As Thompson fought with all his might to regain control, Tansky shouted Mayday! but forgot to key his mic. 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. 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. 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. Im sorry, this airplane isnt gonna go anywhere for a while.. The tragedy of 261 forced us to change, he said. Among major US airlines, Alaska has charted perhaps the most unusual course across its long and fascinating history. Stepping on the rudder pedals while upside down was no easy task. By nightfall, working with the help of flood lights from squid fishing boats, recovery workers managed to find just seven bodies. The maintenance technician, having received all the information he could get, said, Okay, thank you sir, see you there., Meanwhile, the conversation had apparently encouraged Captain Thompson to try moving the stabilizer again. See, Licenciado Gustavo Daz Ordaz International Airport, Naval Construction Battalion Center Port Hueneme, "The real-life story behind the Flight plane crash", "Alaska Airlines Flight 261: Searchers Hold Out Hope for Possible Survivors; Crash Takes Heavy Toll on Airlines Employees' Families", "Alaska Airlines jet crashes into Pacific", "Aircraft Accident Report, Loss of Control and Impact with Pacific Ocean Alaska Airlines Flight 261 McDonnell Douglas MD-83, N963AS About 2.7 Miles [4.3km] North of Anacapa Island, California, January 31, 2000", "Passengers and Crew Members on Alaska Airlines Flight 261", "(Essay 2958) Alaska Flight 261 bound for Seattle crashes into the Pacific Ocean on January 31, 2000", "Remembering Morris Thompson 20 years later", "Flight 261 Special Report: Alaska Airlines Names Aviation Experts To Conduct Safety Audit", "The anger and the grief linger one year later", "Fate Leads An Airline To Grieve For Itself", "The Crash of Flight 261: For Airline, Loss Feels Like Deaths in Family", "Names of those aboard Alaska Airlines Flight 261", "Transcript of Proceedings: Abstract of Aviation Accident Report: Alaska Airlines Flight261, MD83, N963AS, Pacific Ocean about 2.7Miles [4.3km ] North of AnacapaIsland, California, January 31, 2000, NTSB/AAR02/01", "Alaska Airlines Flight 261 31 JAN 2000 Relevant parts of ATC transcript", "Tape replays plane's last chilling minutes", "NASA says it has a better jackscrew; others aren't convinced", "Systems Thinking 1.0 and Systems Thinking 2.0: Complexity science and a new conception of "cause", Alaska Airlines maintenance records raise new questions, "No criminal charges against Alaska; airline settles with whistle-blower", "Alaska Airlines copes with 'saddest, most tragic day', "Port Hueneme, CA Official Website Alaska Air Flight 261 Memorial Sundial", "Memorials quieter today, but Flight 261 grief still hurts", "20 years after Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash, loved ones still gather to grieve", "Pilots honored for heroism during crisis", "Ted Thompson/Bill Tansky Scholarship Fund", "All but one suit settled in Flight 261 crash", "Father settles lawsuit in Alaska Air crash to avert playing of tape", "Seattle still struggling to make sense of the Flight 261 tragedy", "Quest for truth proves lawyer's integrity", "Nigerian Advance Fee Scam Customized for Alaska: Morris Thompson variation could be taste of ploys to come", "Latest e-mail uses Alaska Airlines crash victims to scam", "AS127 (ASA127) Alaska Airlines Flight Tracking and History", "AS1273 (ASA1273) Alaska Airlines Flight Tracking and History", "Alaska Airlines Completes Transition To All-Boeing Fleet", Cockpit voice recorder transcript and accident summary, Navy expands search for debris at Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash scene, Applying Lessons Learned from Accidents, Alaska Airlines Flight 261, Federal Aviation Administration Lessons Learned Home: Alaska Airlines Flight 261, Evergreen International Airlines Flight 17, 1990 Wayne County Airport runway collision, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Alaska_Airlines_Flight_261&oldid=1152528891, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by maintenance errors, Airliner accidents and incidents caused by mechanical failure, Aviation accidents and incidents in the United States in 2000, Accidents and incidents involving the McDonnell Douglas MD-83, Airliner accidents and incidents in California, Aviation accidents and incidents caused by loss of control, Articles with dead external links from March 2023, Articles with permanently dead external links, Articles with dead external links from March 2022, Short description is different from Wikidata, Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License 3.0, Cynthia Oti, an investment broker and financial talk show host at San Francisco's, This page was last edited on 30 April 2023, at 19:57. Thompson along with Captain Bill Tansky had just pulled out of an uncommanded dive from 31,000 feet to 23,000 feet. 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. In the cockpit, the pilots heard a loud clunk followed by two thumps, and the plane pitched steeply downward. There was nothing that Tansky and Thompson could have done to control the airplane. National Geographic gets you closer to the stories that matter and past the edge of what's possible through groundbreaking storytelling. Within the next several minutes the pilots expected to pass abeam Los Angeles off the coast, and they were strongly considering a diversion to LAX, given that none of their troubleshooting had fixed the problem.