About 50 of the passengers were from Seattle and other parts of Western Washington. The Ventura County coroner has identified the remains of 58 victims. Officials say DNA analysis may be required to identify the other victims. Investigators are focusing much of their attention on the condition of the mechanism that moves the stabilizer wing atop the tail. The mechanism consists of a large nut and a jackscrew.
Investigators believe the nut was worn well beyond the manufacturer's limits before the crash.
The stabilizer is moved or trimmed in flight by the pilot or autopilot to counter the natural aerodynamic tendency of the plane to pitch up or down. In addition to examining the jackscrew assembly from Flight 261, technicians at the safety board's lab in Washington, D.C., are examining assemblies removed from several other planes after recent government-ordered inspections. The Federal Aviation Administration ordered U.S. airlines on Feb. 11to inspect about 1,100 single-aisle McDonnell Douglas planes after metal shavings were found in or around the jackscrew of two Alaska Airlines jets. That has raised questions about Alaska's maintenance procedures, which were already the subject of a criminal inquiry. That criminal investigation began in October 1998 after John Liotine, an Alaska lead mechanic at its maintenance plant in Oakland, Calif., contacted an inspector with the Federal Aviation Administration.