Friends, relatives mourn 88 victims of Alaska Air crash
By Christine Hanley, Associated Press, 02/06/00
MALIBU, Calif. -- Eighty-eight white doves -- one for each victim of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 -- were released into the California sky Saturday as hundreds of people left a memorial service honoring the victims of last week's crash.
The flight data recorder from Alaska Airlines Flight 261 sits on a table in front of NTSB Chairman Jim Hall during a press conference Tuesday. (AP photo)
|
Feb. 6
 Friends, relatives mourn 88 victims of Alaska Air crash
Feb. 3
Official: Cockpit tape shows crew struggling with mechanical problem
Feb. 2
One 'black box' flight recorder recovered
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
List of passengers and crew aboard Flight 261
Biographical sketches of several passengers
A look at McDonnell Douglas's MD-80 series
More from the Boeing Web site
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
|
|
|
|
"All of California aches with you," Gov. Gray Davis told the mourners gathered at the fieldhouse on Pepperdine University's oceanside campus. "The men and women aboard Flight 261 were our friends, our families, our neighbors."
Rabbi Aaron Kriegel, one of six clergy members who spoke during the service, told mourners: "We want you to know there is a tomorrow. Life will go on. ... We are stronger because they lived."
Nearly 1,000 people crowded the fieldhouse for the private service for the victims' family and friends. Their silence through the 40-minute service was broken occasionally by sobs. Eighty-eight white candles lined the front of the fieldhouse during the service.
As the mourners filed out of the fieldhouse, many embraced and tossed white roses into baskets. The roses were to be taken by helicopter to the crash site and scattered over the water.
Earlier in the day, dozens of surfers had paddled out into the chilly Pacific waters to drop three flower wreaths near the site where the airplane went down.
The plane was headed from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to San Francisco and then Seattle when it crashed on Monday, killing everyone on board.
"What better place to be, to rest in peace," said Keith Akins, a member of the Ventura Surf Club.
While family members mourned, Navy crews were continuing to map the airplane's wreckage 640 feet below the surface, using a sonar device aboard the deep-diving robot that recovered the flight data and cockpit voice recorders.
The National Transportation Safety Board had indicated the work was proceeding rapidly, thanks to calm seas and a relatively small debris area, about the size of a football field.
NTSB official John Hammerschmidt said no decision has been made about how much of the wreckage would be recovered from the Santa Barbara Channel where the jet crashed, about 10 miles offshore.
The Ventura County Sheriff's Department said the county medical examiner was in possession of several nearly complete bodies. The Coast Guard has previously said four bodies had been recovered.
Sheriff's spokesman Eric Nishimoto said medical examiners were using dental records, distinguishing marks, personal property such as wallets, and DNA to identify the remains, but didn't expect to be certain of the identities for at least a week.
After the crash site is mapped, robots like the one that salvaged the plane's flight recorders will eventually be sent down to help retrieve bodies.
In Seattle on Saturday, flight attendants in uniform joined grieving friends and neighbors at a church memorial service for four of the victims: Rod and Sarah Pearson and their daughters, Rachel, 6, and Gracie, 1.
Another memorial service was held at an airport hotel in Portland, Ore., where more than 500 flight attendants, pilots and Alaska Airlines employees gathered to remember colleague James J. Ryan the other victims.
Ryan was returning home on Flight 261 with his brother and parents after celebrating his 30th birthday in Puerto Vallarta.
"The Lord has prepared us for moments like this," said Pastor Ron Mehl of Beaverton. "The truth is, I've watched you today and you've never been closer."
