Cecil Ewell, the chief pilot and vice president of flight operations at the time the MD-82 crash landed in Little Rock just before midnight on June 1 with 145 people on board, said he would never attempt to land in the conditions present that night and believed the overwhelming majority of his pilots wouldn't either. The motion, by some of the passengers and families suing American Airlines, asks U.S. District Judge Henry Woods for a partial summary judgment against the airline. Ewell, Flight 1420 co-pilot Michael Origel and flight attendant Laurie Nelson were questioned under oath last week in Dallas by a committee of lawyers representing many of the passengers who were returning June 1 from overseas trips. The motion contends that their testimony proves that American Airlines did not do everything humanly possible to prevent the crash, which killed pilot Richard Buschmann and 10 passengers.
More depositions are to be taken next week.
The plaintiffs in Tuesday's filing are subject to the limitations of the Warsaw Convention, an international treaty that dates to the 1930s. The current interpretation of the convention prohibits suing for punitive damages. Woods has said that he would stand by that interpretation. The airline has said 42 of the 139 passengers were international travelers. Of the 10 who died, nine were Warsaw Convention cases.