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.. 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. Were slowing here, and were gonna do a little troubleshooting, can you give me a block altitude between twenty and twenty five?. He is a resident of Newport Beach, California. Oh yeah, let me get said Tansky. Finally, the Safety Board also felt that there were lessons to be learned from the actions of the pilots. 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. Only by applying a continuous maximum nose up elevator input on his control column, a task which required enormous physical effort, was Captain Thompson able to maintain level flight. All rights reserved. She was a treasured volunteer at a Eugene elementary school. She is also survived by a son, Richard, in the Bay Area. He was traveling with William Bryant, his best friend. If they had not attempted to move the stabilizer immediately before the first dive, their chances of safely reaching an airport before the jackscrew failed entirely would have been much greater. 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. How much does Alaskan airline pilot make? Carolyn Clemetson, 31, SeattleMrs. Finally, at 16:19 and 21 seconds, the stop gave way with a faint thump. January 22, 2016 Examined 9:54 Whats next for Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. You've successfully subscribed to this newsletter! Even though the pilots fought for control for a short period, an MD-80 will not The only layer of protection against a catastrophe was therefore the assumption that poorly trained, low-paid maintenance workers would apply enough grease. As the NTSB investigation continued, so too did the criminal investigation and the saga of John Liotine. Linda Knight, 51, MonroeLinda Knight, co-pastor and missionary with her husband, Joe Knight, overcame her fear of public speaking by practicing while standing on a stump in her yard. A case worker at the Northwest AIDS Foundation, he joined with his partner in a commitment ceremony two years ago at First Baptist Church in Seattle with one of their dogs as the ring-bearer. In September 2000, he filed a $20 million libel lawsuit against Alaska Airlines, arguing that he had been right all along and that Alaska had maliciously harmed his reputation. But after Liotine left for the night, the next shift and the shift supervisors decided to run the test again before taking his measurement at face value. A Warner Bros. Four minutes later, a warning light illuminated to inform the crew that the autopilot was unable to move the stabilizer. He once owned the reknowned Blue Moon Tavern in the University District and the J & M Cafe in Pioneer Square. For the relatives of the victims, this fact made it all the more important that Alaska Airlines pay for its negligence. 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. Holy shit, said Thompson, pulling back hard on the controls. 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. WebOn Flight 261, the nut portion of the jackscrew (located on the horizontal stabilizer) screwed itself off the jackscew. Copyright 2023 Childrensbookadayalmanac.com. She and Monte Donaldson had just bought a home and planned to be married, then honeymoon in Ireland and Bali. 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. Both were Alaskan natives. He was traveling with several college friends. But there was nothing to be done. As Fred Miller, father of crash victim Abby Miller-Busche, put it in a 2003 interview, It seems like such an unholy type of loss. By nightfall, working with the help of flood lights from squid fishing boats, recovery workers managed to find just seven bodies. An accountant with MPL2.com in Bellevue, he was traveling with the Ryan family and several friends. No survivors Erickson indicated that he and the pilot had been drinking alcoholic beverages, investigator Brice Banning wrote. Possibly. 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. The revelations were in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Anchorage Daily News reported . Alaska Airlines 261 is a chartered flight operated by Alaska Airlines. Its an outcome that has left many of them bitter to this day. Anything more than that and the nut would need to be replaced. Erickson was a student pilot. 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. Okay, we had a big bang back there, said the flight attendant. Spencer Clemetson, 6 months, SeattleA peaceful baby, Spencer blended the new Clemetson family, with older sisters Coriander and Blake on his fathers side, and brother Miles on his mothers side. Legal Statement. January 22, 2016 Examined 9:54 Whats next for 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. In 1987, Alaska Airlines greased the stabilizer jackscrews on its MD-80s every 500 flight hours, the value recommended by the manufacturer. But the mechanism by which Alaska Airlines fell to such a dismal level of safety is not entirely gone. Long story short: the result of an investigation into drinking before a flight is typically career-ending. Most importantly, the National Transportation Safety Board excoriated Alaska Airlines decision to increase the intervals between jackscrew lubrications and wear inspections, and the FAAs approval of these intervals, which it considered to be a direct cause of the accident. The lead mechanic that day was John Liotine, a rare Alaska Airlines employee who still took safety seriously. According to the official maintenance manual, greasing the jackscrew involved three main steps. Almost all of these recommendations were implemented. Michael Bernard, 30, SeattleA music lover, Mr. Bernard owned four guitars and cut a compact disc of original rock songs for his parents, Paul and Irene Bernard of Kirkland. Possibly. By now the plane had leveled out at about 23,500 feet, after plunging 7,500 feet in 80 seconds. No decision was made at this point about whether or not to divert. Also killed was the airplanes owner, Karl Erickson, 55, and David Osborn, 60, both of Girdwood, and Paul Wiley, 37, of Superior, Arizona. His mother said he was a sweet, handsome man who loved his job and loved people. I went tab down, right, and it should have come back. Web19K views 2 years ago. The stabilizer on the MD-80 series rests on top of the tail, and like all airliners, it can move up and down to adjust the pitch angle at which the plane is stable. What he liked best in life was family, said his longtime medical assistant. He was the grandson of O.B. Keep in mind that the pitch of the stabilizer itself is actually inverse to the pitch of the airplane.). 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. WebAlaska Airlines Flight 261 was a flight from Licenciado Gustavo Daz Ordaz International Airport in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico, to SeattleTacoma International Airport in Seattle, Washington, United States, with an intermediate stop at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, California. After four days in the woods, they were rescued and taken to Boise Memorial. It might be mechanical damage too. He opened the mic for the public address system but never managed to get any words out. The turn of the millennium had just come and gone, and the future again seemed limitless. Finally, the stabilizer was to be moved repeatedly between full nose up and full nose down so that the nut could spread the grease evenly over the entire jackscrew. The metal from which the jackscrew is made is ever so slightly harder than the metal used in the nut. 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. Arntson's co-pilot on the two flights remembered seeing the drug tester when the plane landed at John Wayne Airport, according to the complaint. The trim might be, and then it might be uh, if somethings popped back there. 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. Fuck me, he said. The stab trim, I think.. It was clear that nobody had survived the crash. Despite Alaska Airlines numerous regulatory violations, the investigation ended in 2003 without any charges being filed. Im thinking, can it get any worse, but it probably can, he continued. Aloysius Han, 65, Oakland, Calif.A retired architect for Pacific Gas and Electric Co., Mr. Han often traveled to Mexico, where he owned a condominium and other property. What I want to do is get the nose up, and then let the nose fall through and see if we can stab it when its unloaded. It was his belief that the stabilizer might move nose up if there was no aerodynamic force pushing it upward into the nose down position. The flight departs from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and arrives in Haines, Skip to content Thorgrimson, a founding partner of a prominent Seattle-based law firm. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. Stanford Poll, 59, Mercer IslandHe was a colorful and visionary entrepreneur with many business and property interests. It went down, it went to full nose down.. It got worse, okay. Violent vibrations shook the airplane. Those operating commercial vehicles may face criminal penalties and license suspensions. He grew up in Olympia. 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. 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. Who is the girl in the opening scene of flight? She was a food-and-beverage agent for Alaskas sister airline, Horizon Air. 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. Charles Weimer, 31, and three others died in the Aug. 4 crash near Girdwood, a ski town in the municipality of Anchorage. Were going to LAX, Thompson told the dispatcher. Born in Hawaii, Mr. Ing grew up on Mercer Island, graduating from Mercer Island High School in 1990. The two worked together several years at the Roy Potter Insurance Agency. It was on board Alaska Airlines flight 261 from Puerto Vallarta to San Francisco on the 31st of January 2000 that this sequence of events that had been years in the making finally came to its terrifying conclusion. The whole episode must have left him a bitter man although unlike most whistleblowers, he did manage to restart his career in the industry. 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. He lived with his mother in Oakland and spent much of his time caring for exotic birds, his koi pond and a garden. Get browser notifications for breaking news, live events, and exclusive reporting. Williams, traveling with her husband, Bob Williams, would have celebrated her 64th birthday on Feb. 8, 2000. Coriander Clemetson, 8, SeattleShe was a quiet, poised student at John Hay Elementary School on Queen Anne Hill. Not according to that its not, said Tansky. The tangled remnants of the threads from the nut remained wrapped around the jackscrew, wordlessly telling the story of how the stabilizer failed. Another pilot reports hes really looking pretty bad there, ahead and to your right, do you see him?, Yes sir, I concur, said the SkyWest pilot, He is definitely in a nose down position descending quite rapidly., Flight 261 started to corkscrew, pirouetting and rolling inverted as it fell. 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. A special inspection by the FAA after the accident found further evidence of a massively deficient safety culture at Alaska Airlines. The revelations were in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Anchorage Daily News reported. First Officer William Tansky, 57, Alameda, Calif.The co-pilot on Flight 261, he was two years from retirement. Some did still less, failing even to ensure that grease totally filled the inside of the nut. The base confirmed that there werent any known problems with the stabilizer, and the discussion then turned to how to handle the failure. 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. But over the next two decades, Alaska Airlines pursued an aggressive strategy of expansion, aiming to become an affordable option for travelers throughout the Western United States. We are at twenty three seven, request, uh, Thompson said to the controller. Collins said the bodies recovered were those of an infant, two women and a man. She was traveling with her fiance, Malcolm Branson. At 15:55, the dispatcher returned with wind speeds, wind directions, and runway conditions at San Francisco and Los Angeles. Ms. Halls only brother died four years ago of a motorcycle accident. Therefore the interval between jackscrew inspections was effectively increased from 26 to 30 months without the FAA spending a single minute looking into whether or not this was appropriate. Prosecutors said that Arnston was an alcoholic during at least a substantial portion" of his career, and concealed the fact from both the carrier and FAA. He then flew a plane from Portland, Oregon, to John Wayne Airport in Orange County. Patty Williams, 63, Poulsbo, Kitsap CountyMrs. If done correctly, the process took about four hours. Morris Thompson, 62, Fairbanks, AlaskaAn advocate for Alaska natives, he was celebrating his retirement after 12 years as president of Doyon, Ltd., a multimillion dollar Alaska Native regional corporation. 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. I didnt want to call you guys, said the flight attendant, but that girl theyre like, you better go up there and tell them., I need you strapped in, dear, said Thompson, cause Im going to release the back pressure and see if I can get it back.. However, the plane ran into a streak of at least two or three grease applications that were not done correctly, including one in September 1999 by a notorious San Francisco-based mechanic who was later found to have applied virtually no grease to any of the jackscrews he worked on. AMERICAN AIRLINES PASSENGER BITTEN BY BROWN RECLUSE SPIDER ON PLANE, LAWSUIT CLAIMS. The night shift subsequently performed the test five more times and measured a wear depth of approximately 0.84mm on each attempt. 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. Had it been inspected after 7,200 flight hours instead of 9,550, the excessive wear would have been discovered before the crash. But in the end, Alaska all but got away with it. Allison Shanks, 33, SeattleThe opportunity to travel lured Ms. Shanks to her job as a flight attendant for Alaska Airlines 12 years ago. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. She is survived by her mother, Dr. Claire Barnett of Seattle, a family-practice doctor. Allen Friedmann, 48, Round Lake Beach, Ill.A marathon runner remembered for being a good neighbor in his Chicago suburb, Mr. Friedmann is survived by his wife, a daughter, 16, and a son, 5. However, the pilots were clearly under pressure to continue on to San Francisco, and maintenance technicians and dispatchers on the ground did not appreciate the direness of the situation. A year after the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, lawyers representing families of the victims contend the jet's pilots erred by failing to quickly land the MD-80 when problems first surfaced minutes into the flight. 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 technician for Alaska Airlines performed two breathalyzer tests that showed Arntson had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.134% and 0.142% well above the federal limit of 0.04% for pilots. An Athabascan Indian, he grew up in Alaskas interior. That was the how but the bigger question was why. 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 December of 1998 the federal government launched a criminal investigation into Alaska Airlines, seizing documents and interviewing witnesses. 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. Before the flight, he told a friend that Weimer, an airline transport pilot, would be at the controls for the short sightseeing trip, according to the NTSB report. Lorna Thorgrimson, 52, PoulsboTraveling with her husband, Robert Thorgrimson, Mrs. Thorgrimson was also accompanied by her close friends, Patty and Bob Williams. Stacy Schuyler, 20, Federal WayA ground-service agent for Horizon Air, Ms. Schuyler was a 1997 graduate of Puyallup High School. Seeking opportunity during the Great Depression, he stowed away on an Alaska-bound steamship hoping to find better times. The horrific crash killed all 88 people on board and raised troubling questions about one of Americas largest airlines. Erickson indicated that he and the pilot had been drinking alcoholic beverages, investigator Brice Banning wrote. Im sorry, this airplane isnt gonna go anywhere for a while.. I dont think we should, if it can fly, its like . At that moment they effectively were dead. Badly shaken witnesses reported the crash to air traffic control within seconds. Two electric motors spin the jackscrew within the nut, causing the stabilizer to move up or down. The actual protocol at Alaska Airlines was to inspect the jackscrew for wear at every second C-check, a comprehensive multi-day inspection that every airplane undergoes approximately once a year. The result was a chronic problem of Alaska Airlines MD-80s with poorly greased jackscrews. For comparison, according to the Department of Motor Vehicles, it is illegal for adults to operate motor vehicles with blood alcohol concentrations of 0.08 percent or higher in the state of California; that percentage drops to 0.04 percent for those operating commercial vehicles. LOS ANGELES -- Federal authorities have arrested a former Alaska Airlines captain on federal charges of piloting a plane while intoxicated. 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. Jerri Fosmire, 48, Eugene, Ore.She was returning home early from a family vacation in Puerto Vallarta after suffering a back injury. The flight departs from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and arrives in Haines, Skip to content I dont anticipate any big problems once we get a couple of sub systems on the line. Okay, well, your discretion, said maintenance. Described by friends as a soft-spoken, caring person, Ms. Thompson is survived by two sisters. The eight-year-old McDonnell Douglas MD-83, registered as N963AS, outwardly seemed to be in good shape. 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? WebOn Flight 261, the nut portion of the jackscrew (located on the horizontal stabilizer) screwed itself off the jackscew. That plane just started to do a big, huge plunge, said one pilot. WebAlaska Airlines Flight 261 was a flight from Licenciado Gustavo Daz Ordaz International Airport in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico, to SeattleTacoma International Airport in Seattle, Washington, United States, with an intermediate stop at San Francisco International Airport in San Francisco, California. 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. You have the airplane. Kick! he shouted. Former owner of a travel business, she was a very giving person, friends said, and was working toward a masters degree in art therapy. Stepping on the rudder pedals while upside down was no easy task. And so it was that on a sunny day in January 2000, 83 passengers and five crew boarded Alaska Airlines flight 261 in the resort city of Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, bound for San Francisco, California. Were gonna stay up here and burn a little more gas, get all our ducks in a row, and then well be talking to LAX when we start down to go in there. The plan was to stay on course a little longer, burning fuel to reduce their landing weight and test out the planes handling capabilities, before turning around and heading into Los Angeles. You got it? Deborah Penna, 27, SeattleA fourth-year art student at Cornish College of the Arts, Ms. Penna was a multimedia artist known for her abstract paintings. Legal Statement. The first flight was from San Diego International Airport to Portland, Oregon. Sheri Christensen, 25, Federal WayShe grew up in Yakima, one of four children of Bob and Pat Stookey, and moved to the Seattle area with her husband, Jeff Christensen. For Linious Mac McGee, 1932 marked the beginning of a new way of life, and steady work. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. He came to America from Fiji when he was 17 months old. Speedbrakes! Captain Thompson called out, still trying to find ways to arrest the dive. 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. Weve run just about everything. 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. 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.. According to the criminal complaint filed Tuesday, Arntson was the pilot of two Alaska Airlines flights on in June 2014, in which he was under the influence. By 2000, Alaska Airlines only inspected the wear on the jackscrew nut every 30 months, equivalent to 9,550 flight hours, whereas the manufacturer recommended an interval no larger than 7,200 flight hours. He was a favored friend in the neighborhood where he lived with his wife, Marilyn. 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. After the June 2014 incident, Arntson retired from Alaska Airlines, and the Federal Aviation Administration revoked his pilots license, the US Attorneys Office said. Captain Thompson was not happy with this reasoning. Epilogue. When he landed in Orange County, he was selected for random drug and alcohol testing, according to a statement from the US Attorneys Office. All of these factors could have contributed to their decision to troubleshoot a problem that was best left alone. Thompson was an Air Force veteran who had flown for Alaska Airlines for more than 17 years. Whatever we did is no good, dont do that again, said Tansky. Peggy Stockley, 62, SeattleAn animal lover and community activist, Mrs. Stockley was traveling with her husband, Tom Stockley. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Alaska has not had a fatal crash since the overhaul, nor has there been another major loss of a US airliner due to any kind of mechanical failure. CNN has reached out to Alaska Airlines for comment. Thompson was traveling with her husband, Morris Thompson, and daughter, Sheryl Thompson. 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. And many airlines have responded to this by simply missing row 13 in their seat numbering. Barbara Ryan, 54, RedmondBorn in Alabama, Mrs. Ryan worked in marketing for SmithKline Beecham Cinical Laboratories. Toxicology results showed that Weimers blood-alcohol was 0.238.

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