Essay, Research Paper

A Brief Look Into Alaska Flight 261

There I was winging along at 13,000 pess with no feeling of dismay. Goldfish, my pa said. My household and I sat at that place in first category on an Alaska Airlines DC-10 on our manner to Disney Land. The cards kept us happy along with the changeless Sprite refills we received. As a small child, that is all I could perchance desire, a good game of Carassius auratus with my pa and changeless bags of peanuts. My drive was traveling great. All of the sudden I felt the Sprite and peanuts rise to my thorax. Before I could believe about it, meal trays were spilt, our cards were scattered, and everyone was speaking. We have merely experienced some heavy turbulency, the pilot announced. We lost 2500 pess in one second. It made me believe of how rapidly our aeroplane could hold hit the land.

Air travellers are invariably coming up with concerns about going safety. Among these concerns is airworthiness. Is an aeroplane safe to wing? This is a concern because people want to experience confident they are safe when aboard an aeroplane. Most of us have been on an aeroplane, for a household holiday, concern trip, or possibly to see the relations on the vacations. I am certain the idea of crashing has gone through everyone s head. What if there were a clang and my friends and I were on board? What went incorrect? What caused the clang? These are the inquiries research workers are seeking to reply sing Alaska flight 261.

My research began at the CWU library where I found my ego on CATRAX, the CWU hunt system. You can seek for books, magazines, subjects, writers, and exc. Bing a pilot myself, I am interested in air power, and the recent Alaska Airline clang was all over the intelligence. I thought this would do the perfect subject. The procedure of research was easy because of the Internet. I foremost tried our CWU library. Due to my subject being recent, I had a difficult clip happening beginnings, so I got on the Internet. I learned from the intelligence, the aircraft that crashed was Seattle based, so I decided to seek the Seattle Times newspaper for some articles. To my delectation I found a clip line of articles. I had a batch of information to screen through, the subject about damaged parts found in the ocean from the aeroplane and what those parts can state us stuck out in my caput. I found my article and it fueled my involvement of the subject.

The article, Experts differ on what harm to Flight 261 screw jack may intend by The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times, relates the importance of a piece of wreckage that may hold been clearly damaged before impact. The piece is called the screw jack assembly, which controls the angle of the stabilizer, the horizontal portion of the tail. Gene Daub, a senior air-crash research worker with the Federal Aviation Administration s Transportation Safety Institute in Oklahoma City, states that there are three pieces of grounds, which suggest harm prior to the clang. The stabilizer was jammed in the full nose down place before the clang, togss appear to hold striped spirally on the jackshaft, perchance the automatic shutoff failed to work when in complete nose down place, and perchance soil in the shaft caused it non to run swimmingly. ( Experts differ, par. 7 ) A retired pilot, Barry Schiff is 80 % certain the damaged occurred prior to the clang, but is still diffident. ( Experts differ, par. 11 )

None of these facts are positive because of the dissension among research workers and the incompletion of the trials. The theories behind why the screw jack was damaged before the clang are good 1s, but how could it hold been damaged during the clang? The damaged grounds is excessively perfect. It seems to me that the reply wouldn T come that easy. It is my sentiment that any four of the harm possibilities could hold happened while the aeroplane was toppling towards the land or on impact. There must hold been a job prior to the clang. In my experience reading about air hose clangs, I would be interested more if the writer had included facts about how the screw jack could hold been damaged during the clang itself.

Research workers have discovered damaged parts to Alaska flight 261, but yet have been able to find the cause of those damaged parts. It takes many trial and hours to come to a factual decision about the cause of the accident. Was there any warning marks or jobs prior to the clang? This is the inquiry I ask. This is the following subject I will research. Eventually research workers will happen the cause of clang that killed 88 people.

I turned to the CWU library computing machines one time once more. Besides the fact I had to wait around for an unfastened computing machine my hunt at the Seattle Times homepage went smooth. I found two articles about jobs in the aircraft before the clang. I found one article about parts falling away and one about stabilizer jobs. I found the one about stabilizer jobs to be more good to my research.

The article Data intimation at 2 hours of stabilizer jobs for Flight 261 by Chuck Taylor, a Seattle Times aerospace newsman studies the inquiries about the stabilizer on the Alaska airplane the twenty-four hours of the clang. The flight informations suggests control jobs on Alaska Flight 261 might hold begun shortly after the plane departed Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. The plane was heading towards San Francisco and Seattle on January 31. ( Data par.1 ) After two hours the state of affairs confronting the crew deteriorated quickly. The concluding consequence was a minute-long, inverted honkytonk that killed all 88 people on board.

The inquiries about the control

job straight relates to the horizontal stabilizer, the little wing on the tail of the plane that tilts to alter the angle of flight. Two motors control the stabilizer, a high velocity motor for manual flight on takeoff and landings and a slow velocity motor when utilizing the automatic pilot for sail flight. A circuit malfunction in one of those motors can do the stabilizer to lean to its maximal angle. ( Data par. 13 )

Captain Ted Thompson and 1rst Officer William Tansky was faced with a stabilizer that would merely travel in one way the 1 that would do the plane tend to intrude down. ( Data par. 14 ) To maintain the plane degree they would hold had to keep back on the control wheel. The crew communicated this job by wireless early in the flight, along with the fact that the crew flew without the automatic pilot for 1 hr and 53 proceedingss. This is the lone grounds so far to propose the aeroplane had stabilizer jobs prior to the clang, harmonizing to NTSB Chairman Jim Hall. ( Data par. 5 ) Typically the automatic pilot is used for most stages of flight, and it is improbable it would hold non been used because of the distractions and excess work. ( Data par. 18 ) There is grounds from the flight informations recording equipment that both motors at one point may hold non been working because the flight trim was merely adjusted in a nose-down way, Hall said. ( Data par. 24 ) It is still ill-defined weather the stabilizer moved on its ain or by the pilots, but it is clear the stabilizer was in the full ague place 12 proceedingss before Flight 261 dived towards the Earth. ( Data par. 23 )

This article brings a batch of inquiries to my head. What caused a short in the stabilizer motors? How did both motors short out? These are the inquiries I ask. These are the inquiries the research workers will finally reply. Reading this article has given me an grasp for the occupation of an NTSB officer. It makes me believe of how complex an air hose clang probe is. Everything from satellite images, radio detection and ranging studies, salvage, and Reconstruction of the aeroplane from wrecked parts. The NTSB is ever researching every possible reply. That is why it takes so long to happen replies. Even though it frustrated me when I read the article, I was left with many more inquiries. I am confident those inquiries will be answered as clip follows.

As the probe grows, the complete wreckage is recovered, flight informations analyzed, and flight personal interviews conducted, the replies to the clang will come out. What about the clip in between, where there is no reply! Do riders desire to wing on Alaska s aeroplanes? My following subject explores the inquiry of conditions riders are scared of Alaska air hoses and MD-80 aeroplanes.

I was once more gazing at the computing machine. This clip I had a steamy cup of java and a Rooster chaw to attach to me. In the comfort of my ain place I one time once more visited the Seattle Times home page to see if there had been a canvass conducted after the accident. To my surprise I found one and the headline answered my inquiry.

Poll: Crash International Relations and Security Network T frightening travellers off by Chuck Taylor, is the article I found. The canvass surveies get oning forms and market tendencies of Seattle following the clang of Alaska Airlines Flight 261. The U.S. Department of Transportation compiled the informations. ( Poll par.1 ) The U.S. section of Transportation replies two inquiries: How was Alaska traffic affected by the intelligence of the clang? Did riders shun the MD-80 household of planes countrywide in the hebdomads after the January 31 accident? It polled 427 families statewide. Some of the findings are capable to a 5 per centum border of mistake. ( Poll par. 2 )

The consequences of the study were: 75 per centum of respondents indicated the accident would non impact a determination to wing Alaska Airlines in the hereafter, while 19 per centum said their likeliness of winging Alaska has decreased. ( Poll par. 3 ) The canvass besides asked inquiries about the wake of the clang and air power safety. Ninety seven per centum said, Alaska responded in the wake of the clang every bit good as, or better than, other air hoses in similar state of affairss. ( Poll par. 4 ) Two tierces of the polls respondents believe air power safety has increased in the past decennary. ( Poll par. 5 ) The study reinforced the fact that people are confident in air hose travel despite the awful clang. Peoples still realize air power safety is bettering and that the air hoses purposes are to be safe.

Everything you do in life carries hazard and I think people realize that. I know I do. If you look at statistics you have a far greater opportunity of deceasing on your manner to the airdrome in auto so in a existent aeroplane. As a pilot my ego, I am pleased at the consequences of this study and hope air hose safety continues to acquire better.

As a consequence of briefly looking into Alaska Airlines Flight 261, I have learned riders do experience safe aboard aeroplanes and how rapidly tragic things can go on aboard a aeroplane. The sky is a topographic point where there is no room for mistake and pilots must be ready for every state of affairs. It is soothing to cognize that when a state of affairs surpasses a pilot s ability and consequences in calamity that there are squads of research workers work outing the jobs, and doing new ordinances so the same incident won t happen once more. That is why riders feel confident in air hose safety. It is rare that air hoses will do the same error twice. As a consequence of the Alaska clang I am certain Alaska air hoses will be even safer, and all stabilizer constituents will be inspected and replaced more often as you can already see on the intelligence.