The effect was immediate and catastrophic, as his inputs ripped out whatever threads remained on the jackscrew nut. He worked for a San Francisco wholesale ice-cream manufacturer. For two hours, the crew of the ill-fated jet had struggled with a malfunctioning stabilizer, unaware that this critical flight control system had turned into a ticking time bomb counting down toward catastrophic failure. Pilot He had treated his cousins, Avinesh Prasad and Avinesh Amit Deo, to a trip to Mexico. Did maintenance errors cause the tragic crash? The 2 pilots, 3 cabin crew members, and 83 passengers on board were killed, and the airplane Instead it went the other way., What do you think. By torqueing the screw up and down without turning it, and measuring the amount of play in the system, it was possible to roughly determine the depth of the wear on the nut threads, which the manufacturers guidelines stated must be less than one millimeter. He was traveling with his wife, Thelma, and daughter Sheryl. This is still a search for human life. But the mechanism by which Alaska Airlines fell to such a dismal level of safety is not entirely gone. The design of the jackscrew on the MD-80 series was identical to that of the original 1960s-era Douglas DC-9, which was certified to meet requirements stating that no reasonably probable single failure of the control system could jeopardize the controllability of the airplane. 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. Kristin Mills, 26, Las VegasShe lived in Las Vegas with her husband of three years, Dave, but kept a home in Seattle so she could work at her dream job as a flight attendant with Alaska Airlines. January 22, 2016 Examined 9:54 Whats next for She was a food-and-beverage agent for Alaskas sister airline, Horizon Air. 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. When daughter Grace was born two years ago, he started saving Sundays for family. 2023 Cable News Network. Alaska Airlines 261 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. This may seem strange to make such a change in the cabin based on a superstitious belief. Even though the pilots fought for control for a short period, an MD-80 will not Possibly. 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. 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. Pilots of nearby planes caught sight of flight 261 and radioed Los Angeles air traffic control. He was the grandson of O.B. PLANE CRASH, Alaska Airlines Flight 261, Pacific Almost all of these recommendations were implemented. All of these factors could have contributed to their decision to troubleshoot a problem that was best left alone. The co-pilot also recalled Arntson saying "I bet it's for me.". 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? He lived in Brier with his partner, Charlene Sipe. Erickson indicated that he and the pilot had been drinking alcoholic beverages, investigator Brice Banning wrote. ALASKA AIRLINES flight 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. 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. Should you poke holes in potatoes before boiling? 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. He moved to San Francisco last year. Craig Pulanco was working as a flight attendant aboard Flight 261. Malcolm Branson, 39, Seward, AlaskaAn oiler for the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system, Mr. Branson was vacationing with his fiancee, Janice Stokes. 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. 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.. As the NTSB investigation continued, so too did the criminal investigation and the saga of John Liotine. PLANE CRASH, Alaska Airlines Flight 261, Pacific Ocean Other Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list more. And hes just hit the water, said one pilot. There is a long-held belief in many cultures that the number 13 is unlucky. 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. 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. Technical logs fell through the cracks; critical forms were left incomplete; paperwork was outright falsified to show work done when it was not. 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. Were flying were flying tell em what were doing.. She is survived by her husband of 13 years, Phil Salyer. 4:39 PM EST, Thu February 8, 2018. The basic design of the stabilizer is relatively simple. Alaska Airlines Whatever we did is no good, dont do that again, said Tansky. Pilot Error In Alaska 261 Bryant was a travel agent who was excited when he received free tickets for a trip to Mexico. Passengers and Crew Members on Alaska Airlines Flight 261 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. 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. 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. Updated This was not one of those cases. Friends said she was shy but very gentle and loving. All rights reserved. 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 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. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. What would cause an airplane to nosedive? They had run out of altitude. The revelations were in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Anchorage Daily News reported . For the relatives of the victims, this fact made it all the more important that Alaska Airlines pay for its negligence. 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. Thorgrimson, a founding partner of a prominent Seattle-based law firm. 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 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. More importantly, investigators felt that the pilots should not have attempted to troubleshoot the problem after exhausting the procedures in the checklist, considering that they didnt know the extent of the damage. Arntson was released on a $25,000 bond and was ordered to appear for an arraignment on February 10. Ted Thompson, 53, Redlands, Calif.The pilot of Flight 261, Capt. The problem was that with insufficient grease, the threads on the nut began to wear down at an accelerated rate. 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 flight departs from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and arrives in Haines, Skip to content The two worked together several years at the Roy Potter Insurance Agency. Alaska Airlines 261 is a chartered flight operated by Alaska Airlines. At 16:09, he said, Im gonna click it off. Pilot At this point the checklist said Consider stab jammed, do not use autopilot, and offered a list of considerations to be made during landing. 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. Possibly. 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. First Officer William (Bill) Tansky, 57, had 8,140 total flight hours, including about 8,060 hours as first officer in the MD-80. The anger he must have felt is difficult to fathom. Both were Alaskan natives. The rows jump straight from 12 to 14. 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. 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. Mr. Deo immigrated from Fiji with his family when he was young. 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. If they lost control again, he didnt want to endanger people on the ground. Alaska Airlines Pilot Accused of Flying Drunk FOLLOW US ON FACEBOOK FOR MORE FOX LIFESTYLE NEWS. Web19K views 2 years ago. The FAA approved the extension without assessing the effect this would have on individual inspection tasks that were tied to the C-check interval. 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. He was traveling with several college friends. 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.. 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.. David Hans Arntson's deal includes a year in federal prison, He'll also get three years of supervised release. Charles Russell, 65, Scotts Valley, Calif.Mr. He grew up in Olympia. Luque had worked at Taste Catering in San Francisco since 1994. He is survived by his wife, Earlene Shaw, who works at the state Senate cafeteria. The single mother of a daughter, Hailey, and an avid fitness buff, she was an attendant with the crew of Flight 261.Looo. 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. SkyWest 5154, the MD-80 is one becoming two oclock about ten miles now. Thompson was an Air Force veteran who had flown for Alaska Airlines for more than 17 years. By trimming the stabilizer to (for example) a nose up position, the pilots or the autopilot can keep the plane in a steady climb without touching the controls at all. 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. 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. No survivors Erickson indicated that he and the pilot had been drinking alcoholic beverages, investigator Brice Banning wrote. It might be mechanical damage too. Alaska Airlines Pilot Accused of Flying Drunk 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. 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? 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. She played fast-pitch softball in high school and soccer at Bellevue Community College. Even though the pilots fought for control for a short period, an MD-80 will not Alaska Airlines Pilot Accused of Flying Drunk Let me just try it, Tansky said, offering to take over the strenuous task of holding the plane level. Hes in sight, hes, uh, definitely out of control, said the SkyWest pilot. 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. After Alaska Airlines received the test results it removed Arntson from all safety-sensitive duties. Discovery Company. He was a favored friend in the neighborhood where he lived with his wife, Marilyn. It looks like hes turning hes turning over in front of you now, said the controller. Push and roll! The revelations were in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Anchorage Daily News reported . Mrs. Busche grew up near Bow, Skagit County, near Mount Vernon. He was working in Microsofts games group as a temporary employee for ArtSource. Avinesh Prasad, 19, BurienA beloved employee of HomeGrocer.com and a star on the company soccer team, he moved from Fiji with his family when he was 18. Profiles of Alaska Flight 261 victims She had gone with her family to Mexico to celebrate the birthday of her mother, Jean Permison. Alaska Flight 261 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. When he landed in Orange County, he was selected for random drug and alcohol testing, according to a statement from the US Attorneys Office. Alaska Flight 261 Pilots Awarded ALPA Gold Medal PLANE CRASH, Alaska Airlines Flight 261, Pacific 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. Jacquelyn Choate, 17, Santa Cruz, Calif.She was returning from a vacation with her father, Toni Choate. The revelations were in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Anchorage Daily News reported . He was traveling with his cousins, Anjesh Prasad and Avinesh Amit Deo. Ballet lessons and cooperative day care were part of her life. 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. Terry Ryan, 55, RedmondMr. For several months he surreptitiously recorded his bosses violating safety rules and handed the tapes over to FAA investigators. Miles Clemetson, 6, SeattleThe son of Carolyn Clemetson from a previous marriage, Miles attended John Hay Elementary School on Queen Anne Hill with his stepsisters. 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. But there was nothing to be done. Neither the electric switches (which the pilots called pickle switches) nor the fully manual trim handles (referred to as the suitcase handles) could move the stabilizer. 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. But they would tend to be more short-lived or there are easy ways for pilots to counteract such failures, he said. She is survived by her mother, Dr. Claire Barnett of Seattle, a family-practice doctor. The flight departs from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and arrives in Haines, Skip to content Push push push, push the blue side up!, Okay, now lets kick rudder, left rudder, left rudder. Passengers and Crew Members on Alaska Airlines Flight 261 Nine years after the cost-cutting began, Alaska Airlines was posting profits again, its fleet was expanding, and passenger numbers were higher than ever. She was a first-grader at Hay Elementary. According to court documents, Arntson piloted two Alaska Airlines flights on June 20, 2014. The investigation uncovered a daunting list of operational problems and regulatory mistakes that led to the crash. Flight 261 immediately plunged into a near-vertical dive, hurtling downward toward the Pacific Ocean. 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. Are we flying? he said. Oh yeah, let me get said Tansky. Many workers who greased jackscrews didnt apply additional grease to the screw itself after greasing the nut. The turn of the millennium had just come and gone, and the future again seemed limitless. 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 couple was considering starting their own insurance agency. School counselors said she and her friend, Rachel Janosik, were funny, enjoyable, mature young women. 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. Fuck me!. 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. Both of them were creative, outgoing people. Having decided not to touch the trim system anymore, the crew now performed some final tests of the airplanes low speed handling. It was not designed to handle that kind of pressure, and over those ten minutes, it started to fracture. He had flown for four decades and worked for Alaska Airlines since 1985. First Officer William Tansky, 57, Alameda, Calif.The co-pilot on Flight 261, he was two years from retirement. The rec room at the Karlsson home featured a jukebox, a pinball machine and a bumper-pool table. 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. I clicked it off, Thompson said. It got worse, okay. Violent vibrations shook the airplane. Alaska Airlines pilot arrested for allegedly flying planes drunk Alaska Flight 261 Pilots Awarded ALPA Gold Medal Consequences of Flying Drunk So what happens when a pilot is arrested for flying under the influence? The entire horizontal stabilizer assembly was now attached to the airplane only by the rear hinge. Larry Baldridge Jr., 34, Novato, Calif.A businessman with a knack for the Internet, he was working to set up venture-capital business with Michael Schwab, the son of legendary brokerage leader Charles Schwab. Ryan, who owned a commercial printing business, Copy Cat in Redmond, was an Air Force veteran who served in Vietnam. 2. 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. Keep us advised.. Craig Pulanco, 30, SeattleFormerly Craig Gruhl, Mr. Pulanco changed his name to that of his long-time partner, Paul Pulanco. 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. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. He was traveling with his wife, Barbara Ryan, and their sons, Bradford Patrick Ryan and James Ryan, and five friends of James Ryan. She and Monte Donaldson had just bought a home and planned to be married, then honeymoon in Ireland and Bali. However, this premise was based on the assumption that one of the threads might separate from the nut due to metal fatigue or improper workmanship, and did not consider the possibility of abnormal wear simultaneously compromising the strength of both threads. 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. 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.