PART 1 | On January 21, 2000, Alaska Airlines Captain Ted Thompson and First Officer Bill Tansky prepare for a routine flight to San Francisco, unaware of a crucial weakness in the plane’s structure.

Are you able to work out why Alaska 261 crashed into the ocean?

From Season 1 Episode 6 "Flying On Empty": The stabiliser in the tail on Alaska 261 is jammed, pushing the aircraft toward the ground. To compensate, they have to pull back on the control column.

The plane shudders violently and dives 7000 feet in one minute at a 90-degree angle as the pilots fight hard at the controls. The plane plunges out of control again, upside-down and tumbling, the pilots continue to try to control the plane as it crashes into the ocean.

Welcome to the OFFICIAL Mayday: Air Disaster YouTube Channel.

Mayday: Air Disaster is a dramatic non-fiction series that investigates high-profile air disasters to uncover how and why they happened. Mayday: Air Disaster follows survivors, family members of crash victims and transportation safety investigators as they piece together the evidence of the causes of major accidents. So climb into the cockpit for an experience you won’t soon forget.

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