N963AS, the Alaska Airlines MD-83 aircraft involved in the accident, seen in 1992
Accident
Date
January 31, 2000 (January 31, 2000)
Summary
Loss of control following jackscrew failure
Site
Pacific Ocean near Anacapa Island, California, U.S. 34°03.5′N119°20.8′W / 34.0583°N 119.3467°W / 34.0583; -119.3467
Aircraft
Aircraft type
McDonnell Douglas MD-83
Operator
Alaska Airlines
IATA flight No.
AS261
ICAO flight No.
ASA261
Call sign
ALASKA 261
Registration
N963AS
Flight origin
Puerto Vallarta Int'l Airport
Stopover
San Francisco Int'l Airport
Destination
Seattle–Tacoma Int'l Airport
Occupants
88
Passengers
83
Crew
5
Fatalities
88
Survivors
0
Alaska Airlines Flight 261 was an Alaska Airlines flight of a McDonnell Douglas MD-80 series aircraft that crashed into the Pacific Ocean on January 31, 2000, roughly 2.7 miles (4.3 km; 2.3 nmi) north of Anacapa Island, California, following a catastrophic loss of pitch control, killing all 88 on board: two pilots, three flight attendants, and 83 passengers. The flight was a scheduled international passenger flight from Licenciado Gustavo Díaz Ordaz International Airport in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, Mexico, to Seattle–Tacoma International Airport near Seattle, Washington, United States, with an intermediate stop at San Francisco International Airport near San Francisco, California.
The subsequent investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that inadequate maintenance led to excessive wear and eventual failure of a critical flight control system during flight. The probable cause was stated to be "a loss of airplane pitch control resulting from the in-flight failure of the horizontal stabilizer trim system jackscrew assembly's Acme nut threads."[1] For their efforts to save the plane, both pilots were posthumously awarded the Air Line Pilots Association Gold Medal for Heroism.
^"FAA". December 16, 2022.
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