Alaska Airlines Flight 261, MD-83, Point Mugu

The crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 on January 31, 2000, had some similarities to the Turk Hava Yollari DC-10 accident in Paris. Both accidents involved a devastating consequence from the failure of a part. In the case of the Alaska Airlines accident, the part that failed was the jackscrew acme nut threads, which are shown wrapped around the jackscrew in the photograph on the right.

As with a number of the other accidents you have studied, the Alaska accident crossed a variety of disciplines. This accident was an important one for the mechanical systems discipline.

The events leading up to this accident, like many others, also illustrated a basic lack of airplane level awareness. There were clearly defined precursors to this accident and unintended effects associated with the airline's maintenance program.

Flight crew decision-making also played a role in this accident.

It is important to note that this accident exposed a deficiency in the process by which the FAA does business. As with most major air carrier accidents which are catastrophic, there was a great deal of pressure on the NTSB and FAA to determine the cause of this accident and to take some type of action to ensure the existing fleet was safe.

Select Next to review a brief summary of the facts about this accident.