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Chilling Final Words Of Pilot Flying Plane That Crashed Killing Everyone On Board
An unsettling recording capturing the final moments of a plane crash that killed everyone on board has been revealed.
Alaska Airlines Flight 261 departed from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on its way to Seattle, Washington, with a scheduled layover at San Francisco International Airport, on January 31, 2000.
What began as a routine journey ended in one of the most devastating aviation disasters in U.S. history.
The MD-83 aircraft never reached its intended destination.
There were 88 individuals on board, including 83 passengers and five crew members.
Tragically, no one survived the crash.
While flying over the Pacific Ocean near Anacapa Island, California, the plane began experiencing critical mechanical issues.
During the flight, the crew alerted air traffic control that they were having problems with the horizontal stabilizer, a crucial component that helps control the aircraft’s pitch.
To manage the situation, the pilots requested and were granted an altitude block between 20,000 and 25,000 feet, and later received clearance to divert to Los Angeles International Airport.
The Federal Aviation Administration later concluded that the root cause of the crash was a failure of the jackscrew assembly located in the aircraft’s tail section.
The jackscrew, which adjusts the horizontal stabilizer, had suffered from excessive wear due to insufficient lubrication.
This mechanical failure rendered the crew unable to properly control the aircraft’s pitch.
Recordings from the cockpit voice recorder painted a chilling picture of the crew’s final moments.
Initially, Captain Ted Thompson informed air traffic control: “Yeah, we’ve got it back under control there.”
However, his co-pilot, First Officer Bill Tansky, could be heard in the background responding grimly: “No, we don’t.”
Despite their efforts, including attempting to fly the aircraft inverted to stabilize it, the plane had already lost too much altitude.
Another pilot in the vicinity later reported witnessing the aircraft taking a ‘big huge plunge,’ and soon after, it was described as being in a ‘nose down position descending quite rapidly.’
Shortly afterward, the aircraft slammed into the Pacific Ocean at high velocity.
The violent impact caused the complete destruction of the plane, and all 88 occupants died from blunt force trauma.
Investigators later recovered the flight data and cockpit voice recorders, along with approximately 80 percent of the wreckage.
These components were reconstructed at a facility at the Port Hueneme Naval Base in California, where they played a crucial role in piecing together what had gone wrong.
In memory of those lost, a sundial monument was erected at Port Hueneme.
Each year, on January 31, it casts a shadow on a memorial plaque, marking the anniversary of the heartbreaking tragedy.
Chilling cockpit voice recordings from Alaska Airlines Flight 261, which nosedived into the ocean, tragically claiming all 88 lives on board (2000) pic.twitter.com/vqZ1h7Th5l
— Historic Vids (@historyinmemes) May 18, 2025
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