Jet with 88 aboard crashes off LA

<b>Alaska Airlines pilots reported struggling to keep control of plane</b> <br><br>LOS ANGELES - Minutes before it crashed into the ocean Monday, an Alaska Airlines jet carrying 88 people went into a

Tuesday, February 1st 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

Alaska Airlines pilots reported struggling to keep control of plane

LOS ANGELES - Minutes before it crashed into the ocean Monday, an Alaska Airlines jet carrying 88 people went into a steep dive from which the pilots were able to recover, according to a source close to the investigation. The crew of Flight 261 reported to air traffic controllers that the jet's stabilizer, a control mechanism, was jammed and requested an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport, said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

Flight 261, from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to San Francisco and Seattle, was last heard from when it was flying at around 17,000 feet. The pilot of another aircraft in the area reported seeing the jetliner entering the water in almost a vertical dive, said the source. The MD-83 plunged into the sea late Monday afternoon, smashing into 10-foot swells several miles off Point Mugu Naval Air Station in Ventura County. "We're actively searching for survivors," said Coast Guard Capt. George Wright after several bodies had been found. "We'll keep this up until there is zero chance of anyone being alive."

Coast Guard and Navy boats, with help from some fishing vessels, searched an oily debris field that fanned pieces of plastic, foam and paper through the waves near Anacapa Island. A Guard helicopter and Navy plane also scoured the site. Darkness quickly hampered the mission. The ocean is reportedly up to 700 feet deep where the jet went down. Water temperatures this time of year are in the 50s. Rescuers said people could survive several hours in such temperatures. Coroner's vans began arriving at the Oxnard Coast Guard station less than two hours after the crash.

At a nearby park, local residents were leaving candles. "It's awful, especially being so close to home," said Rosie Hernandez, 26, who lighted eight candles in the stiff wind. National Transportation Safety Board investigators from Washington, D.C., were on their way to the scene, an agency spokesman said.

An Alaska Airlines spokesman said the pilots had reported problems with the jet's "stabilizer trim," meaning they had some sort of difficulty keeping the plane at its proper pitch. "That's a major problem," said aviation safety expert C.O. Miller, a former NTSB official. "But you can't talk about a cause at this point. It's much too early." Alaska Airline officials said the jet had no previous reports of problems with the stabilizer, a tail-mounted device that helps control the airplane. Pilots and instructors who have flown planes in the MD-80 series say that problems with stabilizer trim are rare. However, if a stabilizer malfunctions, "it can be a big problem," said one longtime MD-80 captain. "Depending on the speed of the aircraft, it can be manageable, or it can be very difficult to handle," said the pilot, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The stabilizer is a large horizontal wing at the top of the tail of the planes. It is used to help maintain the up and down control, or pitch, of the aircraft. The stabilizer trim is powered by two separate systems. The primary system uses a high-torque motor and is controlled by two switches on the control wheel. The secondary, or alternate, system is used by the airplane's automatic pilot and is less powerful. Either system can be disengaged by switches located on the pedestal between the two pilots.

Pilots are trained to control the aircraft in the event of a runaway stabilizer - in which the stabilizer is at a full up or full down position - until they isolate the problem. Pilots say that it is possible to control an airplane with a jammed stabilizer, but it can require a tremendous amount of physical strength to overpower the controls, particularly at high speeds.

The jet was part of the MD-80 series built by McDonnell Douglas, which is now part of Boeing. A Boeing spokesman said the plane was serviced over the weekend and underwent a thorough mechanical check three weeks ago. Alaska Airlines spokesman Jack Evans said the craft was manufactured in 1992, had just under 26,000 hours of flying time and made about 14,000 cycles. A cycle is a takeoff and landing.

In Puerto Vallarta, the local director of Alaska Airlines, Antonio Alvarado Rubio, said the majority of the plane's passengers - 85 percent - were Americans. Most of the rest were Canadians, along with two Mexican citizens, neither of whom was a resident of Puerto Vallarta, the airline official said late Monday. Mr. Alvarado said there were three infants among the passengers. Other sources at the local office of the airline told the daily newspaper Vallarta Opina that there may have been more Mexicans aboard, but that names and nationalities would not be confirmed until Tuesday.

Alaska Airlines serves several popular routes along the West Coast. It says it has the youngest fleet of planes in the nation, with an average age of 7.6 years as of the end of 1998. It carried more than 13 million passengers that year. "The mood is somber," said the airline's Mr. Evans.

At San Francisco International Airport, about a dozen people came to greet the Alaska Airlines flight, an airport spokesman said. They were met by "care team members" from the airline. "They [team members] ask for anyone meeting someone off that flight," said Cindy Fraser, station manager for the airline. Team members told family and friends of passengers that there had been an incident and took them to a secluded room where clergy, mental health counselors and Red Cross workers were on hand. Family members will be taken to the crash site "if they want to," said Ms. Fraser. She said it had not been determined how many passengers were to have disembarked at San Francisco.

One person counting his blessings Monday night was Oscar Estrada, 22, a forklift driver from Union City, Calif. "I was supposed to be on Flight 261, but I canceled," Mr. Estrada said. He had been in Puerto Vallarta visiting his parents and had to take an earlier flight to return to work. The news that he escaped the crash made him feel "good and sad," Mr. Estrada said. Passengers on Alaska Airlines Flight 259, the next one from Puerto Vallarta to San Francisco, had tearful reunions with family members at the airport late Monday evening. "It could have been me. It could have been my husband, " said a sobbing Vivian Nantel of San Anselmo, Calif. "I am very happy to be here right now." Passengers on her flight did not learn of the crash until they landed in San Francisco, she said. Staff writers Doug J. Swanson in San Francisco and Laurence Iliff in Mexico City and special contributor Candice Jun in Oxnard, Calif., contributed to this report.