Alaska Airlines grounds 18 jets for inspections

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Alaska Airlines grounds 18 jets for inspections

By The Associated Press August 3, 2000 10:57 p.m. CDT

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Alaska Airlines is grounding up to 18 Boeing MD-80 airliners for inspections of a part implicated in last January's crash that killed 88 people, federal regulators said Thursday.

The airline reported to the Federal Aviation Administration that tools used to check jackscrews may have produced incorrect readings. The jackscrew assembly consists of a nut that rides up and down a screw as it turns to lift and lower the stabilizer.

There are no indications of problems, the FAA said, but the agency is alerting other airlines using MD-80 planes -- as well as DC-9 jets, which are also affected -- to check their planes.

Alaska Airlines Flight 261 plunged into the ocean off Southern California on a flight from Mexico to San Francisco on Jan. 31. All 88 people aboard the plane, an MD-83 -- an MD-80 variant -- died.

A criminal investigation into that crash began focusing on a mechanic's decision not to replace a part that was wearing out. The part, a jackscrew assembly, had been tested repeatedly and found to be nearly worn out, but was put back into service after a second crew retested it a few days later. Two Alaska Airlines insisted in an interview with the Seattle Times that they were not at fault.

In June, the FAA announced that Alaska Airlines had made sufficient improvements to continue doing maintenance on its planes. Previously, the agency had threatened to strip the airline of the right to do maintenance -- a step that could have eventually grounded all its planes -- unless its programs were improved.

Copyright 2000 The Associated Press

http://cnews.tribune.com/news/tribune/story/0,1235,tribune-nation-53302,00.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), August 04, 2000


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