Original subtitles

WOMAN: Ladies and gentlemen, we are starting our approach.

MAN: We lost both engines.

WOMAN: Put the mask over your nose.

Emergency descend. MAN: Mayday!

Mayday!

WOMAN: Brace for impact!

Think I lost one.

Investigation started in June.

It's gonna crash!

[tense music playing]

FRED MILLER: No family wants to lose a loved one--

daughter, son.

None of us think it's going to happen to our family.

We read about these horrible crashes,

and we think, thank God, you know?

And chances are it won't happen to us.

The odds are in our favor.

[tense music playing]

[grunts] You got it?

Ah!

What are you doing?

[grunts] It just got worse, OK?

NARRATOR: In January 2000, an Air Alaska jet

with 88 passengers and crew suffered a catastrophic failure

that tore it from the sky.

A shocking chain of negligence and error led to disaster.

When a whistleblower mechanic from the airline

tried to sound the alarm about faulty maintenance procedures,

he was suspended from his job.

The investigation exposed deeply worrying shortcomings

in maintenance and regulation that

afflict the airline industry.

It showed how a series of devastating errors

combined to produce a tragic accident,

one that could happen again.

[suspenseful music playing]

We're stalled!

Gotta release it.

[screaming]

[music playing]

[groaning]

[crashing sounds]

[mariachi music playing]

NARRATOR: Puerto Vallarta is a popular holiday resort

on the Mexican Pacific Coast, one

of several Mexican destinations served by Alaskan Airlines.

[music playing]

Colleen Worley went there to celebrate a family birthday.

The 34-year-old was a keen traveler

who spoke Spanish well and had visited Mexico many times.

[singing in spanish]

[applause]

MAN: Yes!

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Colleen and the other holiday makers returning

from Puerto Vallarta settle in for the four-hour

flight to San Francisco.

In the warm afterglow of their holidays,

they're looking to the future.

[music playing]

Colleen and her fiance Monte Donaldson

are planning to start a family later that year.

MAN (ON RADIO): Be ready for taxi at 5.

NARRATOR: The pilots on Flight 261 are very experienced.

Both Captain Ted Thompson and First

Officer Bill Tansky have thousands

of hours flying MD-80s.

They know the plane well.

The MD83 is one of a successful group of rear-engine, low wing

planes.

Originally launched in 1980, over 1,100

were delivered worldwide.

[music playing]

Flaps?

Check, confirm.

Spoilers.

Check, armed.

NARRATOR: But on the 31st of January, 2000,

as they prepared Flight 261, Thompson and Tansky

had no idea that deep in the plane's tail

lay a critical weakness.

[music playing]

Colleen Worley and her fiance Monty Donaldson

were planning their forthcoming wedding.

They had announced their engagement at Christmastime,

and so it was a time for everybody

to sort of congratulate them.

And so we decided we'd have a party for the family.

NARRATOR: Abby Miller Busche had visited Mexico

with her husband Ryan and their friends

to celebrate her new job at Microsoft.

It's hard to describe how joyful a girl she was.

She was well known for that care that she had in her, a trait

that you can't put a value on.

SUSAN DA SILVA: Dean and I had been there a lot together,

and it was the first time that he went without me.

Dean taught me how to play.

He was always up.

He told jokes a lot.

People described him kind of as a puppy dog.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: Alaska Airlines was a successful carrier,

with routes up and down the west coast of America

and into Mexico.

Flight 261 left Puerto Vallarta as a routine flight

with no hint of the danger to come.

[music playing]

The devastating failure that would bring catastrophe to 261

did not come out of the blue.

In fact, it was the culmination of a chain of mistakes

that began years earlier.

Maintenance procedures at the company

had come under scrutiny two years earlier,

when a whistleblower set off an investigation by the Federal

Aviation Administration.

But the day Flight 261 left Puerto Vallarta,

the investigation was still underway,

and the whistleblower suspended from his job.

Shortly after takeoff, Captain Thompson

and First Officer Tansky get the first sign of trouble.

The horizontal stabilizer on the tail of the plane won't move.

The pilots carry out a standard checklist to try and free it.

Stabilizer, trim switch.

Normal.

Circuit breakers-- reset if tripped.

D9, D10, D11 OK.

NARRATOR: The stabilizer on the MD-83

the 40-foot wide horizontal surface

of the front of the tail.

It's like another wing.

Together with the elevators at the rear of the tail,

the stabilizer is used to adjust the angle

of the plane in flight.

The stabilizer was jammed.

Thompson and Tansky assumed there

was a fault in the electric motors

that move it up and down.

They believed they could fix the problem.

They had no idea they were in great danger.

JOHN NANCE: What they dealt with was something

that really snuck up on them.

It was not supposed to be a big deal.

If it had been, they would have turned

around and gone back in to the Mexican airfield they came out

of.

But they were led down this road of accepting this problem

as a small problem, so it's perfectly

all right to troubleshoot it.

NARRATOR: The pilots repeatedly try the two switches

that operate the stabilizer.

The primary motor is activated by both the switch

on the control stick, known as the pickle switch,

and the sliding suitcase handles on the central console.

Either system operative.

No.

Both systems inoperative.

Consider stab jammed.

Do not use autopilot.

Check.

NARRATOR: The jammed stabilizer is pushing the aircraft down

towards the ground.

At 28,500 feet, the pilots switch off the autopilot

and fly the plane manually.

PILOT: Full systems inoperative.

NARRATOR: They have to pull back hard on the control column

to lift the nose of the plane up.

This requires considerable effort.

The plane climbs for the next 7 minutes

to its cruising altitude of 32,000 feet.

As they fly up the coast, the pilots

contact Alaska Airlines' maintenance

department for assistance.

PILOT: Maintenance, we need to know of any faults

like this got reported recently for this aircraft

and whether there are any switches that we

might not be aware of that could get those motors turning again.

Roger 261.

I have verified no history on your aircraft

in the past 30 days.

Yeah, we didn't see anything in the logbook.

Why don't you move your seat forward.

I'll check this pedestal back there.

Beyond that, I don't think there's

anything we haven't checked.

I use the example of the average layman,

I think, can understand.

If you try to start your car and it doesn't crank,

you try jiggling the key in the socket and then try it again.

And I think that the crew was probably understandably going

through a lot of these-- well, maybe it'll work now, or let's

try this, let's try that.

NARRATOR: The pilots want to divert to Los Angeles,

but Alaska Airlines dispatch coordinating the movements

of the company's planes is worried it

will upset the busy schedule.

261 dispatch, if you want to land at LA,

of course for safety reasons we will do that.

I'll tell you, though, if we land in LA,

we're looking at probably an hour, an hour and a half.

We've got a major flow program going right now.

Well, boy.

You really put me in a spot up here.

I don't want to hear that the flow is the reason you're

calling, because I'm concerned about overflying

suitable airports.

Well, we want to do what's safe,

so if that's what you feel is safe,

just want to make sure you have all the info.

We might ask if they have a ground

school instructor available, and we could discuss it with him--

and a simulator instructor.

Dispatch 261, we're wondering if we can get some support out

of the instructors up there.

NARRATOR: Thompson and Tansky now

ask for a pilot instructor who might know the solution

to their unusual problem.

Stand by.

NARRATOR: As they wait for a reply,

their frustration begins to show.

It just drives me nuts, you know?

Not that I want to go on about it, but it just blows me away.

They think we're going to land.

They're going to fix it.

Now they're worried about the flow.

Well, I'm sorry, just--

They're putting pressure on you.

I don't know.

Yeah.

NARRATOR: The pilots need to think about what will happen

when they descend for landing.

How will the plane behave?

Will they be able to control it?

But several minutes after requesting help

from the ground, they're getting no advice.

[music playing]

As Flight 261 approached Los Angeles off the coast,

the problems on board were about to get far worse.

[music playing]

are flying manually at 32,000 feet in a plane that

has a jammed stabilizer, which is

forcing the plane's nose down.

[music playing]

The pilots have another go at freeing

up the jammed stabilizer.

They switch on both of the motors that control it.

This will click it off.

Holy sh--

[screaming]

[tense music playing]

Shit, you got it?

Ah!

What are you doing?

Damn, it kicked off.

NARRATOR: At 31,000 feet, Flight 261 plunges

downwards for over a minute.

The crew battles for control.

It just got worse, OK?

[tense music playing]

[grunts] We're stalled.

[indistinct radio chatter]

NARRATOR: At first, they pull back on the control columns

to fight the dive.

Then the pilots push the nose down into the dive

to regain control.

It's a risky maneuver, pushing the plane's speed

to up to 350 miles per hour.

You gotta release it.

You gotta release it.

NARRATOR: The pilots slowly bring the plane out of its dive

and back under control.

[groaning]

[breathing heavily]

Let's get speed brakes.

Give me high pressure pumps.

OK.

Help me back.

Help me back.

OK.

[gasping]

Center, Alaska 261.

We're in a dive here.

I've lost control, vertical pitch.

Alaska 261, say again, sir.

Yeah, we're out of 26,000 feet.

We are in a vertical dive.

Not a dive yet, but we have lost vertical control

of our airplane.

Just help me.

Once we get the speed slope, maybe we'll be OK.

NARRATOR: Maintaining level flight is difficult.

The jammed stabilizer keeps pushing the nose of the plane

down.

[gasping]

We're at 23-7.

Request-- yeah, we got it under control here.

PILOT: No, we don't.

[grunting]

OK.

PILOT: OK.

NARRATOR: To counteract the downward force

of the stabilizer, the pilots use the elevators,

movable panels at the back of the tail linked by cables

to the control column.

The pilots pull with all their might.

The fate of the plane hangs on the strength of their arms.

[baby crying]

In the cabin, frightened passengers try to recover

from the terrifying plunge.

They have no idea what will happen next.

In the cockpit, the pilots struggle to control the plane's

speed so they can land.

JOHN NANCE: They've got a handful of airplane.

They get her stabilized, and they're now in a situation

where they make the decision properly

to go in on an emergency landing to Los Angeles International.

And they have to be able to slow the airplane up,

so you've got to experiment a little bit.

Let's take the speed brakes off.

No, no leave them there.

It seems to be helping.

Damn, OK, it really wants to pitch down.

OK.

Don't mess with that.

I agree with you.

NARRATOR: With the plane under temporary control,

the crew makes the fateful decision

to do more troubleshooting.

They need a block of clear space around the aircraft in case

they lose control again.

They contact air traffic control.

Alaska 261, say your conditions.

261, we are at 24,000 feet, kind of stabilized.

We're slowing down here, and we're going

to do a little troubleshooting.

Can you give me a block altitude between 20 and 25?

Alaska 261, maintain block altitude flight level

200 through flight level 250.

NARRATOR: The pilots know they now have clear airspace

above and below the plane.

They try to figure out their next move.

You've got the airplane.

Let me just try it.

OK.

How hard is it?

I don't know.

My adrenaline's going.

It was really rough back there for a while.

Yeah, it is.

Whatever we did is no good.

Let's not do that again.

Yeah, it went to down-- to full nose down.

It's worse than it was before.

Yeah, we're in much worse shape now.

NARRATOR: The crew knows this is no mere electrical problem.

From what they've experienced, they assume

the stabilizer is now jammed.

I think it's at the stop--

full stop.

And I'm thinking can it get any worse?

But it probably can.

But let's slow it.

Let's get down to 200 knots and see what happens.

NARRATOR: The crisis is worse than ever.

Uncertain about how the plane will react if they try to slow

it down, the pilots must still pull on the elevators

to maintain level flight.

[music playing]

Maintenance, 261.

Are you on?

Yeah, 261.

This is maintenance.

OK, we did both the pickle switch

and the suitcase handles, and it ran away.

It ran away full nose trim down.

MAN: Oh, it ran away trim down?

Hoke-- and now we're in a damn pinch, and we're holding.

We're worse than we were before.

[tense music playing]

You're getting full nose trim down,

but you don't get no nose trim up.

Is that correct?

That's affirm.

We went to full nose down, and I'm

afraid to try it again to see if it would

go in the other direction.

OK, well, your discretion.

If you want to try it, that's OK with me.

If not, that's fine.

We'll see you at the gate.

[tense music playing]

NARRATOR: Maintenance clearly does not

appreciate the significance of the situation.

This is the last the crew will hear from them.

No one can help the pilots now as they struggle with

the plane's jammed stabilizer.

Ever professional, however, they try

to put the passengers at ease.

[indistinct chatter]

(WHISPERING) Is everything OK?

We're going to be OK.

We're just redirecting.

Folks, we have had a flight control problem up front here.

We're working it.

That's Los Angeles off to the right there,

and that's where we're intending to go.

We're pretty busy up here working this situation.

I don't anticipate any big problems once we get a couple

of subsystems on the line.

But we will be going into LAX, and I

anticipate us parking there in about 20 to 30 minutes.

NARRATOR: In fact, they will never make it to Los Angeles.

A full-blown disaster is about to unfold.

Alaska Airlines Flight 261 has now leveled out.

LA, Alaska 261, we're with you.

We're at 225.

We have a jammed stabilizer, and we're maintaining

altitude with difficulty.

But we can maintain altitude we think,

and our intention is to land at Los Angeles.

NARRATOR: The pilots request to be routed

out over the Pacific Ocean.

Center, Alaska 261.

I need to get down about 10, change

my configurations to make sure I can control the jet.

And I'd like to do that over the bay here if I may.

NARRATOR: If the worst happens, the pilots

don't want to kill people on the ground as well as on the plane.

There are a lot of lives saved that people maybe don't realize

by the fact that this air crew said let's stay out

over the water until we've got this thing

completely under control.

NARRATOR: The crew tries to slow the aircraft down to landing

speed without losing control, but every move they make

could have fatal consequences.

OK, bring the flaps and the slats back up for me.

Slats, too?

Yep.

NARRATOR: Treading a knife edge of control,

the pilots are still trying to free up the stabilizer.

What we want to do is get the nose up

and then let the nose fall through and see if we

can stab it when it's unloaded.

NARRATOR: The only hope for the passengers

is that the pilots' skill and experience

will get the plane to Los Angeles International Airport.

It's on the stop now.

It's on the stop.

Not according to this it's not.

NARRATOR: As one effort after another fails,

the crew wonders if the stabilizer is damaged.

The trim might be, and then it might be if something's

popped back there.

Yeah.

It might be mechanical damage, too.

[tense music playing]

I think it was controllable.

We ought to just try and land it.

Think so?

OK, let's head for LA.

NARRATOR: But just as they prepare to land in Los Angeles,

something in the tail suddenly breaks.

Did you feel that?

Yup.

OK, give me slats.

This is a bitch.

Is it?

Yeah.

[tense music playing]

[screaming]

NARRATOR: The plane dives straight down from 18,000 feet.

[music playing]

[grunting]

To avoid collisions, LA control has warned

the pilots of nearby planes that Alaska

Flight 261 is in difficulty.

These pilots have now reported back to the tower.

[alarms sounding]

Yep.

[alarms sounding]

[gasping]

The plane was being knocked from side to side.

It turned upside down.

It was spinning.

Persons were being thrown against the walls of the plane,

falling out of their seats, on the cockpit

voice recorder screaming--

unbelievable, horrible last few minutes of their lives.

[alarms sounding]

Uh, here we go.

[tense music playing]

NARRATOR: After a terrifying 60-second dive,

Flight 261 hits the Pacific Ocean

and over 250 miles an hour.

[music playing]

Rescue helicopters were soon at the crash site,

but there were no survivors.

The plane had broken up on impact.

88 passengers and crew, including three young children,

died instantly.

[waves crashing]

The investigation into Alaska Airlines Flight 261

began, but the wreckage lay 700 feet down.

So National Transportation Safety Board officials

called on Navy submersibles to retrieve the debris

from the ocean floor.

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: We set up a base of operations,

and we had a remote operating vehicle

with the side-scanning sonar which they used

to map the debris field and get an idea of how

widely spread the wreckage was.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: At the National Transportation Safety Board

headquarters in Washington, the investigators'

immediate concern was to find out what

had brought the plane down.

The first clues came from the cockpit voice recordings.

LA, Alaska 261.

We're with you.

We're at 225.

We have a jammed stabilizer, and we're maintaining

altitude with difficulty.

We immediately suspected some problem

in the tail of the airplane, which

is where the controls are.

Just something was wrong back there,

and that was the key piece of wreckage to look for.

[indistinct radio chatter]

NARRATOR: The MD-83 that crashed was

a revised version of the Douglas Corporation's popular DC-9.

Over 2,000 were delivered to airlines worldwide.

The engines were at the rear of the plane,

and the distinctive T-shaped tail was an essential element

of the design.

In a big turbojet aircraft, one of the rather brilliant

elements of the design is that since you are going

to be loading passengers and cargo,

you want to be able to have that aircraft load it a little nose

heavy or a little tail heavy.

Well, in order to do that, you actually had to have

that entire stabilizer moving.

But the ones that are the most difficult to engineer

are the T-tailed airplanes, where

you have the vertical stabilizer and the horizontal sitting

on top.

And we call that stabilizer trim,

and that is an essential element of what

makes these aircraft so usable.

NARRATOR: In the MD-83, a motorized jackscrew on the tail

moves the horizontal stabilizer up and down.

As the stabilizer moves up, the nose of the airplane

moves down.

As the stabilizer moves down, the nose moves up.

But what role have the two-foot jackscrew played

in the loss of Flight 261?

The investigators were anxious to inspect it as soon as it was

recovered from the ocean floor.

The jackscrew wasn't mated with the nut

that it screws into.

It was just by itself.

And the nut was found in another piece of structure

a few feet away from where the jackscrew was.

To have a screw separate itself from a nut with very

thick threads surprised us.

Secondly, we noticed that there was a curled piece of brass

around the jackscrew, and all of the threads

that you can see here, these ridges, were gone.

They had been stripped out, and the remnants of those

were found coiled on the jackscrew.

NARRATOR: Once the thread had been stripped off the nut,

the jackscrew could no longer turn.

The pilots could not have known the real nature of the problem.

[music playing]

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: The crew was confronted with a situation

that had never occurred before.

There is no failed jackscrew procedure

in the quick reference handbooks that they have available.

There is no training for it.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: When the jackscrew jammed,

the crew was unable to adjust the stabilizer.

JEFF GUZZETTI: We felt that it was due to the fact

that these nut threads had worn away,

and it was just too hard for that jackscrew

under the power of the electric motor to turn.

That gave the flight crew an indication

that there was a problem.

NARRATOR: The crew knew they had a problem

in the tail of the plane, but they had no idea what.

Two motors controlled the jackscrew,

and they tried each of them in turn.

But the pilots' attempts to free the jammed

stabilizer inadvertently made the situation worse.

We're at 23-7.

Request-- yeah, we got it under control here.

No, we don't.

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: Where they went wrong

was that they wanted to try both the alternate and the primary

trim motors at the same time.

NARRATOR: When the pilot switched both

the electric motors on, the jackscrew moved,

but the threads had given way, and the jackscrew was now held

only by a single retaining nut.

From here on, the plane was doomed.

That end nut was never designed

to hold the loads generated aerodynamically

by the airplane.

[music playing]

Let's get speed brakes.

Give me high pressure pumps.

OK.

JOHN NANCE: Now we know-- in the glaring light of hindsight,

now when we turn the situation around in time and look back,

we can see that this air crew and no air crew

should have ever been fooling with the trim

and trying to run it back and forth.

[gasping]

NARRATOR: The retaining nut grew weaker and weaker.

JEFF GUZZETTI: Then finally, through the loads beating down

on that nut, the nut finally failed.

Feel that?

Yup.

OK, give me slats.

JEFF GUZZETTI: The jackscrew slid completely out

of the acme nut, allowing the horizontal stabilizer

to move well beyond its aerodynamic limits.

This is a bitch.

Is it?

Yeah.

[screaming]

NARRATOR: The stabilizer forced the plane down,

and now completely out of control,

it rolled over into its final dive.

[music playing]

It was clear to the investigators

that the failure of the jackscrew screw

was the only explanation for the plane's erratic flight

path and final dive.

But why had this happened?

Why have the jackscrew failed?

The investigators began looking deeper

into the condition of the faulty jackscrew

on Alaska Airlines Flight 261.

What had caused it to fail?

There was no lubrication or visible grease on the working

area of the screw.

That was surprising and strange.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: The discovery of no grease on the jackscrew

alarmed the investigators.

They alerted the Federal Aviation Administration,

who ordered an immediate check on all the MD-80s in the USA.

This led to a shocking discovery.

At Alaska Airlines, in 6 of its fleet of 34 planes,

the jackscrew assembly needed to be replaced

after failing new inspections.

[music playing]

No grease is the culprit.

No grease, or inadequate grease, is the only thing that

can give you that wear rate.

NARRATOR: A simple lack of grease

led to the failure of the jackscrew

and the loss of 88 lives.

But why did this happen at Alaska Airlines?

The investigators' attention now switched to the company's

maintenance program.

What emerged was deeply worrying.

RICHARD RODRIGUEZ: We interviewed

all the mechanics who had worked on these airplanes.

We knew that they had been falsifying records or not doing

the work they had indicated.

NARRATOR: The mechanics at Alaska Airlines

complained that they were pressured to keep the planes

in the air, or that their recommendations

were overruled by supervisors.

Some allege that records were altered to show

work done that was not done.

[music playing]

Alaska Airlines has long been one of America's most

successful airlines, but in the early 1990s,

the economic downturn hit the company hard.

Its response was to costs to revive its fortunes.

[music playing]

Pilots, maintenance workers, management, and others

had to make sacrifices.

Jobs were lost.

Pay was cut.

And every hour aircraft spent on the ground was seen as waste.

Two years of aggressive axe wielding

saw costs come down by $80 million.

Profits leaped.

It was a corporate triumph.

In Alaska's case in the early '90s, this airline had to do

an incredible job of reforming itself from a fairly high-cost

carrier to a lower cost carrier that

could compete head on with Southwest

Airlines and with others.

And they did it.

They did it brilliantly.

Nobody really believed that it could happen.

NARRATOR: Alaska Airlines began flying

the planes more intensively.

It doubled the average daily use of its fleet.

Keeping the planes in the air earning money

put maintenance schedules under pressure.

[music playing]

John Liotine was a former lead mechanic at Alaska Airlines'

Oakland maintenance facility, where

he worked for eight years.

Liotine felt that the new pressures on maintenance

put passengers' lives at risk.

He was to pay dearly for expressing those concerns.

We have used an actor to portray his experiences,

based on his sworn testimony to the NTSB.

[music playing]

Liotine claimed that planes were being pushed

back into service too quickly.

Sometimes rather than wait for a replacement part or repair,

supervisors passed planes fit for service,

free to carry passengers up into the air.

[music playing]

In October 1998, over 15 months before the crash,

John Liotine became so worried that he did something that

would change his life forever.

He reported Alaska Airlines to the US Department

of Transportation, alleging violations

in maintenance procedures.

There were very few voices at Alaska who had

concerns about the maintenance.

There should have been more, and there should

have been people listening.

John Liotine is a hero in my book.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: In December 1999, over a year before the crash,

the Federal Aviation Administration

and Department of Transportation officials

moved on Alaska Airlines.

[music playing]

The case was referred to federal prosecutors,

and the FBI raided Alaska's maintenance facilities

and seized thousands of records.

The raid was the opening shot in a federal grand jury

investigation that would last three years.

[music playing]

No criminal charges were brought against the airline.

Alaska's officials denied that any unsafe planes

were put into service or that passengers'

lives were ever at risk.

But the investigation revealed hundreds of violations

of federal regulations.

Alaska Airlines was fined.

The FAA insisted on changes to the company's maintenance

and safety procedures.

The FAA also suspended two supervisors

for falsifying records.

[music playing]

Like other whistleblowers, John Liotine would pay heavily

for his efforts to save lives.

Alaska Airlines put him on paid leave from his job,

costing him thousands of dollars in regular overtime earnings.

[music playing]

Then, in January 2000, Liotine saw

his worst nightmare come true.

The kind of accident he had tried to prevent now

took place just off the California coast.

After the loss of Flight 261, mechanic John Liotine went

back to his own work records.

Incredibly, he found that he had a direct link

to the crashed airliner.

Two years before, at the plane's last overhaul,

he had ordered that the jackscrew on this very airplane

be replaced.

He then went off shift.

[music playing]

When investigators examined the record,

they found that Liotine's recommendation had been

overruled by the next shift and the plane put

back into service.

It would be two years before the next overhaul,

but time ran out.

Four months before the overhaul was due, Flight 261 crashed.

[music playing]

Alaska Airlines labeled Liotine a disruptive influence.

He sued the company for libel.

Alaska settled, but Liotine could no longer

work in the industry he loved.

I get calls almost every week of somebody saying,

should I blow the whistle?

And I always tell them, you need to know.

You need to be prepared to find another line of work,

because you will not work in the industry,

and you will not work in the government.

In most cases, it's almost impossible

to be a whistleblower and survive your career.

[music playing]

NARRATOR: As the investigators continued their work

into Flight 261, they made another disturbing discovery

about the drive to cut costs at Alaska Airlines.

To keep planes flying more intensively,

Alaska had dramatically extended the intervals between service.

This was significant, because when a plane is designed,

every part has a schedule listing

when it is to be serviced and when it must be replaced.

You're supposed to go in and inspect every so many hours,

and that's different on parts all over the planes.

Some things you have to look at after every flight.

Other things have to be inspected

every two or three days.

NARRATOR: In 1996, Alaska Airlines

extended the intervals between MD-80 jackscrew inspections

by 400%.

Before 1996, jackscrews were inspected

every 600 flight hours.

Now there was over 2,500 between each service.

If you had 600 hours between inspection points and greasing

points, we have no chance of ever having a metal-to-metal

contact situation.

But if you put that out to 2,000 hours or 2,500 hours,

now what you do is eat into some of these protective stages,

these barriers that we have towards catastrophic failure.

[music playing]

Investigations division--

NARRATOR: In its final report into the crash of Flight 261,

the NTSB concluded that Alaska Airlines' extended service

intervals to the jackscrews on its MD-80s

were a significant contributor to the crash.

Nor with any of your supervisors

up the chain in the engineering area.

JAY MALONEY: I don't recall any--

With carriers doing anything to save a dime, maintenance,

safety took a back seat.

And one of the shocking things about Alaska

is that they were allowed to increase inspection intervals.

And it was very shocking, because that

is the only way we have safety.

NARRATOR: The extended maintenance intervals

meant that lack of grease in the jackscrew went undiscovered.

But now, investigators also wondered if the failure

of the jackscrew assembly revealed a basic floor

in the plane's design.

They found that the MD-80 broke one of the fundamental rules

of aircraft design.

It was not fail safe.

JOHN NANCE: The design philosophy

that has made aviation so safe is that we should never, ever

have a situation in which one catastrophic failure

of some component of the airplane

causes us to lose the airplane.

These backups to the backup backing up the backups

is why we can get on an airplane with almost 100% assurance

that we're going to get where we want to go safely.

NARRATOR: There was no backup to the jackscrew and its nut.

Engineers never envisioned a situation on the MD-80

where the jackscrew might fail.

With inspections every 600 flight hours and replacements

every 2,000 hours, the designers did not

add an additional redundant backup system.

It was utterly laughable that they

said it was a redundant system.

There's one screw, and there's one nut.

That's all there is.

It's not redundant.

--investigations division.

NARRATOR: In its final report, the National Transportation

Safety Board concluded that the crash of Flight 261

was due to the lack of adequate greasing and the

stretched service intervals.

When coupled with the design of the jackscrew,

these failures led to a completely avoidable accident

and the loss of 88 lives.

[music playing]

Three years after the crash of Flight 261,

the relatives and friends of the dead

dedicated a permanent memorial at Port Hueneme close

to the crash site.

Janice Stokes.

[bell tolls]

JOHN NANCE: I think the best thing

and the only thing in our infinite inadequacy of making

up for the loss from this life is to say something that we've

been able to say in a lot of other accidents

to other grieving families.

And that is those deaths will not be in vain.

We will not let them be in vain.

Every one of those lives will be made

to count in terms of making sure that 3, 4, 5 or 10

other people do not die.

[music playing]

MAN: Miss Carol Karlsson.

[bell tolls]

Colleen was different.

She was adventurous, and there's nobody like that in our family.

And I don't know what we can do except to remember Colleen

and to live our lives now a little bit better for her.

[music playing]

MAN: Ryan Busche.

None of us are the same anymore.

It's like walking into a giant storm, wave

after wave forming up, coming in, because it never stops.

Grief over the loss of a child is not

something I wish on anybody.

This plane went down because of neglect.

It seems like such an unholy type of loss.

What a hard way to die so an airline can, you know,

make more money.

[music playing]