Description

On 31 January 2000, an Alaskan Airlines MCDONNELL DOUGLAS MD-83, crashed into the sea off the coast of California, USA, following loss of control attributed to failure of the horizontal stabiliser trim system.

Synopsis

This is an extract from the Aircraft Accident Report published by the National Transportation Safety Board (USA) (NTSB), USA:

"On January 31, 2000, about 1621 Pacific standard time, Alaska Airlines, Inc., flight 261, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83, N963AS, crashed into the Pacific Ocean about 2.7 miles north of Anacapa Island, California. The 2 pilots, 3 cabin crewmembers, and 83 passengers on board were killed, and the airplane was destroyed by impact forces…

…the probable cause of this accident was a loss of airplane pitch control resulting from the in-flight failure of the horizontal stabilizer trim system jackscrew assembly's acme nut threads. The thread failure was caused by excessive wear resulting from Alaska Airlines' insufficient lubrication of the jackscrew assembly…"

Related Articles

LOC

• Loss of Control,
• Recovery from Unusual Aircraft Attitudes,
• Stall,
• Flight Envelope

AW

• Airworthiness

Further Reading

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