With the stabilizer angled 3.1 degrees toward nose down, more than the design maximum of 2.5 degrees, flight 261 immediately entered a high-speed dive, hurtling downward at more than 6,000 feet per minute. He had flown for four decades and worked for Alaska Airlines since 1985. Still descending at high speed, flight 261s engines proved unable to keep combustion going in such an unusual attitude and started to stall with a series of loud bangs. Not according to that its not, said Tansky. An accountant with MPL2.com in Bellevue, he was traveling with the Ryan family and several friends. We did both the pickle switches and the suitcase handles, he told the maintenance technician, and it ran away full nose trim down., And now were in a pinch, Thompson continued, so were holding, uh, were worse than we were.. The flight departs from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and arrives in Haines, Skip to content Within the next several minutes the pilots expected to pass abeam Los Angeles off the coast, and they were strongly considering a diversion to LAX, given that none of their troubleshooting had fixed the problem. The airline extended numerous maintenance intervals, while simultaneously skimping on personnel and training. The problem, again, was a lack of redundancy: if the threads on the nut failed, there was no other structure that could absorb the load, and the catastrophic failure of the trim system leading to the loss of the airplane was inevitable. On board the stricken MD-83, the pilots managed to slow the dive somewhat, pulling up from 70 degrees nose down to 28 degrees, but the plane remained inverted, falling upside down toward the rapidly approaching ocean at a high rate of speed. And at the same time, the increased inspection interval meant that it was now possible for a jackscrew nut to pass an inspection, later receive inadequate lubrication, and then wear down to the point of failure, all before the next inspection came around. Lives would have been saved if they had. Having decided not to touch the trim system anymore, the crew now performed some final tests of the airplanes low speed handling. Even though the pilots fought for control for a short period, an MD-80 will not LOS ANGELES -- Federal authorities have arrested a former Alaska Airlines captain on federal charges of piloting a plane while intoxicated. The pilots, 53-year-old Captain Ted Thompson and 57-year-old First Officer Bill Tansky, could not have known that they were about to play out the final chapter in a sordid story that had been building toward its conclusion for years. Sarah Pearson, 36, SeattleWith her husband, Rodney Pearson, and their children, Rachel and Grace, she was vacationing with friends and Queen Anne neighbors, the Clemetsons. Less than one second later, Alaska Airlines flight 261 slammed into the Pacific Ocean, obliterating the aircraft and instantly killing all 88 people on board. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. Web3.3M views 1 year ago Air Alaska Flight 261 dives into the ocean shortly after takeoff, killing the 88 passengers and crew on board. In 1996, Alaska Airlines applied to the FAA to extend the interval between its C-checks from 13 months to 15 months. At least upside down, were flying!. However, during the 1990s the quality of maintenance at Alaska Airlines began to slip significantly. Im thinking, can it get any worse, but it probably can, he continued. FAA employees charged with overseeing safety compliance at Alaska before the crash complained that they did not have sufficient staff to closely track its operations, which doubtlessly contributed to the airlines ability to keep woefully deficient maintenance practices under the radar of the federal government. SkyWest 5154, the MD-80 is one becoming two oclock about ten miles now. She edited the Floating Homes Association newsletter. Even though the pilots fought for control for a short period, an MD-80 will not An Athabascan Indian, he grew up in Alaskas interior. Permanent License Revocation If the investigators conclude that the pilot was intoxicated prior to a flight, the FAA will typically revoke the pilots license permanently. PLANE CRASH, Alaska Airlines Flight 261, Pacific Ocean Other Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list more. His son soon after comes to visit him, asking to interview him for a report, to find out more about his father, whom it seems has been absent through much of his life. First, pressurized grease was to be injected into a special tube on the nut until it filled all the thread gaps between the nut and the jackscrew and started to bulge out the top. You want to try it or not?, Keying the public address system, Captain Thompson announced, Folks, we have had a flight control problem up front here; were working it Uh, thats Los Angeles off to the right there, thats where were intending to go. The horrific crash killed all 88 people on board and raised troubling questions about one of Americas largest airlines. or redistributed. It was the first sign that something was in fact gravely wrong with their airplane. Discovery Company. Alaska Airlines 261 is a chartered flight operated by Alaska Airlines. No survivors from Flight 261 have been found. David Hans Arntson, 62, of Newport Beach, California, agreed to enter a guilty plea in US District Court this week. Karl Karlsson, 51, Petaluma, Calif.The jovial former San Francisco police officer loved fun and parties. Born in Hawaii, Mr. Ing grew up on Mercer Island, graduating from Mercer Island High School in 1990. The outcomes of wrongful death suits against Alaska filed by the victims families are unknown, but it has been reported that the airline eventually settled with the families out of court for a total of at least $300 million, all of which was covered by insurance. A former Alaska Airlines pilot plans to plead guilty in California to flying with a blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit for pilots. Although the exact identity of the Eskimo is unknown, some believe it to be the face of either Chester Seveck, a reindeer herder in Kotzebue, or Oliver Amouak, an Inupiat Eskimo. The whole episode must have left him a bitter man although unlike most whistleblowers, he did manage to restart his career in the industry. The 2 pilots, 3 cabin crew members, and 83 passengers on board were killed, and the airplane And therein lay the problem: throughout the period leading up to the crash, Alaska Airlines slowly removed all the procedural layers of redundancy which were designed to prevent the jackscrew from deteriorating to the point of failure. Barbara Hatleberg, 64, Eugene, Ore.The wife of Glenn Hatleburg, mother of three and grandmother of two, she was retired but used her skills at accounting and finance to volunteer in the office of her church. In fact, by now there were several other airplanes in the area that were keenly watching the unfolding situation. By requesting any altitude between 20,000 and 25,000 feet, the crew of flight 261 could ensure that if they nosedived again, nearby planes wouldnt be in danger. Im sorry, this airplane isnt gonna go anywhere for a while.. That plane just started to do a big, huge plunge, said one pilot. And many airlines have responded to this by simply missing row 13 in their seat numbering. As a result, Alaska Airlines slowly increased the interval between jackscrew lubrications from 500 flight hours in 1987 to every eight months (approximately 2,250 flight hours) in 1999. Allison Shanks, 33, SeattleThe opportunity to travel lured Ms. Shanks to her job as a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines 12 years ago. Do you poke holes in potatoes when boiling? Web19K views 2 years ago. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. It was clear that nobody had survived the crash. The US aviation industry has nevertheless managed to go a long time without another major crash, but as for whether something like Alaska 261 could happen again well, never say never. Updated Thorgrimson, a founding partner of a prominent Seattle-based law firm. As the NTSB investigation continued, so too did the criminal investigation and the saga of John Liotine. Epilogue. LOS ANGELES -- Federal authorities have arrested a former Alaska Airlines captain on federal charges of piloting a plane while intoxicated. On board flight 261, Captain Thompson vented to First Officer Tansky: Drives me nuts, he said. He had treated his cousins, Avinesh Prasad and Avinesh Amit Deo, to a trip to Mexico. What temperature outside is unsafe for babies? Let me just try it, Tansky said, offering to take over the strenuous task of holding the plane level. And more than 21 years after the crash of flight 261, it is far from clear that the FAA is any less understaffed than it was when it let safety at Alaska Airlines fall to pieces at the cost of 88 lives. The night shift subsequently performed the test five more times and measured a wear depth of approximately 0.84mm on each attempt. He was vacationing with his daughter, Jacquelyn Choate. Meghann Hall, 19, EnumclawA graduate of Enumclaw High School, she had considered a career in sports medicine or coaching. When he measured the wear on the jackscrew nut and found it to be exactly one millimeter (0.040in), he concluded that the nut had reached the end of its service life and issued a work card ordering its replacement. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. N963AS, the plane that would later become Alaska Airlines flight 261, was one of many in the airlines fleet that was subject to these marginal maintenance practices. A special inspection by the FAA after the accident found further evidence of a massively deficient safety culture at Alaska Airlines. Do smaller potatoes take less time to bake. Okay, right rudder, right rudder, said Thompson. WebLoosely inspired by the plane crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, the film stars Denzel Washington as William "Whip" Whitaker Sr., an alcoholic airline pilot who miraculously crash-lands his plane after a mechanical failure, saving nearly everyone on board. He moved to San Francisco last year. WebAlaska Flight 261 Pilots Awarded ALPA Gold Medal Air Line Pilot, March 2001, p. 22 By Chris Dodd, Staff Writer Two Alaska Airlines pilots who fought until their last moments to regain control of their MD-80 despite an inoperative horizontal stabilizer have been honored with ALPAs Gold Medal for Heroism in a special ceremony in Seattle. After four days in the woods, they were rescued and taken to Boise Memorial. While Tansky held the plane steady, Thompson contacted LAX maintenance again. Jean Gandesbery, 66, Davis, Calif.An adjunct instructor of writing at the University of San Franciscos Sacramento campus, Ms. Gandesbery just had her childhood memoirs published by Minerva Press in a novel, Seven Mile Lake. She was married to Robert Gandesbery. Are we flying? he said. Seeking opportunity during the Great Depression, he stowed away on an Alaska-bound steamship hoping to find better times. You got it? She was part of the Flight 261 crew. A Newport Beach airline pilot has been arrested and charged with piloting an Alaska Airlines jet full of passengers while under the influence of alcohol, authorities said Thursday. At that moment they effectively were dead. Less than one second later, Alaska Airlines flight 261 slammed into the Pacific Ocean, obliterating the aircraft and instantly killing all 88 people on board. Mrs. Busche grew up near Bow, Skagit County, near Mount Vernon. A cacophony of banging and roaring filled the cockpit. As investigators recovered more and more of the plane from the ocean floor, a troubling picture of the sequence of events began to emerge. Almost all of these recommendations were implemented. Carolyn Clemetson, 31, SeattleMrs. It went down, it went to full nose down.. The evidence indicates that he had flown with an alcohol level more than three times the legal limit, US Attorney Nicola T. Hanna said in a statement. Arntson was released on a $25,000 bond and was ordered to appear for an arraignment on February 10. Robert Ost, 39, San Bruno, Calif.A veteran San Francisco firefighter and avid mountain climber, he considered risk part of his job and his life. Friends said she was shy but very gentle and loving. Push push push, push the blue side up!, Okay, now lets kick rudder, left rudder, left rudder. Did maintenance errors cause the tragic crash? The FAAs special inspection report noted that the position of Director of Maintenance had gone unfilled since 1998; the Director of Operations position was empty; the Director of Safety was also the Director of Quality Control and the Director of Training and didnt report to high-level management; there was no maintenance training curriculum; on-the-job training was completely unstructured; the procedures in use didnt match those outlined in the maintenance manual; planes had been released from C-checks with paperwork incomplete; perishable and consumable materials had expired; shift turnover paperwork was missing, unsigned, or incomplete; work cards were not filled out properly; and more the list went on and on. I need everything picked up and everybody strapped down, he said, cause Im gonna unload the airplane and see if we can gain control of it that way. His intention was to fly at lower speeds where there would be less aerodynamic force pushing up on the stabilizer. Legal Statement. First Officer William Tansky, 57, Alameda, Calif.The co-pilot on Flight 261, he was two years from retirement. Sheryl Thompson, 33, Valdez, AlaskaTraveling with her parents, Morris and Thelma Thompson, Ms. Thompson was an important figure in extreme skiing in Valdez, helping organize annual events. Web3.3M views 1 year ago Air Alaska Flight 261 dives into the ocean shortly after takeoff, killing the 88 passengers and crew on board. This was not one of those cases. You got it?. Robert Thorgrimson, 63, PoulsboA special-education teacher for North Kitsap School District, Mr. Thorgrimson was known as a sincere man who helped save the local chapter of DeMolay, the Masons club for boys. Kick! he shouted. (Alaska specifically did this every 30 months, or 9,550 flight hours.) Joyce Lake, 62, Corte Madera, Calif.She was the top seller at a local real-estate brokerage, an avid community activist and mother of three grown sons. When the stabilizer moves upward, downforce on the tail decreases, and the nose pitches down; similarly, when the stabilizer moves downward, downforce increases, and the nose pitches up. But neither of the applicable checklists said anything about landing at the nearest available airport, and by the time they finished the checklists and leveled off at 31,000 feet, minimal effort was required to keep the plane flying level. Weve run just about everything. Bradford Patrick Ryan, 33, RedmondThe trip to Mexico with his parents, Terry and Barbara Ryan, was meant in part to celebrate his graduation from Washington State University with a civil-engineering degree. The pilots pulled back as hard as they could on their control columns and deployed the flaps to try and slow down, but their efforts were utterly hopeless. ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) The pilot of an airplane in a fatal Alaska crash had six times the legal limit of alcohol in his system for flying, according to federal investigators. She was a flight attendant for Alaska. The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) also revoked his pilots license. They heard a helicopter, but they were unable to fire the flare gun successfully and the helicopter left. Malcolm Branson, 39, Seward, AlaskaAn oiler for the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system, Mr. Branson was vacationing with his fiancee, Janice Stokes. Charles Russell, 65, Scotts Valley, Calif.Mr. Thompson was an Air Force veteran who had flown for Alaska Airlines for more than 17 years. A Newport Beach airline pilot has been arrested and charged with piloting an Alaska Airlines jet full of passengers while under the influence of alcohol, authorities said Thursday. The anger he must have felt is difficult to fathom. Instead, all they could find was an oil slick and some light floating debris. Meanwhile, N963AS continued to fly, and maintenance workers continued to grease the jackscrew every eight months. Were slowing here, and were gonna do a little troubleshooting, can you give me a block altitude between twenty and twenty five?. What a hard way to die: so an airline can make more money., ________________________________________________________________. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. View on timesmachine. He is a resident of Newport Beach, California. (To avoid confusion, from here on out nose up and nose down, as they relate to the pitch of the airplane, will be used to describe the stabilizers direction of motion. But there was nothing to be done. That was the last time anyone ever measured the wear on the jackscrew nut on N963AS. Video Alaska Airlines Pilot Accused of Flying Drunk - ABC News Jimmy Carter Kellie Pickler's husband dies Georgia shooting Escaped NYC zoo owl Tesla union launch Alaska Airlines Pilot Accused of Flying Drunk Authorities say 60-year-old David Hans Arnston flew drunk twice in one day. The charge of operating a common carrier while under the influence of alcohol or drugs carries a statutory maximum penalty of 15 years in federal prison. In the cockpit, the pilots heard a loud clunk followed by two thumps, and the plane pitched steeply downward. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Alaska Airlines flight AS261 crashed on January 31, 2000, about 1621 Pacific standard time, Alaska Airlines, Inc., flight AS261, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83, N963AS : it crashed into the Pacific Ocean about 2.7 miles north of Anacapa Island, California.. WebOn Flight 261, the nut portion of the jackscrew (located on the horizontal stabilizer) screwed itself off the jackscew. WebAnswer (1 of 11): If the pilots of Alaska Airlines 261 had known exactly what was wrong, is there anyway they could have salvaged the situation? Indeed, the final, terrifying dive was the culmination not just of hours of failed troubleshooting, but of years upon years of negligent maintenance, blatant corruption, and lax federal oversight, a deadly combination that led to an unprecedented failure of the stabilizer trim jackscrew one of the scariest malfunctions any flight crew has ever faced. The revelations were in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Analyzer of plane crashes. In the ten minutes that had passed since the dive, the stabilizer had been held at 3.1 degrees nose down by nothing more than the mechanical stop on the bottom of the jackscrew. No survivors Erickson indicated that he and the pilot had been drinking alcoholic beverages, investigator Brice Banning wrote. Before that, he was a principal at two elementary schools in the Snohomish School District.