Juan Marquez, 34, San FranciscoAn adult-education book salesman, he owned two condos in Puerto Vallarta with his partner, Dale Rettinger, and went there often to relax. At this point the checklist said Consider stab jammed, do not use autopilot, and offered a list of considerations to be made during landing. How long does it take for a potato to cook at 350? The revelations were in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Anchorage Daily News reported . Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Ronald Lake, 59, Corte Madera, Calif.He was the husband of Joyce Lake, father of three adult sons and an avid traveler. He was working in Microsofts games group as a temporary employee for ArtSource. Nina Voronoff, 32, San FranciscoA nurse at the pediatric cancer unit at the University of California, San Francisco, she had gone to Mexico for a yoga retreat and was met by her boyfriend, Larry Baldridge Jr. Renato Bermudez, 39, San FranciscoMr. Keep us advised.. Thorgrimson, a founding partner of a prominent Seattle-based law firm. During the 1990s, low-cost competitors such as MarkAir in Alaska and Southwest Airlines in the Pacific Northwest began trying to undercut Alaskas more traditional fare model on numerous core routes. Yeah, no, said Thompson. The entire horizontal stabilizer assembly was now attached to the airplane only by the rear hinge. For the next few minutes, they calculated landing weights and center of gravity and other values while controllers in Los Angeles prepared to accommodate them. Flight 261 was traveling from Puerto Vallarta to San Francisco on Jan. 31, 2000 when a mechanical malfunction inverted the jet and sent it downward off the Ventura County coast. She was also accompanied by her longtime companion, Charles Russell. Let me just try it, Tansky said, offering to take over the strenuous task of holding the plane level. Rodney Pearson, 45, SeattleMr. Ileana Ost, 30, San Bruno, Calif.She had just returned to work at the Alaska Airlines ticket counter in San Francisco after four months of maternity leave following the birth of her first child, Emily. Instead it went the other way., What do you think. The pilot of Flight 261, Capt. As the NTSB investigation continued, so too did the criminal investigation and the saga of John Liotine. He was survived by his wife, Gabriel, two daughters and two sons. 13 months later. Finally, at 16:19 and 21 seconds, the stop gave way with a faint thump. That was the how but the bigger question was why. 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. On the basis of these measurements, the shift supervisors overruled Liotines earlier work order and cleared the plane to fly. Thompson was traveling with her husband, Morris Thompson, and daughter, Sheryl Thompson. Planes inverted sir, a nearby pilot told the controller. The flight departs from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and arrives in Haines, Skip to content Uh, if you want to try it, thats ok with me, if not, thats fine. Dr. David Clemetson, 40, SeattleA specialist in infectious diseases, Dr. Clemetson was traveling with his wife, Carolyn Clemetson, and the couples four blended-family children, Coriander, Blake, Miles and Spencer Clemetson. Ted Thompson, 53, Redlands, Calif.The pilot of Flight 261, Capt. Luque had worked at Taste Catering in San Francisco since 1994. Erickson indicated that he and the pilot had been drinking alcoholic beverages, investigator Brice Banning wrote. Instead, all they could find was an oil slick and some light floating debris. Meghann Hall, 19, EnumclawA graduate of Enumclaw High School, she had considered a career in sports medicine or coaching. The crew scrambled to react to the massive upset. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. It added dozens of new routes, expanded to a large number of new cities, and even added services to Mexico in order to offset the seasonal nature of its flights to Alaska. Fox News Alexandra Deabler contributed to this report. Web19K views 2 years ago. Pilots Thompson and Tansky disconnected the autopilot to see what they were up against, and found that the stabilizer had jammed slightly nose down, requiring constant force on the elevators to overcome it and continue climbing. 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. Thankfully, Mr. Arntson was never involved in an accident, but his conduct could have resulted in tragic consequences.. This is still a search for human life. James Ryan, 30, PortlandA flight attendant for Alaska, James Ryan turned 30 the day the family left for Mexico. We went to full nose down and Im afraid to try it again to see if we can get it to go in the other direction.. The basis for the approval of the design under this rule was the fact that the nut has two independent threads that did not link with one another, such that if one thread failed, the other could still hold the jackscrew in place. And many airlines have responded to this by simply missing row 13 in their seat numbering. He was with his wife, Ileana, their 4-month-old daughter, Emily, and his mother and her longtime companion. AMERICAN AIRLINES PASSENGER BITTEN BY BROWN RECLUSE SPIDER ON PLANE, LAWSUIT CLAIMS. And so began a slash-and-burn cost-cutting campaign a campaign that culminated in a terrible black mark which will forever hang over the company, a tragedy so horrible and so preventable that it would call the safety of the entire industry into question. Paul Pulanco, 40, SeattleLike his partner, Craig Pulanco, Paul Pulanco was an animal lover and avid gardener. Note: this accident was previously featured in episode 2 of the plane crash series on September 16th, 2017, prior to the series arrival on Medium. Monte Donaldson, 31, SeattleA freelance landscaper, his passion was music and filmmaking. All of these factors could have contributed to their decision to troubleshoot a problem that was best left alone. No decision was made at this point about whether or not to divert. Alaska Airlines 261 is a chartered flight operated by Alaska Airlines. However, Alaska Airlines maintenance personnel often did it in as little as one hour not because they found a more efficient way, but because they didnt understand the proper procedure and skipped some of the steps. It 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. 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. She was a food-and-beverage agent for Alaskas sister airline, Horizon Air. He opened the mic for the public address system but never managed to get any words out. Okay, give me sl see, this is a bitch! said Thompson. In December of 1998 the federal government launched a criminal investigation into Alaska Airlines, seizing documents and interviewing witnesses. An avid outdoorsman and Spanish language graduate of Western Washington University, he was traveling with his parents and with long-time friends, Michael Bernard, Ryan and Abigail Busche, Russel Ing and Deborah Penna. In order to catch abnormal wear before it escalated to the point of failure, MD-80 operators regularly inspected their stabilizer jackscrew nuts to ensure that the wear remained within limits. Robert Gandesbery, 69, Davis, Calif.The husband of Jean Gandesbery, Mr. Gandesbery was retired from a career with child-welfare services. Indeed, by the end of the 1990s, what had once been a small regional carrier had successfully transformed itself into one of Americas largest airlines. A former Alaska Airlines captain faces jail time for piloting a plane carrying passengers while under the influence of alcohol, over four years after the incident took place. The horrific crash killed all 88 people on board and raised troubling questions about one of Americas largest airlines. On the 31st of January 2000, an Alaska Airlines MD-83 bound for San Francisco suddenly plunged from the sky off the coast of California, spiraling downward until it slammed into the Pacific Ocean. 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. Friends described her as a culture bearer who mastered all she attempted. Clemetson was traveling with her husband, Dr. David Clemetson and their family. Two electric motors spin the jackscrew within the nut, causing the stabilizer to move up or down. Had it been inspected after 7,200 flight hours instead of 9,550, the excessive wear would have been discovered before the crash. LOS ANGELES -- Federal authorities have arrested a former Alaska Airlines captain on federal charges of piloting a plane while intoxicated. Then, additional grease was to be applied to the entire length of the screw, filling all the threads. But in the end he was forced to accept a mere $500,000 settlement, far less than the $20 million he had sought, and only then on the condition that he resign from his job. How should I dress my baby in 69 degrees? A cacophony of banging and roaring filled the cockpit. It looks like hes turning hes turning over in front of you now, said the controller. He had gone to Mexico with his cousins, Anjesh Prasad and Avinesh Prasad, to celebrate. Following the procedures prescribed in the checklists, they tried cycling the motors on and off, checking the trim motor circuit breakers, and using the manual trim controls. PLANE CRASH, Alaska Airlines Flight 261, Pacific Ocean Other Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list more. And while the airline did eventually settle the suits, it did so only after dragging the families through what many described as a legal hell in which Alaskas lawyers tried to downplay the monetary value of their deceased loved ones. In his time in prison, Whip is clean and has gained the trust of his ex-wife and son again. View on timesmachine. So theyre trying to put pressure on you, said Tansky. You got it?. What temperature outside is unsafe for babies? It was really tough there for a while.. You have the airplane. The 63-year-old aviator, from Newport Beach, Calif.,previously pleaded guilty to the crime in February of this year. 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? According to court documents, Arntson piloted two Alaska Airlines flights on June 20, 2014. Do you poke holes in potatoes when boiling? He had flown for four decades and worked for Alaska Airlines since 1985. Charles Weimer, 31, and three others died in the Aug. 4 crash near Girdwood, a ski town in the municipality of Anchorage. CNN 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. The effect was immediate and catastrophic, as his inputs ripped out whatever threads remained on the jackscrew nut. His attorney, Dyke Huish, said Arnston had a perfect safety record over his nearly 30-year career, and never tested positive for alcohol before that incident. One of six children born to Jovanna Luque of Olympia, Mr. Luque is the second child she has lost. During the course of the investigation and in its final report, the NTSB issued a large number of recommendations, including that the lubrication procedure for the MD-80 series jackscrew be revised; that a more accurate method of measuring wear on the jackscrew be developed; that maintenance technicians be specifically taught how to grease and inspect jackscrews; that the FAA not approve lubrication interval extensions without the airline providing supporting data; that all airlines be surveyed to ensure compliance with jackscrew lubrication procedures; that a bulletin be issued instructing pilots not to troubleshoot inoperative flight controls; that maintenance personnel and dispatchers be trained not to suggest continuation of a flight that is experiencing a major malfunction; that the jackscrew be made easier for maintenance workers to access; that an inspector be required to sign off on every lubrication of the jackscrew; that all maintenance intervals for critical components be re-examined based on data analysis to ensure that they are not too long; that the application process for maintenance interval changes be reformed; that MD-80 series jackscrew inspections be made on a tighter schedule; that some failsafe mechanism be incorporated to ensure the redundancy of the MD-80 jackscrew; and that the FAA ensure future stabilizer designs cant have a single point of failure.