Monte Donaldson, 31, SeattleA freelance landscaper, his passion was music and filmmaking. The revelations were in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Anchorage Daily News reported . How long does it take for a potato to cook at 350? 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? Mr. Deo immigrated from Fiji with his family when he was young. 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. As any good crew should do, Thompson and Tansky then pulled out the checklists for a runaway or inoperative stabilizer. She was part of the Flight 261 crew. Im sorry, this airplane isnt gonna go anywhere for a while.. (David Arnston Google+). WebOn Flight 261, the nut portion of the jackscrew (located on the horizontal stabilizer) screwed itself off the jackscew. An avid outdoorsman and Spanish language graduate of Western Washington University, he was traveling with his parents and with long-time friends, Michael Bernard, Ryan and Abigail Busche, Russel Ing and Deborah Penna. Before the flight, he told a friend that Weimer, an airline transport pilot, would be at the controls for the short sightseeing trip, according to the NTSB report. For several months he surreptitiously recorded his bosses violating safety rules and handed the tapes over to FAA investigators. Yeah, no, said Thompson. 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. Did maintenance errors cause the tragic crash? Hes in sight, hes, uh, definitely out of control, said the SkyWest pilot. Instead it went the other way., What do you think. Described by friends as a soft-spoken, caring person, Ms. Thompson is survived by two sisters. It got worse, okay. Violent vibrations shook the airplane. She is survived by her mother, Dr. Claire Barnett of Seattle, a family-practice doctor. He was vacationing with his daughter, Jacquelyn Choate. Meanwhile, N963AS continued to fly, and maintenance workers continued to grease the jackscrew every eight months. SkyWest 5154, the MD-80 is one becoming two oclock about ten miles now. In theory this was adequate, but only if the grease was applied correctly every time. While Tansky held the plane steady, Thompson contacted LAX maintenance again. David Hans Arntson's deal includes a year in federal prison, He'll also get three years of supervised release. All large airplanes have what is referred to as a trimmable horizontal stabilizer. 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. Did maintenance errors cause the tragic crash? N963AS nearly made it anyway its next jackscrew inspection was scheduled for March 2000. First Officer William Tansky, 57, Alameda, Calif.The co-pilot on Flight 261, he was two years from retirement. 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. The free-swinging stabilizer rotated up past its stop, slamming back against the aerodynamic fairing that encased the tail. 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. You did try the suitcase handles and the pickle switches, right? the maintenance technician asked. They had no way of knowing at this stage that the problem was mechanical in nature. 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. Holy shit, said Thompson, pulling back hard on the controls. 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. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, Lets do that. Thompson attempted to move the stabilizer trim using either the electrical switches, the trim handles, or both, in an effort to clear the jam. Performing maintenance less frequently saved on labor costs and kept the planes in the air longer, thus increasing revenue. Even though the pilots fought for control for a short period, an MD-80 will not 13 months later. However, during the 1990s the quality of maintenance at Alaska Airlines began to slip significantly. The pilot of Flight 261, Capt. Arntson's co-pilot on the two flights remembered seeing the drug tester when the plane landed at John Wayne Airport, according to the complaint. The report noted that the crash could have been avoided if they had immediately returned to Puerto Vallarta when they encountered the jammed stabilizer. 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. LOS ANGELES -- Federal authorities have arrested a former Alaska Airlines captain on federal charges of piloting a plane while intoxicated. In 1987, Alaska Airlines greased the stabilizer jackscrews on its MD-80s every 500 flight hours, the value recommended by the manufacturer. Arntson was released on a $25,000 bond and was ordered to appear for an arraignment on February 10. Minimum first-time offenses include fines, possible jail time and mantadory alcohol treatment classes, among other penalties. Contact me via @Admiral_Cloudberg on Reddit, @KyraCloudy on Twitter, or by email at kyracloudy97@gmail.com. The tangled remnants of the threads from the nut remained wrapped around the jackscrew, wordlessly telling the story of how the stabilizer failed. As Thompson fought with all his might to regain control, Tansky shouted Mayday! but forgot to key his mic. On board flight 261, Captain Thompson vented to First Officer Tansky: Drives me nuts, he said. I cant reach it! said Tansky. TimesMachine is an exclusive benefit for home delivery and digital subscribers. I went tab down, right, and it should have come back. It can be interpreted (and alcoholics often reverse the order in their mind) that he therefore feels lost and is drinking and using drugs to run away from that sadness. Stokes had three college-age children, as well as a brother in Seattle and a sister in Alaska. He is survived by his wife, Earlene Shaw, who works at the state Senate cafeteria. 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. The pilot of Flight 261, Capt. In the ten minutes that had passed since the dive, the stabilizer had been held at 3.1 degrees nose down by nothing more than the mechanical stop on the bottom of the jackscrew. The pilot of Flight 261, Capt. Possibly. Salt of the earth, said one who knew him. No survivors Erickson indicated that he and the pilot had been drinking alcoholic beverages, investigator Brice Banning wrote. But this very success may have planted the seeds of the disaster which followed. Some did still less, failing even to ensure that grease totally filled the inside of the nut. And many airlines have responded to this by simply missing row 13 in their seat numbering. When the stabilizer moves upward, downforce on the tail decreases, and the nose pitches down; similarly, when the stabilizer moves downward, downforce increases, and the nose pitches up. The horrific crash killed all 88 people on board and raised troubling questions about one of Americas largest airlines. He is also survived by a grown son, Fred. 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. Still, the pilots did not give up; Thompson thought it might be possible to roll out right-side-up using the rudder. Permanent License Revocation If the investigators conclude that the pilot was intoxicated prior to a flight, the FAA will typically revoke the pilots license permanently. The NTSB report did not identify a probable cause of the crash. 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. Charles Weimer, 31, and three others died in the Aug. 4 crash near Girdwood, a ski town in the municipality of Anchorage. But we will be going into LAX, and Id anticipate us parking there in about twenty to thirty minutes.. Do you poke holes in potatoes when boiling? 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. View on timesmachine. After Alaska Airlines received the test results it removed Arntson from all safety-sensitive duties. First published on January 21, 2016 / 9:24 PM. It worked. She edited the Floating Homes Association newsletter. Born in Hawaii, Mr. Ing grew up on Mercer Island, graduating from Mercer Island High School in 1990. A ground-service agent for Horizon Air, she was outgoing and athletic, an avid volleyball player who hoped to become a personal trainer. But in the end, Alaska all but got away with it. As investigators recovered more and more of the plane from the ocean floor, a troubling picture of the sequence of events began to emerge. Uh, you getting full nose trim down but are you getting any you dont get no nose trim up, is that correct? maintenance asked. Mechanical stops attached to the jackscrew prevent the stabilizer from moving farther than 2.5 degrees upward or 12.5 degrees downward. She was a food-and-beverage agent for Alaskas sister airline, Horizon Air. By nightfall, working with the help of flood lights from squid fishing boats, recovery workers managed to find just seven bodies. The night shift subsequently performed the test five more times and measured a wear depth of approximately 0.84mm on each attempt. 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. With the stabilizer angled 3.1 degrees toward nose down, more than the design maximum of 2.5 degrees, flight 261 immediately entered a high-speed dive, hurtling downward at more than 6,000 feet per minute. The flight departs from Seattle-Tacoma International Airport and arrives in Haines, Skip to content 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. 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. The revelations were in a report by the National Transportation Safety Board, the Anchorage Daily News reported. One of six children born to Jovanna Luque of Olympia, Mr. Luque is the second child she has lost. 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. 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. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. She was a first-grader at Hay Elementary.