Alaska Airlines finds, replaces dry jackscrew

SEATTLE – Alaska Airlines found a jackscrew that had not been properly lubricated on one of its jets during an inspection of its MD-80 fleet this week.

Failure of the jackscrew – part of the tail section that helps control the plane’s angle of flight – led to the deadly crash of Flight 261 nearly six years ago.

“There are no indications that this jackscrew was unsafe or unairworthy,” the airline said in a statement Thursday.

The jackscrews on all but one of 18 jets inspected so far were reported normal, Alaska said.

Early Wednesday, inspectors found the center section of one plane’s jackscrew was dry, while both ends were properly lubricated.

Alaska Airlines spokeswoman Caroline Boren said there was no evidence of excessive wear.

“The wear tests were normal on it, and the normal procedure would be to lubricate it and return it to service, but we’re going to replace it,” Boren said.

The airline has contacted Smiths Aerospace, a division of Smiths Group PLC that manufactures the jackscrew, and Boeing Co., which merged with MD-80 maker McDonnell Douglas Corp. in 1997, to review the matter.

Alaska CEO Bill Ayer ordered the inspection of the MD-80s last week after the Seattle Times reported the Federal Aviation Administration was investigating complaints by three mechanics who reported finding an ungreased jackscrew on an MD-83 Jan. 10.

Alaska disputed the mechanics’ reports, concluding the jackscrew had been properly lubricated during a major maintenance check in November.

Lack of lubrication and excessive wear on the jackscrew brought down Flight 261 in January 2000, killing all 88 people aboard in a crash off the Southern California coast.

After the crash, the FBI and a federal grand jury in San Francisco conducted an investigation into a 1997 inspection of the MD-83 that went down to determine whether the wear tests were actually done. No charges were filed.

After the crash, the FAA ordered that jackscrews be lubricated every 650 flight hours, lowering the likelihood they could suffer excessive wear before a problem was discovered. Before the crash, Alaska had been lubricating its jackscrews about every 2,550 hours.

The plane that was inspected Wednesday had not reached 650 flight hours since its jackscrew was last checked, FAA spokeswoman Laura Brown said.

As part of its investigation, the FAA is looking into another jackscrew incident two weeks ago that raised questions about Alaska’s lubrication procedures.

The jackscrew was replaced when a mechanic reported an unusual noise in the mechanism, The Seattle Times reported in Thursday editions.

Brown said the FAA had found no reason to order the immediate grounding of Alaska’s MD-80 fleet, noting that the critical issue is whether excessive wear is found on the jackscrew.

The airline expected to finish inspecting its 26 MD-80 planes by the end of the week.