Alaska 261/222 – Two years later, still no answers
Dear Mr. Fancher and the editorial staff of the Times:
Two years ago this week I was involved in an emergency situation involving an Alaska Airlines MD-80 at Sea-Tac Airport. I wrote you and other members of the media about it extensively. Yet, a full two years later, and on the anniversary of the Flight 261 tragedy, not a one of you has seen fit to follow up on my letter and the terrifying moments experienced by the passengers on my flight.
In fact, despite all your coverage of Alaska Airlines and its problems, the incident on Flight 222 has gone wholly unreported. Why is that?
To recap:
On January 20th, eleven days prior to the Flight 261 disaster, a plane load of Alaska passengers, which included me, thought we were due to be tarmac cinders. Our flight, Alaska 222, bound for Manzanillo via Los Angeles, blew something on take-off from Sea-Tac Airport. We heard several loud bangs from the back of the aircraft. A few seconds later there were two more, and the plane lurched to the right. One woman passenger screamed in obvious apprehension, “Oh no!”
A minute passed before the pilot finally announced there was a problem, and we’d have to turn around and make an immediate emergency landing. An extremely distressed flight attendant gave us instructions for assuming the crash position. One passenger took out a marking pen and wrote a farewell message to his girlfriend on a drop-down tray. We all thought our lives were over, especially me, when I was asked to come to the rear of the plane to assist the attendants in case the rear emergency door didn’t open during the landing procedure.
At no time during the emergency, nor any time since, has Alaska Airlines informed us what happened on that flight. No apologies, no explanations, no nothing! I received no communication from the airline whatsoever, despite five months of trying to get answers. The FAA was “unable” to provide information because Alaska hadn’t filed any!
What continues to tear at me is the possibility that my plane’s malfunction could have been identical to Flight 261′s. When the FAA later reported hearing “two loud bangs from the back of the aircraft” on 261′s cockpit voice recorder, I immediately thought about what happened on Flight 222. Perhaps the tragedy of 261 could have been averted if someone at Alaska had been paying attention. Was it the same plane? Was it the same problem? Nobody knows because Alaska has never told us anything! I was scheduled to fly back from Puerto Vallarta on Alaska. I could have been on Flight 261. As it turns out, my parents were returning from Puerto Vallarta on an Alaska flight at the same time 261 went down. It’s only by chance they were not obliterated on Flight 261.
My opinion, which I have stated repeatedly since February 1, 2000, is that Alaska Airlines deserves to be ripped open and examined from the bottom up. Even more so than has already occurred. In the three years prior to the 261 and 222 incidents, I watched the airline steadily deteriorate as bean counters made the calls and cut corners. We have all now seen the results. I applauded the FAA’s decision to hold Alaska accountable, and shut them down if the situation warrants, but I have not been impressed with the results so far.
As Alaska CEO John Kelly and his spin doctors continue their damage control press conferences, which we will no doubt be treated to again this coming Thursday, I still wonder why I should ever get on another Alaska plane. I haven’t done so since my return from Mexico two years ago, and I see no reason to change my mind any time soon.
I want some answers! I want to know what happened on my flight. I want to know why it’s being hushed up. I want to know if the failures on Flights 222 and 261 were related. And I’d really like to know why nobody in the massive Seattle media market thinks the Flight 222 incident is important enough to expose and thoroughly investigate.
Yes, just as you did, I knew people on Flight 261. Yes, I continue to mourn their loss. It should never have happened. And maybe — just maybe — it wouldn’t have if someone had been paying attention on January 20, 2000, eleven days earlier.
Sincerely yours,
Jef Jaisun
Seattle