Page:CAB Accident Report, American Airlines Flight 20.pdf/21

 having been warned of the possible arrival of the storm front, would have been expected to exercise his own judgment in attempting a landing.

Although weather conditions at Columbus were consistently better than those at Cincinnati, there was nothing in the weather reports transmitted to Captain Bryant en route which would indicate that he should not have attempted to land at Cincinnati. Nor did three pilots of American who landed during the hour preceding the arrival of Trip 20 report any unusual weather conditions. Throughout Captain Bryant's whole landing approach, conditions remained above contact minimums by a substantial margin. Until just before Captain Bryant's plane contacted the ground there were no indication that a landing could not be made without undue interference from the weather. The sudden rain squall which hit the aircraft just as the wheels touched the ground was a condition which could not reasonably have been anticipated.

At the time on the accident it had rained continuously at Cincinnati for more than four hours and the area of the airport outside of the paved runways was slippery. Otherwise the surface of the airport was in good condition. The airport electrician testified that hourly observations and reports on the evening of the accident revealed that all obstruction, boundary, hazard, and range lights were burning continuously. However, it is important to note that his hourly observations were made from the airport control tower and that from this point all of the obstruction and range lights could not be seen. Among those hidden from view from the airport control tower were one of the green range lights at each end of runway 3-6. Captain Bryant and First Officer Murray stated at the time of their landing only one green light was burning at the north end of runway 3-6 and that they never saw the lights at the south end of the runway during the