Official: Cockpit tape shows crew struggling with mechanical problem

LINDA DEUTSCH, AP Special Correspondent

(02-03) 11:25 PST PORT HUENEME, Calif. (AP) -- The cockpit voice recorder recovered from the Pacific details the Alaska Airlines crew desperately trying to regain control as the jetliner carrying 88 people flew upside down before crashing, federal investigators said today.

The recorder captured slightly more than 30 minutes of conversation, National Transportation Safety Board Chairman James Hall told reporters in Washington.

``The crew made references to being inverted that are consistent with the witness statements to that effect,'' Hall said.

The tape starts with the crew discussing a problem with a tail part called the horizontal stabilizer, which keeps the plane level. The crew then decided to divert to Los Angeles International Airport, but the problem became worse. The crew then struggled to pull out of a nosedive, regaining some control while continuing to troubleshoot and prepare for landing.

``Then control was suddenly lost,'' Hall said.

Hall's account came from an initial review of the cockpit voice recorder, which was recovered Wednesday from the debris of the MD-83.

Searchers today continued searching the ocean floor for the flight data recorder, the companion ``black box'' that could provide details on the plane's mechanical operation.

The NTSB has also begun analyzing a recording of a radio call from Flight 261's pilots to a Seattle maintenance crew about the stabilizer problem minutes before the crash.

Investigators said witnesses saw no signs of fire or smoke when the jet hit the water in one piece Monday, killing everyone on board during the planned flight from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to San Francisco and Seattle.

As the plane passed over Anacapa Island, just off the coast, a witness heard several popping sounds and watched the jet turn and hit the water, NTSB member John Hammerschmidt said Wednesday.

``The aircraft was twisting, flying erratically, nose rocking,'' he told reporters late Wednesday. He also said other pilots nearby described the plane as ``tumbling, spinning, nose-down, continuous roll, corkscrewing and inverted.''

The pinger for the flight data recorder, which records information about the plane's mechanical operation -- the size of two film cartridges -- was found near the cockpit voice recorder, the Navy said.

Ships with side-scan sonar equipment that can make detailed maps of debris on the ocean floor began searching the crash site today, and two other remote-control submersibles like Scorpio were en route.

The wreckage is well below the 300-foot safety limit for divers -- and most of the bodies are believed pinned in the debris on the bottom of the ocean. Searchers have recovered the remains of only four passengers.

Investigators expected choppier waters as a light storm moved toward Southern California today. The beaches were mostly clear of debris, but rough seas could begin to wash ashore more remnants of the craft.

The search for survivors was called off Wednesday over the protest of some family members who held out hope that someone might still be alive in the chilly waters of the Santa Barbara Channel. The search had gone on for 41 hours and included dozens of Coast Guard, Navy and civilian ships, boats and aircraft that combed a 1,100-square-mile area.

The airline and Red Cross officials today planned to take friends and relatives of the victims to the coast near the crash site. The sand near Port Hueneme is already the site of makeshift memorials.

Meanwhile, a jammed horizontal stabilizer forced an American Airlines MD-80 to return to Phoenix 20 minutes after it took off for Dallas on Wednesday. The plane is part of the same series of aircraft as the Alaska MD-83 that crashed.

The Arizona Republic reported today that another Alaska Airlines flight made an emergency landing at Fairbanks International Airport last year because of stabilizer problems.

In that case, the pilot of an MD-82 carrying 138 passengers and crew had trouble getting the plane's nose to rise on takeoff, and the pilot made an emergency landing.

Federal investigators were having the flight data recorder from the American Airlines plane sent to them, said Phil Frame, a spokesman for the NTSB in Washington. Frame said he knew of no link between the American Airlines incident and the Alaska Airlines investigation, but ``it may have piqued their interest.''

Other NTSB officials said it was too early to reach a conclusion.

``I think at this time it's premature,'' said Bernard S. Loeb, director of aviation safety.

On Wednesday, The Seattle Times reported the plane that crashed this week had horizontal stabilizer problems on its trip to Puerto Vallarta, its next-to-the-last flight.

Hall said today he did not think such reports were ``exactly correct. ... What we are doing this morning in California, we will be interviewing the crew of the previous flight.''

Airline spokesman Jack Evans in Seattle also denied the report: ``We stand by what we said earlier this week, which is that we're not aware of any maintenance anomalies with this aircraft.''

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