Lack of grease caused jet crash By Alan Levin, USA TODAY WASHINGTON =97 The National Transportation Safety Board on Tuesday is=20 expected to conclude that a lack of grease on a mechanism aboard Alaska=20 Airlines Flight 261 caused the jet to roll onto its back and dive into the= =20 Pacific Ocean on Jan. 31, 2000. A draft report on the accident says the=20 failure to properly lubricate the mechanism, known as a "jackscrew,"=20 prompted it to break apart. When that happened, a flight control panel on=20 the tail of the MD-80 flopped loose and the jet went out of control. All 88= =20 people aboard died. Though overshadowed by accidents that killed more=20 people, the Alaska crash uncovered deep problems in the way airlines=20 perform maintenance and how the Federal Aviation Administration oversees=20 them. The FAA performed safety audits on all major airlines after the crash= =20 and revamped its monitoring system. There may be a push among the four NTSB board members Tuesday to review=20 whether similar maintenance issues could threaten safety on other types of= =20 aircraft and at other carriers, sources said. The lack of grease on the=20 jackscrew was identified early in the investigation as the likely cause.=20 Investigators never discovered why the part didn't have enough grease, but= =20 the draft report points to widespread problems with Alaska's maintenance=20 and inadequate oversight by the FAA. Alaska Airlines says that its=20 maintenance difficulties were largely paperwork problems and that it=20 properly maintained the jet. Though they have not been a leading cause of=20 commercial aviation crashes, maintenance failures have led to major= accidents. A 1989 crash that killed 112 in Sioux City, Iowa, was blamed on inspections= =20 that failed to detect a crack in one engine, which exploded. The fuselage=20 on an Aloha Airlines flight in 1988 broke open over the Pacific, killing=20 one, after inspections failed to detect cracks. Alaska Flight 261, headed=20 to San Francisco from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, plunged into the Pacific=20 Ocean off California. The jackscrew jammed shortly after takeoff. The=20 pilots were preparing to make an emergency landing at Los Angeles when the= =20 jet's horizontal stabilizer broke free from the jackscrew. Threads on the=20 jackscrew mechanism had held the stabilizer in place. But without grease,=20 the threads weakened and sheared off. Though NTSB members appear to agree=20 that a lack of grease on the jackscrew led to the accident, they are still= =20 debating what to blame for that and what safety recommendations to issue. The owner of Roger's Trinbago Site: Roj (Roger James) *************************************************** escape email mailto:ejames@escape.ca Trinbago site: http://www.tntisland.com CBC Website http://www.tntisland.com/caribbeanbrassconnection/ The Trinbago Site of the Week: (TnT News) http://www.tntmirror.com/ (TnT News) courtesy of Roj Trinbago Website & TnT Web Directory Roj's Trinbago Website: http://www.tntisland.com TnT Web Directory: http://search.co.tt *********************************************************