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. All Rights Reserved. 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. Then, additional grease was to be applied to the entire length of the screw, filling all the threads. Rodney Pearson, 45, SeattleMr. You mean, use this again? Tansky asked, presumably pointing at the trim switches. Technical logs fell through the cracks; critical forms were left incomplete; paperwork was outright falsified to show work done when it was not. Updated It began life as a regional airline in Alaska, and by the time deregulation arrived in the late 1970s, it only had one destination in the lower 48 states. The main character Whip Whitaker (played by Denzel Washington) has been through a divorce and the estrangement from his son. He was survived by his wife, Gabriel, two daughters and two sons. Gabriela Chavez, 33, Puerto Vallarta, MexicoA homemaker, wife and mother of one, Ms. Chavez was flying to San Francisco to visit her sister. Weve run just about everything. Well see you at the gate. This would be the last transmission between flight 261 and Alaska Airlines maintenance. WebOn Flight 261, the nut portion of the jackscrew (located on the horizontal stabilizer) screwed itself off the jackscew. Yeah, we tried everything together, said Thompson. 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. By nightfall, working with the help of flood lights from squid fishing boats, recovery workers managed to find just seven bodies. She was part of the Flight 261 crew. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. Stokes had three college-age children, as well as a brother in Seattle and a sister in Alaska. He had planned to spend his retirement trading stocks on the Internet and taking leisurely afternoon walks with his wife of 30 years, Bonnie. 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. As flight 261 climbed through 23,400 feet at approximately 13:49 that day, the badly worn threads started to tear away from the nut, wrapping themselves around the jackscrew and causing the stabilizer to jam. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. She edited the Floating Homes Association newsletter. She had treated herself to a weekend getaway in Puerto Vallarta and was scheduled to go on the air two hours after the flight was expected to land in San Francisco. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Craig Pulanco was working as a flight attendant aboard Flight 261. Web19K views 2 years ago. Before that, he was a principal at two elementary schools in the Snohomish School District. The revelations were in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Anchorage Daily News reported . At that moment they effectively were dead. The flight departs from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and arrives in Haines, Skip to content Toxicology results showed that Weimers blood-alcohol was 0.238. 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. 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. Yeah, no, said Thompson. The pilots decided that Los Angeles looked better. 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. While Tansky held the plane steady, Thompson contacted LAX maintenance again. Contact me via @Admiral_Cloudberg on Reddit, @KyraCloudy on Twitter, or by email at kyracloudy97@gmail.com. Bob Williams, 65, Poulsbo, Kitsap CountyHe was a builder who served on the Poulsbo city Planning Commission. At 15:49, after flying for two hours with a jammed stabilizer, Thompson and Tansky contacted Alaskas Seattle maintenance base for advice. The stab trim, I think.. 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. She was a flight attendant for Alaska. It looks like hes turning hes turning over in front of you now, said the controller. It was the first sign that something was in fact gravely wrong with their airplane. Yeah, we are out of 26,000 feet, we are in a vertical dive not a dive yet, but uh, weve lost vertical control of our airplane., However, slowly but surely, Thompson and Tansky started to rein in their excessive speed and flatten out the slope of the dive. 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. At least upside down, were flying!. Said the friend: Monte will always be an inspiration to stop myself from jumping in the rat race, to take the moment, to take it all in.. And hes just hit the water, said one pilot. He lived with his mother in Oakland and spent much of his time caring for exotic birds, his koi pond and a garden. 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. Three seconds later, the fairing failed, and the stabilizer swung unimpeded on its hinge to a position of at least 14 degrees aircraft nose down. An Athabascan Indian, he grew up in Alaskas interior. The pilot of Flight 261, Capt. How much does Alaskan airline pilot make? Busche was traveling with his wife, Abigail Busche, whom he met when they were students at Western Washington. Investigators also found that the planes gross weight at the time of the accident was about 50 pounds (22.7 kilograms) over the approved maximum. A flight attendant opened the cockpit door, and Captain Thompson briefed her on the situation. Capt. Yeah, I heard it, said Thompson. Russell was traveling with his companion, Jean Permison, and her family. Carol Karlsson, 42, Petaluma, Calif.Wife of Karl Karlsson, she was fun-loving and cheerful. It was not designed to handle that kind of pressure, and over those ten minutes, it started to fracture. Ballet lessons and cooperative day care were part of her life. But the mechanism by which Alaska Airlines fell to such a dismal level of safety is not entirely gone. Anything more than that and the nut would need to be replaced. He was traveling with his wife, Thelma, and daughter Sheryl. No survivors Erickson indicated that he and the pilot had been drinking alcoholic beverages, investigator Brice Banning wrote. At that moment they effectively were dead. At this point the checklist said Consider stab jammed, do not use autopilot, and offered a list of considerations to be made during landing. He won commendations from a booster group for the action. I cant reach it! said Tansky. The 2 pilots, 3 cabin crew members, and 83 passengers on board were killed, and the airplane Joe Knight, 54, MonroePastor and missionary Joe Knight, with his wife, co-pastor and co-missionary, Linda Knight, worked to help starving children and families in Mexico. Were going to LAX, Thompson told the dispatcher. Harry Stasinos, 54, BrierMr. Thelma Thompson, 56, Fairbanks, AlaskaMrs. I dont anticipate any big problems once we get a couple of sub systems on the line. In 2014, Arntson flew two Alaska Airlines flights, the first leg from San Diego to Portland, Oregon, followed by a second trip from Portland to Orange County, California, according to the criminal complaint. 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.. Thus the fundamental principle of redundancy was violated. At Alaska Airlines, our roots trace back to the Great Depression and the resourcefulness of Mac McGee. The revelations were in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Anchorage Daily News reported . It might be mechanical damage too. Coriander Clemetson, 8, SeattleShe was a quiet, poised student at John Hay Elementary School on Queen Anne Hill. He also served for a time with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. No survivors Erickson indicated that he and the pilot had been drinking alcoholic beverages, investigator Brice Banning wrote. 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. Did maintenance errors cause the tragic crash? The massive aerodynamic force pushing up on the horizontal stabilizer was normally absorbed by the nut, but with its threads stripped, all that force was transmitted through the mechanical stop instead. 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. Erickson was a student pilot. What would cause an airplane to nosedive? 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.. 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. 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. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. 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. Federal regulations limit alcohol levels to 0.04 for airplane crew members.Were the bodies of Flight 261 recovered? Furthermore, the pilots were reluctant to believe that the failure was mechanical, rather than electrical, in nature. Please enter valid email address to continue. The 2 pilots, 3 cabin crew members, and 83 passengers on board were killed, and the airplane LOS ANGELES -- Federal authorities have arrested a former Alaska Airlines captain on federal charges of piloting a plane while intoxicated. David Hans Arntson, 60, was arrested Wednesday morning and arraigned in federal court in Los Angeles, according to a Department of Justice news release. Jerri Fosmire, 48, Eugene, Ore.She was returning home early from a family vacation in Puerto Vallarta after suffering a back injury. Meanwhile in the cockpit, the pilots tried to figure out what had happened. (Alaska specifically did this every 30 months, or 9,550 flight hours.) Naomi Laigo, 53, Fairfield, Calif.A devoted mother of three sons who was a nurse at a clinic in San Leandro, Calif., she grew roses in her spare time. 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. N963AS nearly made it anyway its next jackscrew inspection was scheduled for March 2000. The airline extended numerous maintenance intervals, while simultaneously skimping on personnel and training. The free-swinging stabilizer rotated up past its stop, slamming back against the aerodynamic fairing that encased the tail. Did maintenance errors cause the tragic crash? He was coming home from Mexico with his girlfriend, Nina Voronoff. 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. It was really tough there for a while.. On the basis of these measurements, the shift supervisors overruled Liotines earlier work order and cleared the plane to fly. Push and roll! He was a favored friend in the neighborhood where he lived with his wife, Marilyn. Keep in mind that the pitch of the stabilizer itself is actually inverse to the pitch of the airplane.). 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. The threads eventually lost up to 90% of their thickness, compared to 22% at the maximum wear depth of one millimeter. Uh, if you want to try it, thats ok with me, if not, thats fine. This is still a search for human life. Performing maintenance less frequently saved on labor costs and kept the planes in the air longer, thus increasing revenue. How long does it take for a potato to cook at 350? Analyzer of plane crashes. 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. A cacophony of banging and roaring filled the cockpit. Salt of the earth, said one who knew him. 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. 2 men found drugged after leaving NYC gay bars were killed, medical examiner says, Pittsburgh woman missing for 31 years found alive in Puerto Rico, Alex Murdaugh found guilty of murders of wife and son. 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 NTSB report did not identify a probable cause of the crash. Hard-working, compassionate and caring, the Pulancos shared their Beacon Hill home with two dogs and a cat. She used to drive a riding lawn mower around their yard, and relax in the family swimming pool. William Knudson, 53, SacramentoCo-founder of Inland Business Systems in Sacramento, Mr. Knudson was known for his love of boating and restoring old cars with his partner, Bradley Long. Toni Choate, 48, San FranciscoHe had been a general contractor and cabinet finisher in Visalia, Calif., then bought a bar in Santa Clara, Calif. Speedbrakes! Captain Thompson called out, still trying to find ways to arrest the dive. It got worse, okay. Violent vibrations shook the airplane. Were pretty busy up here working this situation. Alaska Airlines 261 is a chartered flight operated by Alaska Airlines. 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. The legal limit for operating a commercial plane is a blood alcohol content of 0.10 percent or higher. Long story short: the result of an investigation into drinking before a flight is typically career-ending. He had a blood alcohol concentration of 0.134 percent and 0.142 percent, according to the DOJ. Dean Forshee, 47, Benicia, CalifThe professional musician was a skilled pedal steel, acoustic and electric guitar player who taught lessons and devoted his life to music, especially country and rockabilly. According to the official maintenance manual, greasing the jackscrew involved three main steps. Let me just try it, Tansky said, offering to take over the strenuous task of holding the plane level. Stepping on the rudder pedals while upside down was no easy task. The eight-year-old McDonnell Douglas MD-83, registered as N963AS, outwardly seemed to be in good shape. 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. One of six children born to Jovanna Luque of Olympia, Mr. Luque is the second child she has lost. In hindsight, the crew should have turned around and immediately landed back in Puerto Vallarta. Anjesh Prasad, 19, BurienA 1998 Highline High School graduate and dedicated sports fan, he worked as a ground service agent for Horizon Air. Blake Clemetson, 7, SeattleBlake was Corianders younger sister, the daughter of Dr. David Clemetson and his first wife, Dr. Claire Barnett. On board flight 261, Captain Thompson vented to First Officer Tansky: Drives me nuts, he said. 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. Legal Statement. The last minutes of those on board the doomed MD-83 would have been sheer hell, as the plane went inverted, corkscrewed, pirouetted, and spun like a top during its final dive. Different speeds and phases of flight require the stabilizer to apply varying amounts of downforce on the tail in order to keep the plane level, and further adjustments must be made to ensure that the pilots dont have to continuously pull up or push down using the elevators in order to climb or descend. Paul Pulanco, 40, SeattleLike his partner, Craig Pulanco, Paul Pulanco was an animal lover and avid gardener. I think the stab trim thing is broke, said Thompson. Quality control fell by the wayside as workers performed tasks they didnt understand, while under pressure to get planes back in service as quickly as possible. In some accidents, relatives of those who died can take some small comfort in the possibility that their loved ones never knew what hit them. View on timesmachine. 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. He came to America from Fiji when he was 17 months old. The seemingly simple task of greasing the jackscrew was not immune to this degradation of the maintenance environment. But airline dispatchers in Seattle were less keen on this idea and preferred that flight 261 continue to San Francisco as scheduled. What caused Alaska Airlines 261 to crash? The pilots were able to stabilize the plane, inverted, for less than a minute (with a 9pitch towards the ocean). But as the airline began cutting costs over the following decade, one of the areas that got put on the chopping block was maintenance. A member of Ski Patrol, he was known to friends as Pat. Push and roll! Thompson shouted, trying to coordinate with Tansky to roll the plane right-side-up. January 22, 2016 Examined 9:54 Whats next for Erickson indicated that he and the pilot had been drinking alcoholic beverages, investigator Brice Banning wrote. Uh, its a lot worse than it was? Tansky asked. Shortly after the accident, Liotine discovered that the jackscrew nut he had inspected in 1997 was not in fact replaced and had actually gone on to cause the 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. Alaska Airlines 261 is a chartered flight operated by Alaska Airlines. Increasing the interval between lubrications meant that every lubrication had to be done correctly in order to prevent accelerated wear and tear. 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. She was also accompanied by her longtime companion, Charles Russell. 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? However, the procedures available to them did not state that this was necessary, which doubtlessly contributed to their decision to continue on. His mother said he was a sweet, handsome man who loved his job and loved people. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. At 15:55, the dispatcher returned with wind speeds, wind directions, and runway conditions at San Francisco and Los Angeles. Having decided not to touch the trim system anymore, the crew now performed some final tests of the airplanes low speed handling. 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. Avinesh Amit Deo, 23, BurienThe Highline High School alumnus had just graduated from ITT Technical Institute and was to have started his career at the time of the crash. Badly shaken witnesses reported the crash to air traffic control within seconds. That was the last time anyone ever measured the wear on the jackscrew nut on N963AS. Peggy Stockley, 62, SeattleAn animal lover and community activist, Mrs. Stockley was traveling with her husband, Tom Stockley. 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. When the jackscrew was hauled to the surface, investigators could not find any trace of grease on it, except for some old, dried out leftovers outside the normal working area of the screw. appreciated. Even though the pilots fought for control for a short period, an MD-80 will not Seeking opportunity during the Great Depression, he stowed away on an Alaska-bound steamship hoping to find better times. They heard a helicopter, but they were unable to fire the flare gun successfully and the helicopter left. In 1991, after posting a record loss of $121 million, the companys business analysts concluded that to remain competitive, Alaska Airlines needed to reduce expenses. He was vacationing with his daughter, Jacquelyn Choate. 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. 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. The longer it went without being greased properly, the faster the jackscrew wore down the threads on the nut. Both Captain Thompson and First Officer Tansky posthumously received the Air Line Pilots Association Gold Medal for Heroism. Ellen Masland Salyer, 51, Sebastopol, Calif.She was an active community volunteer who was dedicated to various organizations, including the Boy Scouts. Even though the pilots fought for control for a short period, an MD-80 will not According to court documents, Arntson piloted two Alaska Airlines flights on June 20, 2014. Arnston was then removed from all safety-sensitive duties by Alaska Airlines, and he retired from employment with the carrier after a 20-plus year career as a captain, KTLA reports. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. 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. All of these factors could have contributed to their decision to troubleshoot a problem that was best left alone. Uh, you getting full nose trim down but are you getting any you dont get no nose trim up, is that correct? maintenance asked. She had gone with her family to Mexico to celebrate the birthday of her mother, Jean Permison. And because of the increased interval between applications of new grease, a jackscrew with insufficient grease couldnt expect to see more until the plane had been in the air for another 2,250 hours. Over time, this minute difference will cause the jackscrew to wear away the threads on the nut if metal-on-metal contact is allowed to occur. Born in Hawaii, Mr. Ing grew up on Mercer Island, graduating from Mercer Island High School in 1990. Jean Permison, 73, Scotts Valley, Calif.The mother of Ileana Ost, she had gone with her family for a long-awaited vacation celebrating her 73rd birthday. Friends described her as a culture bearer who mastered all she attempted. Ted Thompson, 53, Redlands, Calif.The pilot of Flight 261, Capt. 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. Fuck me, he said. In 1998, fed up with a maintenance environment that did not seem to prioritize safety, John Liotine blew the whistle and alerted the FAA to some of Alaskas numerous violations. 13 months later. Charles Weimer, 31, and three others died in the Aug. 4 crash near Girdwood, a ski town in the municipality of Anchorage. I dont know, my adrenalines going, said Thompson. Ryan, who owned a commercial printing business, Copy Cat in Redmond, was an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam. 2016 CBS Interactive Inc. All Rights Reserved. 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. The 63-year-old aviator, from Newport Beach, Calif.,previously pleaded guilty to the crime in February of this year. As far as the pilots were concerned, the electric motors had probably seized and they could fly on to San Francisco without trimming the stabilizer. 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. Did maintenance errors cause the tragic crash? In 1996, Alaska Airlines applied to the FAA to extend the interval between its C-checks from 13 months to 15 months. Erickson indicated that he and the pilot had been drinking alcoholic beverages, investigator Brice Banning wrote. 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. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. When he landed in Orange County, he was selected for random drug and alcohol testing, according to a statement from the US Attorneys Office. Arntson was released on a $25,000 bond and was ordered to appear for an arraignment on February 10. Despite Alaska Airlines numerous regulatory violations, the investigation ended in 2003 without any charges being filed. The only layer of protection against a catastrophe was therefore the assumption that poorly trained, low-paid maintenance workers would apply enough grease. The following is a list of some of the victims of Alaska Airlines Flight 261. The metal from which the jackscrew is made is ever so slightly harder than the metal used in the nut. 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.. 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.