On January 31, 2000 Alaska Airlines Flight 261 was in route from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico to Seattle, Washington with a stop planned for San Francisco, California. Things went catastrophically wrong, even with the subtle hints of disaster that could be seen lurking in the shadows from takeoff. All 83 passengers and 5 crewmembers aboard the MD-83 (N963AS) ultimately paid the price for simple oversights. This paper will try to shed light into the underlying circumstances that led up to the uncontrollable
January 31, 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 Details On January 31, 2000, Alaska Airlines, Inc., flight 261, a McDonnell Douglas MD-80, crashed into the Pacific Ocean about 2.7 miles north of Anacapa Island, California. The two pilots, three cabin crewmembers, and 83 passengers on board were killed, and the impact destroyed the airplane. Flight 261 was operating as a scheduled international passenger flight from Lic Gustavo Diaz Ordaz International Airport (PVR), Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to Seattle-Tacoma