In 11 minutes, Flight 261 plunges into ocean -- and mystery

COVERAGE Top story Feb. 1 Crash investigation focuses on jet's stabilizer Experts say no common thread in in-flight crashes Alaska employees choke back tears as they deal with loss At airports, grief and relief follow news of crash Jan. 31 Alaska Airlines jet crashes off California In rising swells and spreading oil, boats search for plane, people  REALVIDEO Feb. 1 Recording of final minutes of Flight 261 is released NTSB briefs press on crash Tragedy strikes Alaska Airlines Search and rescue mission continues off Calif. coast Officials address public regarding crash Jan. 31 Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crash This video clip is viewed using RealPlayer. Get RealPlayer | Help  THE VICTIMS List of passengers and crew aboard Flight 261 Biographical sketches of several passengers  ABOUT THE PLANE A look at McDonnell Douglas's MD-80 series More from the Boeing Web site  ABOUT ALASKA AIRLINES 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  CRASH TIMELINE 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

Alaska Airlines Flight 261, high over the Southern California coast, was in the final hour of its journey from Mexico to San Francisco. The last hour of daylight ebbed as the sun slipped toward the Pacific Ocean.

Then, at 4:10 p.m. PST Monday, air traffic controllers received a distress call from the jetliner.

There was a problem with the horizontal stabilizer, which keeps the plane level. The crew requested an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport. Within minutes, however, the aircraft plummeted into the ocean, 40 miles northwest of the airport.

The lives of 88 people ended and the search for a cause began.

--- On tiny Anacapa Island, a part of the Channel Islands National Park, a ranger reported seeing a jet plunge into the Santa Barbara Channel nose first. The time was 4:26 p.m.

Flight 261, which was to land in San Francisco before taking off for its final stop, Seattle, had left Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, three hours earlier with veteran pilots Capt. Ted Thompson, 53, and First Officer William Tansky, 57, in charge.

The 83 passengers carried aboard the festive spirit of the resort city, packing neon-pink teddy bears and other souvenirs. Many couples and families were aboard, including six members of the Clemetson family from Seattle. Besides the five-member crew, there were 30 employees for Alaska Air, its sister airline Horizon and their friends and relatives.

At 3:55 p.m., the flight made a routine check with Los Angeles air traffic controllers and was cleared to 31,000 feet. Then, 15 minutes later, trouble: The crew radioed they were having control difficulties and started descending.

At 4:14 p.m., controllers offered any assistance needed. We're still working on it, the pilots responded.

At 4:15 p.m., the pilots reported a stabilizer problem and difficulty maintaining altitude but said they thought they could land at Los Angeles. During further exchanges, Flight 261 requested clearance for a lower altitude, which was given.

At 4:17 p.m., the flight was advised to contact another air traffic controller on a different frequency; that transmission was not acknowledged.

At 4:21 p.m., radar contact with the MD-83 was lost.

According to aviation experts, pilots routinely train for an unusual scenario in which an electrical short or malfunction causes a loss of stabilizer control. The 11 minutes between the first distress call and the crash should have been time enough to handle the problem.

But there could have been other complications.

"What if something catastrophically occurred back in the tail that rendered of these controls inoperative? Then you could have a real problem on your hands," said former TWA pilot Barry Schiff. "Or what if a piece of the tail actually came off and then jammed the stabilizer?"

--- Tony Alfieri, owner of a squid-fishing boat, and his crew members witnessed the fatal dive of Flight 261.

"We heard a big boom and we saw a big splash, I mean like 200 feet in the air," Alfieri said. "We thought, `Oh my God, this is not a good deal."

Pilots of other airplanes, including another Alaska Airlines flight, might have also seen the plane go down.

Within a minute after the park ranger's call was received, the Coast Guard contacted boaters in the area and diverted airborne helicopters to the crash site. One more minute passed and Coast Guard search boats were under way.

Five hundred miles to the north, at San Francisco International Airport, the listing for Flight 261 on the arrivals information board read: "See agent." People expecting to embrace returning vacationers were met by counselors and clergy.

"This world is a halfway station," Rabbi Josef Langer of Chabad House in San Francisco told them. "The soul is the essential thing, and the soul lives on."

To Mark Topel of Berkeley, who had a friend on board, "It feels like a movie. It's unreal." He remained hopeful.

The water was a cold 58 degrees and rescuers raced the clock. The first bodies -- a man, two women and an infant -- were pulled from choppy waters filled with luggage, cocktail napkins and airplane debris.

Near the breakwater at the entrance of Port Hueneme, where the search effort was based, a local artist erected a 7-foot wooden cross adorned with flowers. Tuesday morning, Janelle Davis of Santa Barbara, whose sister was aboard Flight 261, placed a white candle and a bouquet below it.

"You just never know when it's going to happen to a family member. You just don't know," she said, sobbing.