New Theory in Alaska Airlines Crash

Dec. 13 -- A transcript of the cockpit voice recorder of doomed Alaska Airlines Flight261 shows that the pilots struggled to get the plane upright before it crashed into the Pacific Ocean last January.

The National Transportation Safety Board released the cockpit recording transcript today as it opened a four-day hearing into the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261. The airliner bound from Mexico to San Francisco went out of control and plunged into the Pacific Ocean near Los Angeles on Jan. 31, killing all 88 aboard.

NTSB investigators have promised to pursue every lead to determine a cause of the crash, saying they will wait until the four-day hearing is finished and have time to study the information gathered to reach a conclusion. But so far, the controls in the MD-80’s tail have become suspect in the accident. Investigators say the grease Alaska Airlines used to lubricate a key stabilizing mechanism in the tail section of the plane may have broken down the metal of the part, causing the fatal plunge.

Terrifying 31 MinutesToday’s hearing focused on the terrifying last minutes of Flight 261 and pilots’ efforts to save the lives of their passengers. Noting the presence of families of some crash victims in the audience, NTSB member John Hammerschmidt opened the session bySaying, “I want to assure them that the safety board will pursueevery lead toward an ultimate solution.”

The 31-minute recording begins with Capt. Ted Thompson and First Officer Bill Tansky detecting a problem with the plane’s stabilizing mechanism and contacting Alaska Airlines’ maintenance base in Seattle. Soon the crew requests a diversion to Los Angeles International Airport.

Twelve minutes before the crash, the pilots are in a crisis situation. Thompson tells air traffic controllers there is a glitch in the stabilizer and the plane is in a full nose-dive.

“We are in vertical dive,” Thompson says. “We’ve lost vertical control of our airplane.”