@...Alaska Airlines replaced a key tail mechanism on three aircraft in the months before a crash off California last January in which 88 people were killed, but an internal alert pointing to a possible fleet-wide problem was received only after the disaster, an inquiry heard Friday. Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashed Jan. 31 off the coast of California, killing all on board. The pilots had complained of trouble controlling the horizontal stabilizer mounted on the top of the MD-80's tail. Investigators have focused on the Jackscrew mechanism that moves the stabilizer after finding the nut it passes through stripped of its threads and lacking grease. One of Alaska's maintenance officials, Wright McCartney, told a National Transportation Safety Board hearing the carrier replaced Jackscrew on one MD-80 in June 1999 and two MD-80s in November. The June replacement and the first November replacement were conducted at the airline's Oakland, California, maintenance facility. The second November replacement took place at one of Alaska's maintenance contractors in Phoenix. The final replacement triggered an alert about Jackscrew wear from a computerized analysis program, but the data was not processed until February, after Flight 261 crashed, McCartney said. An Alaska Airlines spokesman later told reporters the computer program was approved by the Federal Aviation Administration and was similar to those in use by other carriers. "It unfortunately did not react in time to prevent the Flight 261 accident," the spokesman said. Friday's testimony was the most dramatic of the hearing, now in its third day, with witnesses from the carrier and Boeing Co. BA responding candidly to numerous questions ranging from the type of grease used on the Jackscrew to data used for determining maintenance schedules. Alaska's McCartney said wear detected on the replaced Jackscrew was far short of where a failure would occur. "These Jackscrew replacements in 1999 in no way reflected problems with the accident plane," he said. Maintenance records for Flight 261 show the airline nearly replaced the Jackscrew mechanism on the aircraft in 1997 because it failed a test for wear, but decided not to after further tests showed the wear was within the carrier's accepted tolerances. CONTROVERSY OVER LUBRICATION Flight 261's Jackscrew was pulled from the water with metallic fragments blocking a hole made for grease to enter the mechanism. Grease samples showed a mixture of two incompatible lubricants. The airline began switching from Mobil Grease 28 to Aeroshell 33 in 1997. Post-crash tests indicated Aeroshell 33 may also be corrosive to copper. The Jackscrew runs through a bronze nut that is 80 percent copper. In questions Friday, safety board investigators sought to find out why the grease change was made and pin down whether maintenance officials knew about grease incompatibility before the crash. An internal form requesting the lubrication change was missing some signatures. The person who ultimately approved the change only initialed the top. He has since died of cancer, testimony revealed. "It appears the paperwork was not complete. We don't know why and we're not happy about it," Mickey Cohen, Alaska's senior vice president of maintenance and engineering, said in a statement. Documents released at the hearing showed that McDonnell Douglas, the company that made the MD-80 series aircraft before being purchased by Boeing Co. in 1997, had no objection to the use of Aeroshell 33 on MD-80 aircraft. However, the document said it was the "responsibility of Alaska Airlines to monitor the areas where Aeroshell 33 grease is used for any adverse reactions." The airline said the FAA knew about the change in grease but offered no comment. However, a former maintenance manager for Alaska, Robert Falla, said in an interview with the NTSB last month that maintenance officials knew about lubrication problems on tail sections of MD-80s before the crash, including Jackscrews. But testimony from another Alaska official contradicted Falla's statement, and Alaska executives called that allegation and others he made about the maintenance operation erroneous. Falla was placed on administrative leave by the airline after complaints from mechanics about his management style. Alaska records show the MD-80 that crashed in January had flown roughly 1,400 flight hours since its last lubrication, within industry standards. The FAA has proposed fining the airline nearly $1 million for missing paperwork and other maintenance violations. A grand jury in California is probing charges the airline falsified maintenance records.
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Apside will be performing live this upcoming Friday night July 10 at Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco- check us out if you're in town, hope to see you there :)
Interstellar Grains psychedelic rock live at The Boom Boom Room SF this Friday April 10th with Nucleus wich should be a great show.Hope you can make it ,peace.
Hi jackscrew! SoundSafe loves you! Please make a local music profile<br />page for yourself on soundsafe.org<br />SoundSafe is a 501c3 non-profit working to preserve, strengthen,<br />promote, and unite the Bay Area music community.<br />Upload songs to our radio station, promote your shows, network, and<br />take advantage of our educational resources for the music business.<br />http://soundsafe.org/profiles/new<br />See you there and<br />Long Live Bay Area Music!
Hi jackscrew! SoundSafe loves you! Please make a local music profile<br />page for yourself on soundsafe.org<br />SoundSafe is a 501c3 non-profit working to preserve, strengthen,<br />promote, and unite the Bay Area music community.<br />Upload songs to our radio station, promote your shows, network, and<br />take advantage of our educational resources for the music business.<br />http://soundsafe.org/profiles/new<br />See you there and<br />Long Live Bay Area Music!
Hi jackscrew! SoundSafe loves you! Please make a local music profile<br />page for yourself on soundsafe.org<br />SoundSafe is a 501c3 non-profit working to preserve, strengthen,<br />promote, and unite the Bay Area music community.<br />Upload songs to our radio station, promote your shows, network, and<br />take advantage of our educational resources for the music business.<br />http://soundsafe.org/profiles/new<br />See you there and<br />Long Live Bay Area Music!
We're now accepting submissions for our next mixtapes, please submit your info at www.coast2coastsubmissions.com for your chance to get a spot on the next mixtape!
We're now accepting submissions for our next mixtapes, please submit your info at www.coast2coastsubmissions.com for your chance to get a spot on the next mixtape!
