Alaska Airlines Flight 261: Accident Analysis and Recommendations

N963AS Alaska
Airlines Flight 261

Airline Specifications
Status: Final
Date: 31st January, 2000 (Monday)
Time: 16:20
Flight Type: McDonnell Douglas DC-9-83 (MD-83)
Flight Number: AS261
First Flight: 1992
Crew: 5 Fatalities: 5
Passengers: 88 Fatalities: 88
Aircraft Damage: Destroyed beyond repair
Departure Airport: Puerto Vallarta-Gustavo D. Ordaz Airport, Mexico
Destination Airport: San Francisco International Airport, California

Last Minutes of Flight 261
Crew reports a
problem with
horizontal stabiliser
Request diversion
to Los Angeles
airport
Stabiliser trim
worsens, and plane
makes its first
nosedive
Pilots regain
control, jet
stabilises again
Aircraft experiences
sudden loss of
control
Aircraft inverted,
radar contact is lost
Witnesses see the
plane spinning nose
down, in
continuous roll

Details of accident
The McDonnell Douglas MD-83 N963AS crashed into the Pacific Ocean an estimate of a 2.7 miles from the
coast of Anacapa Island in California. In the flight there were 2 pilots, 3 cabin crewmembers along with 83 passengers
who were all killed in the crash and the airplane was destroyed on impact.
On the way to San Francisco, the crew had radioed to the air traffic control tower in Los Angeles saying that
they were having issues with controlling the plane, and that they were descending. After a few minutes, the crew
reported another problem with the jammed stabilizer for which they were granted a FL200-FL250 block altitude
clearance.
The crew was still reporting problems with maintaining correct altitude and made the decision to land in
LAX. While trying to troubleshoot the problem during the descend, the situation got worse and the caused the plane
to pitch nose-down and was seen spinning and tumbling out of control while inverted before they crashed into 650
feet deep water.