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 News from Around the Americas | February 2006 
6 Years Later, Another Beach Reunion for Airliner Crash Families
 Jeff Wilson - Associated Press
| | Eighty-eight doves were released above family members at a burial ceremony for unidentified remains from Alaska Airlines Flight 261 at a cemetery in Westlake Village, Calif., January 31, 2001. (Paul Kitagaki Jr./Seattle PI) |
Port Hueneme, Calif. - Clutching white roses, helium balloons and each other, about 40 friends and family members prayed for the 88 people killed when Alaska Airlines Flight 261 spiraled into the sea six years ago.
"It's where we want to be. We're glad to be here and visit," said Steve Campbell, the former Port Hueneme chief of police who helps the families on their annual treks to the beach eight miles away from the crash site.
They gathered there Tuesday, just as they have every Jan. 31 since the first anniversary of the 2000 crash.
At 4:21 p.m., the time the plane went into the sea, they released white helium balloons honoring the victims and held a moment of prayer. Then they walked to the water's edge and left a rose in the surf.
The group gathers each year around a sundial-with-leaping-dolphins monument that cost $350,000, money raised through donations from the community, family members and Alaska Airlines.
"It's such a beautiful monument. We're all family now. It does ease a lot of the pain to come here," said Ralph Pearson who drove 1,000 miles from his Mt. Vernon, Wash., home to attend the half-hour ceremony. His son Rodney died in the crash.
A bell rang as each of the 88 names was read and a single white rose was placed on individual victim plaques that encircle the monument.
Many people exchanged hugs as they reminisced about their lost loved ones, rekindling friendships forged with other survivors after the tragedy.
"We told our families we were going to be here every year and, wow, they keep coming," said victim relative Anarudh Prasad.
"Six years. Gee, doesn't it seem like yesterday?" asked Jay Ryan, whose brother died in the crash.
The Alaska Airlines MD-80 went down near Anacapa Island, one of the chain of Channel Islands northwest of Los Angeles, while en route from Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, to San Francisco and Seattle-Tacoma International Airport.
The National Transportation Safety Board determined the crash was caused by the failure of a jackscrew in the plane's horizontal stabilizer trim system, a part of the plane's tail section that helps control pitch.
The NTSB's final report said the thread failure was caused by excessive wear "resulting from Alaska Airlines' insufficient lubrication of the jackscrew assembly." |
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