Rescue vessels raced to the crash site three kilometers east of Anacapa Island in the Santa Barbara Channel, hoping to find survivors. Rachel Janosik, 20, BellevueA graduate of Enumclaw High School, she was traveling with former schoolmates Ryan Sparks and Meghann Hall. 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. 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. 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. 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. Robert Thorgrimson, 63, PoulsboA special-education teacher for North Kitsap School District, Mr. Thorgrimson was known as a sincere man who helped save the local chapter of DeMolay, the Masons club for boys. Long story short: the result of an investigation into drinking before a flight is typically career-ending. Fuck me, he said. 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. Yeah, we tried everything together, said Thompson. Joyce Lake, 62, Corte Madera, Calif.She was the top seller at a local real-estate brokerage, an avid community activist and mother of three grown sons. The pilot of Flight 261, Capt. Did you encounter any technical issues? First published on January 21, 2016 / 9:24 PM. By nightfall, working with the help of flood lights from squid fishing boats, recovery workers managed to find just seven bodies. James Jay Luque, 40, San FranciscoMr. Traveling with Colleen Whorley in Mexico, he e-mailed a friend poetic descriptions of their time together. Malcolm Branson, 39, Seward, AlaskaAn oiler for the Alaska Marine Highway ferry system, Mr. Branson was vacationing with his fiancee, Janice Stokes. Mr. Marquez was flying home alone while Mr. Rettinger stayed behind for a longer vacation. Still flying inverted, the plane leveled further, to nine degrees nose down. Having decided not to touch the trim system anymore, the crew now performed some final tests of the airplanes low speed handling. At 16:07, flight 261 contacted Alaska Airlines Los Angeles maintenance facility on the radio. No survivors Erickson indicated that he and the pilot had been drinking alcoholic beverages, investigator Brice Banning wrote. They had just moved to the Bay Area from Los Angeles, where they had raised three sons. The airline extended numerous maintenance intervals, while simultaneously skimping on personnel and training. The criminal investigation also proved to be a disappointment. Also killed was the airplanes owner, Karl Erickson, 55, and David Osborn, 60, both of Girdwood, and Paul Wiley, 37, of Superior, Arizona. The NTSB report did not identify a probable cause of the crash. 2016 CBS Interactive Inc. 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. He moved to San Francisco last year. Hard-working, compassionate and caring, the Pulancos shared their Beacon Hill home with two dogs and a cat. He was working in Microsofts games group as a temporary employee for ArtSource. 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. They had run out of altitude. 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. He was traveling with William Bryant, his best friend. 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. Alex Murdaugh sentenced to life in prison for murders of wife and son, Biden had cancerous skin lesion removed last month, doctor says, White supremacist and Holocaust denier Nick Fuentes kicked out of CPAC, Tom Sizemore, actor known for "Saving Private Ryan" and "Heat," dies at 61, Biden team readies new advisory panel ahead of expected reelection bid, At least 10 dead after winter storm slams South, Midwest, House Democrats unhappy with White House handling of D.C.'s new criminal code. Patty Williams, 63, Poulsbo, Kitsap CountyMrs. The trim might be, and then it might be uh, if somethings popped back there. 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. With Tom Church, he opened Six Degrees, which he hoped to turn into a chain of high-end neighborhood restaurants. Copyright 2023 CBS Interactive Inc. All rights reserved. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Don Shaw, 63, SheltonAffable tour guide, Mr. Shaw was a fixture in the halls of the Legislature. The pilots didnt want to discover on final approach that the plane was uncontrollable at low speeds. Tragically, they didnt. Lorna Thorgrimson, 52, PoulsboTraveling with her husband, Robert Thorgrimson, Mrs. Thorgrimson was also accompanied by her close friends, Patty and Bob Williams. In theory this was adequate, but only if the grease was applied correctly every time. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by Refinitiv Lipper. 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. However, the procedures available to them did not state that this was necessary, which doubtlessly contributed to their decision to continue on. The problem was that with insufficient grease, the threads on the nut began to wear down at an accelerated rate. 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. Who is the girl in the opening scene of flight? Alaska Airlines 261 is a chartered flight operated by Alaska Airlines. Instead it went the other way., What do you think. Possibly. The NTSB report did not identify a probable cause of the crash. 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. But when we slowed down lets slow it, lets get it down to two hundred knots and see what happens., Now Thompson and Tansky slowed down and deployed the flaps and slats, simulating a landing configuration, to make sure the plane would be controllable on final approach. The investigation uncovered a daunting list of operational problems and regulatory mistakes that led to the crash. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Many of Alaskas maintenance workers received on the job training only without any formal curriculum. The revelations were in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Anchorage Daily News reported. Friends described her as a culture bearer who mastered all she attempted. Still, the pilots did not give up; Thompson thought it might be possible to roll out right-side-up using the rudder. 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. She was a treasured volunteer at a Eugene elementary school. 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. Anjesh Prasad, 19, BurienA 1998 Highline High School graduate and dedicated sports fan, he worked as a ground service agent for Horizon Air. The pilot of Flight 261, Capt. Okay, give me sl see, this is a bitch! said Thompson. Emily Ost, 4 months, San Bruno, Calif.She was the infant daughter of Ileana and Robert Ost. Speedbrakes! Captain Thompson called out, still trying to find ways to arrest the dive. 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. 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. January 22, 2016 Examined 9:54 Whats next for 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. 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. He once owned the reknowned Blue Moon Tavern in the University District and the J & M Cafe in Pioneer Square. All rights reserved. Toxicology results showed that Weimers blood-alcohol was 0.238. 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 that moment they effectively were dead. CNN Sans & 2016 Cable News Network. appreciated. Push and roll! Thompson shouted, trying to coordinate with Tansky to roll the plane right-side-up. Anything more than that and the nut would need to be replaced. 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. Ballet lessons and cooperative day care were part of her life. This may seem strange to make such a change in the cabin based on a superstitious belief. The FAA approved the extension without assessing the effect this would have on individual inspection tasks that were tied to the C-check interval. Thorgrimson, a founding partner of a prominent Seattle-based law firm. 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? The legal limit for operating a commercial plane is a blood alcohol content of 0.10 percent or higher. Are we flying? he said. Were going to LAX, Thompson told the dispatcher. Epilogue. Stacy Schuyler, 20, Federal WayA ground-service agent for Horizon Air, Ms. Schuyler was a 1997 graduate of Puyallup High School. Mr. Williams wore a ring identifying him as a Mason; the ring was found off the California coast and saved as a gift for his daughter, Tracy Knizek. 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. You got it?. The 63-year-old aviator, from Newport Beach, Calif.,previously pleaded guilty to the crime in February of this year. PLANE CRASH, Alaska Airlines Flight 261, Pacific Ocean Other Videos: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list more. Fox News Alexandra Deabler contributed to this report. Salt of the earth, said one who knew him. What he liked best in life was family, said his longtime medical assistant. Weve run just about everything. She used to drive a riding lawn mower around their yard, and relax in the family swimming pool. 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. They heard a helicopter, but they were unable to fire the flare gun successfully and the helicopter left. 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. Peggy Stockley, 62, SeattleAn animal lover and community activist, Mrs. Stockley was traveling with her husband, Tom Stockley. He retired in 1989, but continued his column, which began in 1973. Badly shaken witnesses reported the crash to air traffic control within seconds. When greased regularly, the nut on the MD-80 series is designed to last for 30,000 flight hours before requiring replacement long enough that most planes will see only two or three different jackscrew nuts during their entire time in service. At least upside down, were flying!. 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. Were pretty busy up here working this situation. The effect was immediate and catastrophic, as his inputs ripped out whatever threads remained on the jackscrew nut. January 22, 2016 Examined 9:54 Whats next for Mechanical stops attached to the jackscrew prevent the stabilizer from moving farther than 2.5 degrees upward or 12.5 degrees downward. Even though the pilots fought for control for a short period, an MD-80 will not She was traveling with her father, Dr. David Clemetson, her stepmother, Carolyn Clemetson, and their blended family. How should I dress my baby in 69 degrees? Salvage vessels had to be brought in to raise the rest of the plane from the bottom of the Pacific Ocean. She played fast-pitch softball in high school and soccer at Bellevue Community College. The revelations were in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Anchorage Daily News reported . (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. It was clear that nobody had survived the crash. She had gone with her family to Mexico to celebrate the birthday of her mother, Jean Permison. Fun stories about food, relationships, the great outdoors and more. Were flying were flying tell em what were doing.. It was really tough there for a while.. 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. 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. 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. 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. And at the same time, the increased inspection interval meant that it was now possible for a jackscrew nut to pass an inspection, later receive inadequate lubrication, and then wear down to the point of failure, all before the next inspection came around. Market data provided by Factset. Karl Karlsson, 51, Petaluma, Calif.The jovial former San Francisco police officer loved fun and parties. 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. Lives would have been saved if they had. The longer it went without being greased properly, the faster the jackscrew wore down the threads on the nut. I went tab down, right, and it should have come back. A ground-service agent for Horizon Air, she was outgoing and athletic, an avid volleyball player who hoped to become a personal trainer. 2023 Cable News Network. By now the plane had leveled out at about 23,500 feet, after plunging 7,500 feet in 80 seconds. But there was nothing to be done. 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. In September of 1997, maintenance workers in Oakland performed the aforementioned test on N963AS and found a wear depth of exactly one millimeter. Mr. Sparks was a guard on his schools varsity basketball team, and is remembered as a champion of the underdog who stood up for less-popular classmates. 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. This article is written without reference to and supersedes the original. 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. 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. That was the last time anyone ever measured the wear on the jackscrew nut on N963AS. 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. After Alaska Airlines received the test results it removed Arntson from all safety-sensitive duties. She was a food-and-beverage agent for Alaskas sister airline, Horizon Air. 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. She and Monte Donaldson had just bought a home and planned to be married, then honeymoon in Ireland and Bali. A cacophony of banging and roaring filled the cockpit. The following is a list of some of the victims of Alaska Airlines Flight 261. Did maintenance errors cause the tragic crash? He is survived by his wife of five years, Susan da Silva. Join the discussion of this article on Reddit! David Hans Arntson, 62, of Newport Beach, California, agreed to enter a guilty plea in US District Court this week. Thompson was an Air Force veteran who had flown for Alaska Airlines for more than 17 years. Nevertheless, investigators praised the pilots for their heroic last-ditch efforts to save their aircraft, even attempting to fly upside down when they found they could not level the plane. The couple was considering starting their own insurance agency. Its on the stop now, its on the stop, Thompson said. It was no wonder, given these findings, why Alaska Airlines mechanics didnt know how to grease the jackscrew, and why nobody held them accountable for not doing so properly. Not that I want to go on about it you know, it just blows me away they think were gonna land, theyre gonna fix it, now theyre worried about the flow. 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. 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. Ellen Masland Salyer, 51, Sebastopol, Calif.She was an active community volunteer who was dedicated to various organizations, including the Boy Scouts. Federal regulations limit alcohol levels to 0.04 for airplane crew members.Were the bodies of Flight 261 recovered? There is a long-held belief in many cultures that the number 13 is unlucky. Fuck me!. (Alaska specifically did this every 30 months, or 9,550 flight hours.) 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. He was a favored friend in the neighborhood where he lived with his wife, Marilyn. Gabriela Chavez, 33, Puerto Vallarta, MexicoA homemaker, wife and mother of one, Ms. Chavez was flying to San Francisco to visit her sister. 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. No survivors from Flight 261 have been found. The single mother of a daughter, Hailey, and an avid fitness buff, she was an attendant with the crew of Flight 261.Looo. Im sorry, this airplane isnt gonna go anywhere for a while.. 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 they struggled to regain control, Thompson radioed Los Angeles and said, Center, Alaska two six one, we are in a dive here, and Ive lost control, vertical pitch! An overspeed warning blared in the cockpit. 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. He had gone to Mexico with his cousins, Anjesh Prasad and Avinesh Prasad, to celebrate. Alaska two sixty one, say again sir, said the controller. Williams, traveling with her husband, Bob Williams, would have celebrated her 64th birthday on Feb. 8, 2000. I really didnt want to hear about flow being the reason youre calling us, he said to the dispatcher, Cause Im concerned about overflying suitable airports., Well we want to do whats safe, said the dispatcher, so if thats what you feel is safe we just want to make sure you have all the info., The pilots asked for information on the runway conditions in San Francisco, and the dispatcher temporarily signed off to go find some. Discovery Company. 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.