Human Factors of Alaska Airlines Flight 261

HUMAN FACTORS OF ALASKA AIRLINES FLIGHT 261

Introduction

On 31st January 2000 and exactly about 1621 Pacific Standard Time Alaska Airlines Inc flighty 261 crashed into the Pacific Ocean . It crashed bout 2 .7 miles north of Anacapa Island in California . The airplane was a McDonnell Douglass MD-83 N96AS . The impact forces from the crash killed all those on board

Alaska Airline flight 261 remains one of the devastating air crashes The airline with 2 pilots , 3 cabin crew and 83 passengers departed from Puerto Vallarta (PVR ) in Mexico aboard to

Seattle but had a scheduled stop over in San Francisco , CA . There was visual meteorological condition that prevailed for the flight that operated under an instrumental flight plan

During the initial phase of the flight , the airplane was functioning normally but the horizontal stabilizer stopped responding to the autopilot and pilots command after the plane had just passed over 23 ,400 feet . This is when the pilot recognized that the longitudinal trim system was not functioning appropriately but they could not determine why there was such kind of malfunctioning

The take off weight for the airplane was 136 ,515 pounds which was far below TO and climb limits . The maximum landing weight was 130 ,000 pounds which meant that the airplane had to remain in flight for around 45 minute in to burn enough fuel to reach the maximum landing weight (Transportation Safety Board , 2002

The flight crew did not consider returning to PVR . The Alaska Airlines MD-80 Quick reference Handbook Stabilizer Inoperative including the company Runaway Stabilizer Emergency Checklist did to provide for landing at the nearest airport which was suitable to rescue the airplane and those who were on board

In their efforts to rescue the airplane the crew manually flew the place and in the mean time they contract e the Alaska Airline Dispatch and maintenance control them moment they approached the US b which was approximately two hours after the plane had departed . Although the plane was at a higher attitude and was cruising at a higher speed , it was not difficult for the crew to operate the airplane manually

The crew had discussed the malfunctioning trim system and the expected weather in Los Angeles (LAX ) and in San Francisco (SFO ) in their communication with the Alaska dispatch and maintenance . However the crew decided not toe return to Puerto Vallarta and they decided to land at LAX instead of going on with the schedule flight to SFO . This was because the weather condition at SFO which was characterized by crosses winds and increase landing speed that was required and the fact that they had to overfly a suitable a suitable airport where they could have landed safely may have been the main factors that influenced their decision (Transportation Safety Board , 2002

Crew action

After they had flied manually for about two hours , the crew then tried to use the autopilot in several occasion but each time they tried , it disengaged . This means that they...