Alaska Airlines is inspecting the jackscrews on its fleet of Boeing MD-80s following the launch of an investigation by the US Federal Aviation Administration into reports that the carrier’s mechanics found un-lubricated jackscrews. Alaska’s maintenance procedures have been in the spotlight since the US National Transportation Safety Board concluded that lack of lubrication on a jackscrew assembly contributed to the crash of an Alaska MD-80 in January 2000. Three Alaska mechanics are reported to have found in January an MD-83 jackscrew with no grease and one of these mechanics reported late last month the discovery of another jackscrew lacking grease. Alaska denies that the jackscrews had not been lubricated as required.
Source: Flight International
