On January 31, 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261, a McDonnell Douglas MD-83, lost control midair and crashed into the Pacific Ocean off California’s coast, killing all 88 people onboard. The crash was caused by a failure in the jackscrew assembly of the horizontal stabilizer due to improper lubrication and extended maintenance intervals. Despite heroic efforts by the pilots to regain control—even flying inverted—the aircraft entered a fatal dive. The incident led to major reforms in FAA oversight