At airports, grief and relief follow news of crash
By Mike Wells, Associated Press, 02/01/00
SEATAC, Wash. -- Don Mayer suffered a pang of anxiety when he heard that a Seattle-bound Alaska Airlines flight from Puerto Vallarta had crashed.
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Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash
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List of passengers and crew aboard Flight 261
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Alaska Airlines Web site
Has its roots in a three-seat shuttle service begun in 1932 between Anchorage and Bristol Bay, Alaska. The service merged with Star Air Service in 1934 and, after several more mergers, adopted the name Alaska Airlines. With deregulation in 1979, Alaska began expanding throughout the West Coast and within a decade had tripled in size.
Alaska now carries more than 12 million customers per year, and its route system serves more than 40 cities in Alaska, Canada, Mexico and five Western states. Alaska says its fleet of 88 Boeing jets is the youngest among all major airlines.
Alaska planes are distinctive for the image of an Eskimo painted on their tails.
Source: Associated Press
Reconstruction of the crash of Flight 261
Following is summary of the last radio exchanges of Alaska Airlines Flight 261, as described by John Hammerschmidt of the National Transportation Safety Board. These are not direct quotes from pilots and controllers, but are based on what the NTSB called a rough transcript. Times are Pacific Standard.
3:55 p.m.
Last routine transmission before problems are reported. Los Angeles ATC (air traffic control center located in Palmdale, Calif.) clears Flight 261 to head for San Francisco at 31,000 feet.
4:10 p.m.
Flight 261 advises it is having control difficulties and descends to 26,000 feet.
Seconds later
Flight 261 reports it is at 23,700 feet. Discussion about pilots having trouble controlling the plane.
10 second later
ATC asks Flight 261 what altitude it wants to maintain.
4:11 p.m.
ATC asks Flight 261 its condition. Flight 261 advises it is "kind of stabilized," in Hammerschmidt's words, and is going to do some troubleshooting. Flight 261 asks for clearance to fly between 20,000 and 25,000 feet. ATC gives clearance.
4:14 p.m.
ATC asks if Flight 261 needs anything. Flight 261 responds that pilots are still working on the problem.
Seconds later
Discussion between air traffic controllers about handing off control of plane from one sector to the next.
4:15 p.m.
ATC traffic control hands off to a new controller who was aware of its problems.
Seconds later
Flight 261 advises it has a jammed stabilizer and difficulty maintaining altitude. Pilots think they can maintain altitude and land at Los Angeles International Airport.
4:16 p.m.
Flight 261 cleared to land at LAX. ATC asks if flight needs a lower altitude. Flight 261 says it needs to get to 10,000 feet and change configuration -- set the wing flaps to slow the plane down -- while over water. ATC issues clearance to 17,000 feet. Flight 261 says OK and advises it needs a block of altitudes. Last known transmission of Flight 261.
4:17 p.m.
ATC advises Flight 261 to contact another sector on a different frequency. Transmission not acknowledged.
4:21 p.m.
Flight 261 is lost off radar.
Source: Associated Press
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It quickly turned into relief when he learned his wife and 12-year-old daughter, who were traveling with an Auburn-based youth gymnastics club, had landed safely in another plane. They arrived 30 minutes before Flight 261 was scheduled to arrive at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
"It was nerve-wracking because it could have been our flight," Mayer said.
Relatives and friends of those aboard Flight 261 stood out from the rest of the crowd at the airport. Some wept. Others wore ashen, blank expressions.
They said nothing as they headed to a second-floor waiting room to learn that the jet with their loved ones aboard had crashed off the coast of Southern California at 4:36 p.m.
It was scheduled to land in San Francisco before Seattle, but had been diverted to Los Angeles to attempt an emergency landing after reporting mechanical problems. No survivors among the 88 people on board had been found by early today.
Of the passengers, 32 were bound for San Francisco, 47 for Seattle, three were continuing on to Eugene, Ore., and one to Fairbanks, Alaska. The two pilots were based in Los Angeles and the three flight attendants were based in Seattle.
Keith Van Doren, 35, of Renton said he was seeking information on four friends he believed were on the flight; Alaska officials confirmed the names of three.
"It was a somber mood up there," Van Doren said.
Others, like Mayer, thought briefly that their loved ones were aboard the ill-fated flight.
"I feel tremendously sorry for the families who had family members on the flight," said Debbie Bollinger, who met her daughter on an incoming flight from Los Angeles that originated in Puerto Vallarta.
Bollinger described the wait between the time she learned of the crash and the time she learned her daughter was aboard another flight as "extremely nerve-wracking."
In San Francisco, clergy, grief counselors and Salvation Army workers met with about a dozen people at the airport. A police officer stood guard outside.
"It feels like a movie," said Mark Topel of Berkeley, who had a friend on the flight. "It's unreal. It happens so suddenly like this."
The flight information screens at San Francisco International Airport listed Alaska Airlines Flight 261. In the column for the arrival time, which had been scheduled for 5:11 p.m., said simply, "See agent."
Airport spokesman Ron Wilson said staff would do whatever they could to help relatives and friends.
"We'll put them up for the night. We'll feed them. We'll console them," he said. "We'll bring them whatever they desire."
At the Alaska Airlines ticket counter in Seattle, agents did their best to handle passengers not directly touched by the tragedy.
One of those passengers, Terry Weber, said she wasn't worried as she checked in for her Alaska flight to San Diego.
"I'm in good hands with the Lord," Weber said. "What's the odds of it happening again?"
