, with three flights, ran long because of delays, including thunderstorms in Texas.