Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

Crash Kills OBU Student; Attorney Wants Probe

A student at Ouachita Baptist University lost his life in the crash of flight 1420 Tuesday, June 2.

The student, James Harrison, 21, of Paragould, was a member of the OBU choir returning to Arkadelphia after touring and performing in Austria and Germany.

While authorities with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) are working to determine the cause of the crash, others are thankful just to still be alive.

One of those is Randy Hill, an Arkadelphia attorney and municipal judge.

Hill was returning home after having traveled to Phoenix, Ariz., on legal matters. The flight, he said, was delayed in Dallas because of weather, but was supposed to be smooth from Dallas to Little Rock.

The flight took off from Dallas-Fort Worth Airport (DFW) at 10:40 p.m., Hill said, under ideal weather conditions.

However, as the trip continued its fateful journey to Little Rock, a light show could be seen out the windows, Hill said. "When the plane began to descend to Little Rock we could see a horrible storm in the west. Whenever it lightninged you could see the storm coming toward us."

The plane circled the runway once on approach. "As we came back around," he said, "we were in the middle of the storm. I said, 'I can't believe they were going to try and land. We'll crash.'

"I've flown hundreds of times, and when we hit the runway, we hit it hard and hot too fast."

According to Hill, the pilot hit the reverse thrusters to slow the plane down as it skidded along the runway.

"I felt it fishtail," he said. "We passed the terminal fast, run off the runway, hit something and quit moving." The something the plane hit was approach lights several hundred feet past the runway, along with a walkway.

This collision ripped off the left wing and broke the plane into two pieces. The aircraft came to rest in two sections about 50 yards from the Arkansas River.

Hill was literally sitting where the plane fractured and was fortunate to escape with his life. Behind him was nothing but fire racing his direction.

"I pushed an opening enough to get out sideways," he said. People were screaming. I managed to open the gap eight or 10 feet and fell, got hung and was drenched with jet fuel.

"I thought I would burn up," Hill continued, "and managed to kick myself free. I lost my shoes but got up and ran."

He said it was hailing horribly at the time, pelting those who escaped the plane without mercy. The winds were high as well, while the lightning crashed close by, he said.

"My hair was standing on end. I found some elderly people and girls, and we hid behind a bale of hay for protection."

After about an hour, he continued, the first emergency truck arrived to fight the fire.

"I could do nothing," he said.

Hill was taken to Southwest Hospital in Little Rock where he was treated for injured ribs, cuts and bruises and released. Wednesday, he went to see his family physician for further treatment.

"I hate to complain while others have died," Hill said. "I saw things no one should see."

The barrister was also concerned about being killed without getting the chance to see his first born child. He and his wife, Jessica, are expecting their first child, a daughter, any time, though the delivery date is June 26.

Hill said there was no reason for the plane to be cleared to land in such severe weather conditions. It could have been diverted to Memphis, or sent back to Dallas instead, he said.

"Someone is at fault," he said. "The fault lies with the person giving the go-ahead to land. I don't know who made the decision, but there's no way we should have tried to land."

The pilot, he said, had been flying for 14 hours and this wasn't his regular plane. "They risked a lot of people's lives," he continued. "A lot of people I care about from Arkadelphia were on this plane."

Jeff Root, with the OBU public relations office, said the Ouachita Singers were on board. He said this was an audition choir and had been on tour in Germany and Austria.

There were 19 students on board the plane, with six others from OBU, for a total of 25 from the college.

Of these, one was lost forever, Harrison.

Root said all of the choir wasn't on the plane at the time. Others had departed at other sites to go home for the summer.

One of the survivors had distant ties to Gurdon, Carla Koen, who's father was from the area. Koen works as a copy editor for the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette.

Koen, according to a Democrat-Gazette story, was trampled while hanging and trying to get free of the wreckage.

She dangled upside down from a hole in the side of the plane while a panicked man screamed at her. Koen's left leg was trapped.

This left her helpless as others spilled out over the top of her, fighting to get out and survive the crash. None, Koen said, stopped to help her escape.

Koen was eventually able to free herself, but sliced her right hand in so doing. She was later taken to Arkansas Children's Hospital for treatment.

About 10 minutes after flight 1420 left Dallas for Little Rock, a severe thunderstorm warning predicting winds as high as 80 miles per hour was issued for the area.

As the plane approached, the winds at Adams Field were clocked at 43 mph, with gusts up to 87 mph as the plane approached the runway, according to a Democrat-Gazette article.

In all, nine people lost their lives on flight 1420, while 86 were injured.

Investigation into the accident continues at this time.