More MD-80 Problems For Alaska Air
An Alaska Airlines MD-80 jet returned to Reno's airport shortly after takeoff on Saturday night after its pilot reported problems similar to those under investigation in Monday's crash off the California coast, reports CBS News' Steve Kathan.
The Seattle-bound flight left Reno/Tahoe International Airport at about 7 p.m. and returned about eight minutes later when the pilot reported motors controlling the plane's horizontal stabilizer were operating improperly, said Jack Evans, an Alaska Airlines spokesman.
The stabilizer is the wide part of the tail that helps to keep a plane level.
Last week, CBS News Correspondent Sandra Hughes reported the Oakland, Calif., maintenance facility where heavy maintenance is performed on all of the airline's MD-80s has been the subject of federal investigations twice. There were accusations that mechanics falsified safety inspection records and allowed two airplanes to fly in "unairworthy" condition. The MD-83 that crashed in the Pacific last week was not one of the two.
The facility has also had labor trouble.
The Saturday night flight made a rough landing, but none of the 140 people aboard were injured, airport officials said. Many passengers left Reno on a replacement plane shortly before midnight though the airline offered lodging, rental cars or later flights.
Boeing spokesman John Thom told CBS Radio News that Boeing is checking its records to see if any planes have come back for tail stabilizer repairs. The company, along with the FAA and the airline, is scanning its records to get any information along those lines and that info will be turned over to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).Investigators are looking into possible problems with the stabilizer on Alaska Flight 261, an MD-83 which crashed on Monday in the Pacific Ocean north of Los Angeles, killing 88 people.
As the Reno flight returned, "there was a lot of crying and a lot of praying because a lot of people were probably thinking about that crash," said passenger Dennis Smythe of Anchorage, Alaska.
As flight attendants donned life jackets and explained crash procedures, "we all just looked at each other and said we loved each other, kind of holding on," passenger Sandy McCollum told KRNV-TV.
Evans said the plane's motors likely overheated while the airplane was on the ground.
"We suspect people are being very cautious, and they are moving the stabilizer up and down and through a full cycle...and it's overheating the motors," he said.
On Tuesday, an American Airlines MD-83 reported trouble with its horizontal stabilizer after takeoff and safely returned to Phoenix.
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