Okay, right rudder, right rudder, said Thompson. The base confirmed that there werent any known problems with the stabilizer, and the discussion then turned to how to handle the failure. 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. Indeed, all seemed normal as flight 261 climbed out from Puerto Vallarta, heading for its cruising altitude of 31,000 feet. Peggy Stockley, 62, SeattleAn animal lover and community activist, Mrs. Stockley was traveling with her husband, Tom Stockley. Following the incident, Arntson retired from Alaska Airlines. Ted Thompson, 53, Redlands, Calif.The pilot of Flight 261, Capt. 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. He also served for a time with the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Thompson was an Air Force veteran who had flown for Alaska Airlines for more than 17 years. Legal Statement. January 21, 2016 / 9:24 PM One of six children born to Jovanna Luque of Olympia, Mr. Luque is the second child she has lost. The criminal investigation also proved to be a disappointment. Push push push, push the blue side up!, Okay, now lets kick rudder, left rudder, left rudder. The revelations were in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Anchorage Daily News reported . The basic design of the stabilizer is relatively simple. Under the terms of the plea agreement unveiled Tuesday, he will serve one year and a day in federal prison, followed by three years of supervised release, according to the plea agreement obtained by CNN. 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. The stabilizer is attached to a giant threaded screw, called the jackscrew, which feeds through a nut attached to the aircraft structure inside the tail. Bob Williams, 65, Poulsbo, Kitsap CountyHe was a builder who served on the Poulsbo city Planning Commission. View on timesmachine. Alaska two sixty one, say again sir, said the controller. 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. While Tansky held the plane steady, Thompson contacted LAX maintenance again. They had run out of altitude. 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 tangled remnants of the threads from the nut remained wrapped around the jackscrew, wordlessly telling the story of how the stabilizer failed. 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. 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. Steve Wilkie, 38, San FranciscoThe brand manager of the Levi Strauss Silvertab clothing line, Mr. Wilkie had recently received the companys exalted Koshman Award in recognition for his work on marketing in Europe. That was the last time anyone ever measured the wear on the jackscrew nut on N963AS. Even though the pilots fought for control for a short period, an MD-80 will not 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. I went tab down, right, and it should have come back. LOS ANGELES -- Federal authorities have arrested a former Alaska Airlines captain on federal charges of piloting a plane while intoxicated. Uh, you getting full nose trim down but are you getting any you dont get no nose trim up, is that correct? maintenance asked. Almost all of these recommendations were implemented. Rodrigo Laigo, 53, Fairfield, Calif.An engineer for Arco, he was traveling with his wife, Naomi, on one of their many golf vacations. Stokes had three college-age children, as well as a brother in Seattle and a sister in Alaska. In September of 1997, maintenance workers in Oakland performed the aforementioned test on N963AS and found a wear depth of exactly one millimeter. Rodney Pearson, 45, SeattleMr. Rachel Pearson, 6, SeattleWith her parents, Sarah and Rodney Pearson, and little sister, Grace, Rachel was a part of the Queen Anne neighborhood for which her family was a mainstay. The stab trim, I think.. N963AS nearly made it anyway its next jackscrew inspection was scheduled for March 2000. 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. 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. Possibly. The 2 pilots, 3 cabin crew members, and 83 passengers on board were killed, and the airplane At least upside down, were flying!. The legal limit for operating a commercial plane is a blood alcohol content of 0.10 percent or higher. The single mother of a daughter, Hailey, and an avid fitness buff, she was an attendant with the crew of Flight 261.Looo. 2023 FOX News Network, LLC. 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.. On board flight 261, Captain Thompson vented to First Officer Tansky: Drives me nuts, he said. His mother said he was a sweet, handsome man who loved his job and loved people. If youve got any hidden circuit breakers wed love to know about em. Over the next couple minutes the pilots reported to maintenance that electrical current was present when they activated the trim motors, but that the motors nevertheless could not move the stabilizer. Yes sir, he he hit the water, said the SkyWest pilot, his voice nearly cracking. The airline ended up being fined a mere $44,000 for allowing planes to fly 840 times without properly completed maintenance records. Who is the man on the tail of Alaska Airlines planes? 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. He was the grandson of O.B. Push and roll! Thompson continued to think about ways to unjam the stabilizer. 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. Rachel Janosik, 20, BellevueA graduate of Enumclaw High School, she was traveling with former schoolmates Ryan Sparks and Meghann Hall. 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. Let me just try it, Tansky said, offering to take over the strenuous task of holding the plane level. 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. 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. This was not one of those cases. Terry Ryan, 55, RedmondMr. SkyWest 5154, the MD-80 is one becoming two oclock about ten miles now. A cacophony of banging and roaring filled the cockpit. Monte Donaldson, 31, SeattleA freelance landscaper, his passion was music and filmmaking. All large airplanes have what is referred to as a trimmable horizontal stabilizer. 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. It was clear that nobody had survived the crash. The following is a list of some of the victims of Alaska Airlines Flight 261. Your effort and contribution in providing this feedback is much 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. Possibly. 4:39 PM EST, Thu February 8, 2018. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. He then flew a plane from Portland, Oregon, to John Wayne Airport in Orange County. Following the crash and the damning FAA special inspection report, Alaska Airlines overhauled its maintenance program, including through its compliance with a new FAA airworthiness directive mandating that the jackscrew lubrication interval not exceed 650 flight hours. 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. Meanwhile, N963AS continued to fly, and maintenance workers continued to grease the jackscrew every eight months. An accountant with MPL2.com in Bellevue, he was traveling with the Ryan family and several friends. He grew up in Olympia. 2. 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. He was coming home with his wife, Carol. 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. FAA regulations say a pilot cannot have a blood or breath alcohol concentration of 0.04 or more, which is half the legal limit for driving in the United States. I think if its controllable, we ought to just try and land it, said Tansky. 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. Erickson indicated that he and the pilot had been drinking alcoholic beverages, investigator Brice Banning wrote. 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. 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. The flight, eventually bound for Seattle, crashed off the California coast on Jan. 31, 2000. The pilot of Flight 261, Capt. LOS ANGELES -- Federal authorities have arrested a former Alaska Airlines captain on federal charges of piloting a plane while intoxicated. 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 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. Ellen Masland Salyer, 51, Sebastopol, Calif.She was an active community volunteer who was dedicated to various organizations, including the Boy Scouts. 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. appreciated. Uh, if you want to try it, thats ok with me, if not, thats fine. 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. Badly shaken witnesses reported the crash to air traffic control within seconds. It got worse, okay. Violent vibrations shook the airplane. The eight-year-old McDonnell Douglas MD-83, registered as N963AS, outwardly seemed to be in good shape. 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. She and Monte Donaldson had just bought a home and planned to be married, then honeymoon in Ireland and Bali. 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. Just do what you need to do there, SkyWest 5154. In fact, by now there were several other airplanes in the area that were keenly watching the unfolding situation. Thus the fundamental principle of redundancy was violated. A member of Ski Patrol, he was known to friends as Pat. The report says that at levels above 0.15, individuals may have significant loss of muscle control and major loss of balance. At levels over 0.20, individuals may experience amnesia or blackouts and double vision.. Whatever we did is no good, dont do that again, said Tansky. Joan Smith, 53, Belmont, Calif.A manager of a San Francisco medical office, she had been called home on business from a monthlong vacation with her son, Jesse, and her daughter, Holly, whom she left behind in Mexico. Epilogue. He came to America from Fiji when he was 17 months old. I dont think we should, if it can fly, its like . 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. It really wants to pitch down., Alaska two six one, said the controller, Say your condition?, Two six one, we are at 24,000 feet, kinda stabilized, said Thompson. Thompson was an Air Force veteran who had flown for Alaska Airlines for more than 17 years. A Warner Bros. Some did still less, failing even to ensure that grease totally filled the inside of the nut. How long does it take for a potato to cook at 350? Captain Thompson argued that conditions would be more suitable for landing at Los Angeles, and the dispatcher admitted that the reason they preferred San Francisco was because a diversion would disrupt flow, worsening mounting delays in Alaskas flight schedule. 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. Ms. Halls only brother died four years ago of a motorcycle accident. According to the official maintenance manual, greasing the jackscrew involved three main steps. 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. The flight departs from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and arrives in Haines, Skip to content 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 lead mechanic that day was John Liotine, a rare Alaska Airlines employee who still took safety seriously. 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. 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. 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. Thompson was an Air Force veteran who had flown for Alaska Airlines for more than 17 years. The Gulf of California stretched out below them, bright and blue. Toni Choate, 48, San FranciscoHe had been a general contractor and cabinet finisher in Visalia, Calif., then bought a bar in Santa Clara, Calif. Key safety-related positions within the airlines management structure went unfilled. The pilots consisted of Captain Edward (Ted) Thompson, 53, who had 17,750 flight hours, and had more than 4,000 hours experience flying MD-80s. Flight 261 immediately plunged into a near-vertical dive, hurtling downward toward the Pacific Ocean. Do smaller potatoes take less time to bake. Craig Pulanco, 30, SeattleFormerly Craig Gruhl, Mr. Pulanco changed his name to that of his long-time partner, Paul Pulanco. 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. Well see you at the gate. This would be the last transmission between flight 261 and Alaska Airlines maintenance. 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. It looks like hes turning hes turning over in front of you now, said the controller. 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. Karl Karlsson, 51, Petaluma, Calif.The jovial former San Francisco police officer loved fun and parties. Okay, we had a big bang back there, said the flight attendant. Okay, we are inverted, and now we gotta get it. Glenn Hatleberg, 65, Eugene, Ore.The husband of Barbara Hatleberg, retired father of three grown children and grandfather of two small girls, Mr. Hatleberg was beloved at his Lutheran church in Eugene, where he served as an usher during services. Jacquelyn Choate, 17, Santa Cruz, Calif.She was returning from a vacation with her father, Toni Choate. The couple was considering starting their own insurance agency. Traveling with Colleen Whorley in Mexico, he e-mailed a friend poetic descriptions of their time together. She is also survived by a son, Richard, in the Bay Area. At 16:07, flight 261 contacted Alaska Airlines Los Angeles maintenance facility on the radio. But this very success may have planted the seeds of the disaster which followed. I clicked it off, Thompson said. He was coming home from Mexico with his girlfriend, Nina Voronoff. 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. Paul Pulanco, 40, SeattleLike his partner, Craig Pulanco, Paul Pulanco was an animal lover and avid gardener. But airline dispatchers in Seattle were less keen on this idea and preferred that flight 261 continue to San Francisco as scheduled. 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. Nine years after the cost-cutting began, Alaska Airlines was posting profits again, its fleet was expanding, and passenger numbers were higher than ever. Related: Has my pilot had too much to drink? Then in 1999 Alaska Airlines retaliated against John Liotine, putting him on indefinite leave from his job and circulating false rumors about him; the airline sought to portray him in the media as a disgruntled employee who wanted to get back at supervisors who passed him over for promotion. Who is the girl in the opening scene of flight? (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. Mechanical stops attached to the jackscrew prevent the stabilizer from moving farther than 2.5 degrees upward or 12.5 degrees downward. As such, it is critically important that the jackscrew be kept in good working order, primarily through the liberal application of grease at regular intervals. She was part of the Flight 261 crew. At 16:09, he said, Im gonna click it off. He will be sentenced this spring in US District Court in Santa Ana, California, according to the attorney. Coriander Clemetson, 8, SeattleShe was a quiet, poised student at John Hay Elementary School on Queen Anne Hill. A flight attendant opened the cockpit door, and Captain Thompson briefed her on the situation. 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