An Alaska Airlines jet with as many as 88 people on board crashed Monday into the Pacific Ocean about 20 miles north of Los Angeles shortly after the pilot reported the MD-83 had developed mechanical trouble while en route from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to San Francisco.
Coast Guard officials reported that several bodies had been recovered off the California coast near Point Mugu Naval Air Station but that no survivors had been found.
The plane crashed at about 3:45 p.m. Pacific time as it was being diverted to Los Angeles International Airport for an emergency landing. Airport officials said the plane disappeared from radar at about 17,000 feet.
Air traffic controllers at Point Mugu said they used Navy radar to monitor the plane’s descent from 8,000 feet to the surface of the ocean and that the radar data would be given to the National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration.
Based on preliminary information about the accident, pilots and accident investigators said it was impossible to say whether the plane went into the ocean intact or broke apart during descent. There was no indication that the cabin became depressurized or that the crew was attempting to descend to 10,000 feet, the altitude at which all aboard could breathe without supplemental oxygen.
Coast Guard spokesman Lt. George Wright said a park ranger on Anacapa Island, one of the Channel Islands off the city of Oxnard, had first reported the crash.
A National Park Service spokeswoman said the ranger on the island near the point of impact reported that the jet had descended nose first into the ocean.
Wright said helicopters equipped with infrared sensors capable of detecting heat from bodies were operating over the crash area and would continue to do so through the night.
He said wreckage was being transported to Port Hueneme, a site east of the crash area that is capable of accommodating large vessels.
An Alaska Airlines spokesman, Jack Evans, said there were 83 passengers and five crew members on Flight 261 from the Mexican resort town. It ultimately was bound for Seattle after a scheduled stop in San Francisco.
Evans said the MD-83, manufactured in 1992, had been serviced Sunday. The plane had flown 26,584 hours, he said.
According to Evans, the pilot had radioed a problem with the aircraft’s stabilizer trim and requested an emergency landing at Los Angeles, though the plane was much closer to the Point Mugu air station, which has long runways designed to handle large military aircraft.
Pilots generally are reluctant to declare an emergency, though diverting to a backup airport is common, especially in poor weather. The fact that the Alaska Airlines crew members declared an emergency indicated they knew the plane was in immediate danger, according to experts on the procedure.
“You land on any concrete that is available,” said one pilot, who declined to be identified. “You wouldn’t care if the airport was military or civilian, or even whether it was open or closed.”
Stabilizers are used to keep the plane in proper pitch so that its nose is level during flight. If the stabilizers weren’t functioning properly, the pilots could have had difficulty controlling the aircraft.
Evans said passenger assistance teams composed of a couple hundred people had been sent to San Francisco and Seattle to help family members and friends of those on Flight 261.
A Roman Catholic priest and four other grief counselors were on duty at San Francisco’s airport. About a dozen people waiting for the flight were taken to a secluded area in the airport’s international terminal, according to airport spokesman Ron Wilson.
The gate where the flight was to have arrived was closed off.
Alaska Airlines’ San Francisco station manager, Cindy Fraser, said airline staffers were meeting people at the gate who had come to meet the flight.
Russ Paulsen, a Red Cross family support center manager, said a dozen Red Cross support personnel on duty at the airport were at the gate within minutes of the crash.
Meanwhile, debris was scattered in the ocean over a wide area as Coast Guard helicopters and vessels and local fishermen searched for survivors. As darkness fell, squid boats with powerful lights arrived, and a Coast Guard spokesman said cutters and small utility boats were en route to help.
Lt. Ben Benson said the 110-foot cutter Long Island, the 82-foot Point Chico and two more Coast Guard helicopters were en route, along with about 35 Coast Guard employees.
Another Coast Guard spokesman said the Navy had dispatched the USS Fletcher and the USS Bunker Hill from San Diego, 100 nautical miles from the crash site.
The sea is about 750 feet deep at the site, and the Coast Guard said the water was 53 degrees Monday afternoon. Winds in the area were gusting at 15 to 20 knots at the time of the crash.
Alaska Airlines is a popular carrier across the West and has numerous flights on routes along the West Coast. It has 88 aircraft, 35 of them in the MD-80 series, Evans said.
The MD-83 version has slightly larger engines than other models in the Super MD-80 series and contains more sophisticated electronic cockpit controls. Such an aircraft, featuring computer screens that make it easier for the pilots to monitor flight operations than the traditional array of gauges, are known as having “glass cockpits.”
“It is a very enjoyable airplane to fly and the reliability is extremely high,” said Bruce Killips, a Super MD-80 captain for a major airline.
Accidents during extended flights over water are rare because of the reliability of commercial jet aircraft engines and the redundancies built into mechanical systems.
However, the Alaska Airlines crash represented the fourth ocean crash in about 16 months.
“This is an area that everyone should be concerned about because of the increase in overwater operations,” said an NTSB investigator.
Monday’s crash was the first for a U.S. commercial airline involving fatalities since an American Airlines MD-82 crashed in Little Rock on June 1, killing 11 people, including the pilot, as he attempted to land in a storm.
Previous fatal events of Alaska Airlines and the MD-80
Monday’s crash was the third deadly incident for Alaska Airlines and the eighth involving the Boeing MD-80 series since 1970. Both airline and aircraft were considered to have good safety records.
ALASKA AIRLINES 2 events in 4.1 million flights
Sept. 4, 1971: Juneau, Alaska
A 727-100 flew into a mountain during approach. The crew had received misleading navigational information.
Fatalities: All 7 crew members and all 104 passengers.
April 5, 1976: Kethchikan,Alaska
A 727 overran the runway during landing.
Fatalities: One of 50 passengers.
BOEING MD-80 7 events in 20 million flights
Dec. 1, 1981: Ajaccio, Corsica
An Inex Adria MD-80 collided with high ground in fog during approach.
Fatalities: All 8 crew and all 170 passengers.
Aug. 16, 1987: Detroit
A Northwest Airlines MD-82 stalled and crashed onto a highway.
Fatalities: All 6 crew and 146 of 147 passengers.
June 12, 1988: Posadas, Argentina
An Austral Lineas Aereas MD-81 crashed three miles short of airport.
Fatalities: All 7 crew and all 15 passengers.
Oct. 26, 1993: Fuzhou, China
A China Eastern Airlines MD-82 went off a runway during a storm.
Fatalities: Two of 71 passengers.
Nov. 13, 1993: Urumqi, China
A China Northern Airlines MD-82 crashed during approach in fog.
Fatalities: Four of 8 crew and 8 of 92 passengers.
July 6, 1996: Pensacola, Fla.
An engine broke apart during takeoff of a Delta Air Lines MD-88, and debris penetrated the cabin.
Fatalities: Two passengers.
June 1, 1999: Little Rock, Ark.
An American Airlines MD-80 skidded off the runway and broke apart.
Fatalities: One of 6 crew and 10 of 139 passengers.
Note: A fatal event involves at least one passenger death in which the
aircraft had a direct or indirect role.
Source: AirSafe.com
David Constantine/Chicago Tribune
