Remembering Alaska Airlines flight 261
It all started when my wife and I decided to fly to Seattle Washington to pick up our car that had been stored there while I worked for Boeing.
On the morning of January 31ST 2000 we boarded a plane in Los Angeles bound for Seattle Tacoma Airport. The flight went smoothly, except for a loud "bang" about half way into the flight. The Captain didn't announce that anything was wrong, but the passengers did however become completely silent until the plane landed. Believe me. you could have heard a pin drop! Anyway, we did land safely, so we caught a cab to our motel in Everett.
Upon arrival , we noticed that a TV was on in the background and there was a lot of excitement and confusion coming from the commentators. I couldn't make out what was actually happening at first, because everyone was yelling and screaming. Suddenly, the clerk told us that an Alaska Airlines plane had just crashed off of the California coast. The plane had been experiencing trouble and was trying to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles when the accident occurred. The aircraft was an Alaska Airlines MD80 en route to San Francisco, ending in Seattle. We had just flown from Los Angeles on Alaska Airlines ourselves, so we were very shocked to say the least! As it turned out, it was a flight just behind ours. Wow, we could have easily been scheduled to be aboard that same flight I thought! Talk about an "Erie" feeling coming over you.
The domed flight turned out to be Alaska Airlines "Flight 261" with 88 people aboard including the crew, originating in Mexico, with a final destination being Seattle.
The plane went out of control after a critical part (jack screw) in the tail section broke off, causing the plane to roll and spin. After a heroic effort by the pilots, they finally lost complete control of the aircraft. They made a final effort to try to regain control of the aircraft by flying the plane completely inverted , but they were unsuccessful. The plane rolled over a couple of times before coming completely inverted and crashing into the Pacific Ocean.
On the morning of January 31ST 2000 we boarded a plane in Los Angeles bound for Seattle Tacoma Airport. The flight went smoothly, except for a loud "bang" about half way into the flight. The Captain didn't announce that anything was wrong, but the passengers did however become completely silent until the plane landed. Believe me. you could have heard a pin drop! Anyway, we did land safely, so we caught a cab to our motel in Everett.
Upon arrival , we noticed that a TV was on in the background and there was a lot of excitement and confusion coming from the commentators. I couldn't make out what was actually happening at first, because everyone was yelling and screaming. Suddenly, the clerk told us that an Alaska Airlines plane had just crashed off of the California coast. The plane had been experiencing trouble and was trying to make an emergency landing in Los Angeles when the accident occurred. The aircraft was an Alaska Airlines MD80 en route to San Francisco, ending in Seattle. We had just flown from Los Angeles on Alaska Airlines ourselves, so we were very shocked to say the least! As it turned out, it was a flight just behind ours. Wow, we could have easily been scheduled to be aboard that same flight I thought! Talk about an "Erie" feeling coming over you.
The domed flight turned out to be Alaska Airlines "Flight 261" with 88 people aboard including the crew, originating in Mexico, with a final destination being Seattle.
The plane went out of control after a critical part (jack screw) in the tail section broke off, causing the plane to roll and spin. After a heroic effort by the pilots, they finally lost complete control of the aircraft. They made a final effort to try to regain control of the aircraft by flying the plane completely inverted , but they were unsuccessful. The plane rolled over a couple of times before coming completely inverted and crashing into the Pacific Ocean.
February 13TH, 2009 Buffalo New York, Continental airlines flight 3407 crashed killing all 49 people aboard, plus one person on the ground. A 9/11 widow, Beverly Eckart was aboard and died in the crash.
If anyone reading this post is a relative, or knew someone aboard this ill fated flight, please leave me a message. Together we will not forget the 88 victims of flight 261, and I will answer all messages. God bless all who were lost that day and their surviving families & friends.
When we were aboard our flight, I stuck a small religious card into my pocket that Alaska airlines puts in every seat. It had a prayer on it, so I wanted to keep it as a souvenir. I'm sharing that card with you.
Please don't forget to read my latest post on FLT 261 before you go...
Flight 261: we will never forget you. (June 10) I will continue to post about FLT 261 as long as possible, so continue to visit my Blog. We cannot, and together we will not ever forget them. To be continued...
If anyone reading this post is a relative, or knew someone aboard this ill fated flight, please leave me a message. Together we will not forget the 88 victims of flight 261, and I will answer all messages. God bless all who were lost that day and their surviving families & friends.
When we were aboard our flight, I stuck a small religious card into my pocket that Alaska airlines puts in every seat. It had a prayer on it, so I wanted to keep it as a souvenir. I'm sharing that card with you.
Please don't forget to read my latest post on FLT 261 before you go...
Flight 261: we will never forget you. (June 10) I will continue to post about FLT 261 as long as possible, so continue to visit my Blog. We cannot, and together we will not ever forget them. To be continued...
Please continue to follow the Flt 261 thread:
Flight 261: we will never forget you ... 6/27/2010
A Thanksgiving Message 11/24/2010
Alaska Airlines Flight 261 (11) years later 1/29/2011
Note to my readers:
I see that you come back again and again to this post...I know that you still hurt, so please take my hand and walk with me, let's remember them together...
5 comments:
I found your comments on Flight 261 interesting. I maintain a web page of Flight 261 at
http://flight261.info
I live near the Alaska Airlines Flight 261 Sundial Memorial in Port Hueneme, CA
Rick, I just found your page while rsearching an email hoax regarding a couple of passengers on flight 261. I have no way to verify this, but it is my understanding that this is the same plane and crew that my wife and I flew back to LAX from Los Cobos just 3 weeks earlier. (01-10-2000) Three weeks is a much larger miss than yours, but still leaves an eery feeling.
Hi, I just came across your website while looking up Alaska 261. I wanted to share with you that at the time of the Alaska crash I worked for Horizon Air. I was in San Francisco and was going to wait for flight 261 to go to Seattle and then fly back to my home in Eureka, CA. I ended up taking a United flight instead to Eureka. When I got home I turned on my tv and went on my computer and happened to turn around and look at my tv. It was showing the water off of the California coast with a caption at the bottom that read "Alaska Airlines crash". I later found out that a young girl that I would talk to in Seattle who worked for Provisioning for us at Horizon was on that flight. Her name was Rachel Janosik. Although I never met her in person, she was always a pleasure to talk to when I called her. She would always send down a box of Lemon Smints for me (because I loved them so much). When the box would come, there would be a smiley face and usually a little note saying something like "From Rachel in Seattle"
Because crash had Horizon employees on board, I, and many other Horizon employees from around our system, ended up having to fly to Seattle to assist the ground crew there because a lot of them were in so much grief. I ended up working up there for 2 months.
I will always remember that nice cheerful voice over the phone.
God Bless you Rachel, your friends that were with you and all of those cherished hearts aboard flight 261.
I read all your comments about the Alaska Airlines flight 261 air disaster, so I want to thank you all for taking the time to comment. Michael, your comment was the most interesting. I'm sorry that you lost your friend, but at least you can take comfort in knowing that she is in a better place. I hope throughout your life she will come to you in memory and make your day a little brighter.
I just posted again about flight 261, so I hope that all of you will get a chance to read it. I plan to continue to post about this disaster because I do not want those 88 beautiful soles to be forgotten. God bless flight 261...
Revisiting this post again to refresh my memory of that horrible day. Time goes by so quickly and memories do fade with time, but to me this will always be an event that just happened yesterday, because it made such a huge impact on me. I still feel so sad for all of you who lost a friend or loved one. Believe me, I won't forget them, you can count on that.
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