Alaska Airlines Flight 261 Crashes: Stabilizer Failure Kills 88
Alaska Airlines Flight 261 plunged into the Pacific Ocean off Point Mugu, California, after a catastrophic failure of the horizontal stabilizer jackscrew killed all 88 people aboard. Investigators discovered that inadequate maintenance and extended lubrication intervals had allowed the critical component to wear beyond safe limits. The crash forced the FAA to mandate emergency inspections of jackscrew assemblies across the entire MD-80 fleet and tightened maintenance oversight industry-wide.
January 31, 2000
26 years ago
Key Figures & Places
Pacific Ocean
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Alaska Airlines Flight 261
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MD-83
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Point Mugu, California
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United States
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Harry S. Truman
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Thermonuclear weapon
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Alaska Airlines Flight 261
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McDonnell Douglas MD-80
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Point Mugu
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Indigenous peoples of the Americas
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