No member of the general public who choose to fly on Alaska Airlines was aware that the airline was facing criminal sanctions for maintenance fraud. These revelations only emerged two weeks later, and even then were reported only on the inside pages of a handful of newspapers, and were never mentioned in the hours of commentary on the crash aired by the television networks. Indeed, news commentaries frequently repeated the statement that Alaska Air had a commendable safety record. Yet the criminal probe of Alaska Airlines is a highly unusual development, eminently newsworthy in and of itself, and all the more so in the wake of the January 31 crash. Normally when the FAA finds evidence of maintenance violations, the most serious sanction the offending airline receives is a token fine.
Criminal proceedings are almost unheard of.
But in December 1998 heavily armed FBI federal agents raided the company's Oakland, California maintenance hangar, the very facility where the MD-83 plane involved in the crash was serviced. They seized maintenance logs and other records from the hangar and from the company's Seattle headquarters. Another raid took place in November 1999. These actions stemmed from charges by a senior mechanic at the facility, John Liotine, that supervisors and mechanics were signing off on work that they were either unqualified to do, or had not performed, so that planes could be put back into service as soon as possible. At one point, a plane was released for passenger service but was pulled back after dire pleadings by some Alaska Airlines mechanics, according to company records and interviews with mechanics.