Alaska Airlines Flight 261 : Took off from Mexico en route to California . The MD-83 had been in maintenance , and the T-tail 's jackscrew had not been checked as called for in the maintenance schedule . After several tries , the crew was able to unfreeze the stabilizer , and the airplane pitched downward into a dive . The pilots were able to recover and were preparing to divert to Los Angeles when the tail broke loose from its assembly . The plane pitched over again 70 degrees nose down , rolling inverted as it fell . The pilots attempted to control the aircraft while inverted to no avail ; 86 seconds later the aircraft hit the Pacific Ocean nose first and broke up on impact with the water , killing everybody on board instantly
Alaska Airlines Flight 261
Alaska Airlines Flight 261
Loss of control (aeronautics)