The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) has been examining the deadly Alaska Air Flight 261 crash that occurred almost 20 years ago, which put the NTSB’s role in the high stakes Alaska Airline investigation.
In January 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261, bound for Seattle from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, plunged into the Pacific Ocean off the California coast, taking the lives of all 88 people on board. The crash’s cause was determined to be a jammed rudder trim, but a series of wrong moves by the airline, from its maintenance practices and design changes of the MD-80 aircraft to its response to previous problems with the particular plane’s tail, have been searchingly explored in the years since the incident.
NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt recently spoke on these findings, stating that the investigation revealed an alarming pattern of inadequate quality assurance and lack of base-level knowledge among the airline’s maintenance personnel, which triggered a chain of events that eventually led to the crash. Sumwalt went on to express the NTSB’s ultimate conclusion that if employers and mechanics in the industry strive to understand their specialties better, and strengthen their safety cultures, then these devastating- accidents can be prevented in the future.
In addition, the NTSB also found that the airline had made design changes to the particular aircraft that had a material influence on the rudder trim, or the set of cables that control the motion of the pitching of the aircraft. Furthermore, design changes had been made to its surrounding airframe structure that could have indirectly caused the jam, and airline personnel had received inadequate repair instructions from the aircraft manufacturer.
The results of the investigation have made it clear that there were a series of opportunities for the airline to prevent the incident in the first place. The NTSB also now cites the importance of proactive management and proactive aircraft maintenance in ensuring the safety of all aviation relationships. In the end, the NTSB has stressed that if everyone involved in aviation pays attention to the details of their responsibilities and maintains an unwavering focus on safety, then incidents like the Alaska Air Flight 261 crash will become less and less frequent.
The National Transportation and Safety Board (NTSB) has been examining the deadly Alaska Air Flight 261 crash that occurred almost 20 years ago, which put the NTSB’s role in the high stakes Alaska Airline investigation.
In January 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261, bound for Seattle from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, plunged into the Pacific Ocean off the California coast, taking the lives of all 88 people on board. The crash’s cause was determined to be a jammed rudder trim, but a series of wrong moves by the airline, from its maintenance practices and design changes of the MD-80 aircraft to its response to previous problems with the particular plane’s tail, have been searchingly explored in the years since the incident.
NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt recently spoke on these findings, stating that the investigation revealed an alarming pattern of inadequate quality assurance and lack of base-level knowledge among the airline’s maintenance personnel, which triggered a chain of events that eventually led to the crash. Sumwalt went on to express the NTSB’s ultimate conclusion that if employers and mechanics in the industry strive to understand their specialties better, and strengthen their safety cultures, then these devastating- accidents can be prevented in the future.
In addition, the NTSB also found that the airline had made design changes to the particular aircraft that had a material influence on the rudder trim, or the set of cables that control the motion of the pitching of the aircraft. Furthermore, design changes had been made to its surrounding airframe structure that could have indirectly caused the jam, and airline personnel had received inadequate repair instructions from the aircraft manufacturer.
The results of the investigation have made it clear that there were a series of opportunities for the airline to prevent the incident in the first place. The NTSB also now cites the importance of proactive management and proactive aircraft maintenance in ensuring the safety of all aviation relationships. In the end, the NTSB has stressed that if everyone involved in aviation pays attention to the details of their responsibilities and maintains an unwavering focus on safety, then incidents like the Alaska Air Flight 261 crash will become less and less frequent.
