Jun 6, 2000 - 02:49 PM

Jet Diverted to Los Angeles After Problem With Pressurization The Associated Press

PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - An Alaska Airlines jet on a flight from San Diego to Portland had to land in Los Angeles because of problems with pressurization.

Alaska Flight 503, an MD-80 jet with 135 people on board, was climbing after takeoff Monday when the pilot noticed that the airliner was not pressurizing, said Jan Fisher, spokeswoman for the airline that has recently been hit by a spate of problems.

The pilot maintained an altitude of 10,000 feet to Los Angeles, landing there about a half-hour after leaving San Diego. Pressurization is not needed at that altitude, and oxygen masks were never needed and never dropped, she said.

"The whole series of events were handled by standard operating procedure," Fisher said.

But the plane's cabin got hot because the air conditioning didn't work, she said.

Passengers transferred to a different airplane and eventually arrived in Portland at 1:15 a.m. Tuesday, nearly four hours late.

A valve malfunction and a broken clamp caused the pressurization and air conditioning system problems. Repairs were made in Los Angeles and the jet was put back into service, Fisher said.

The Jan. 31 crash of Alaska Flight 261 in the Pacific Ocean off Los Angeles killed all 88 passengers and crew.

Late last month, the airline announced it would fire two pilots who continued a flight even though they had failed to properly pressurize the cabin and some of the emergency oxygen system was depleted.

On Friday, the Federal Aviation Administration proposed to strip Alaska Airlines of its aircraft maintenance authority after finding maintenance work could not be documented in nearly 150 cases. The airline has seven days to respond, and if the response is inadequate, regulators could eventually force the airline to park its planes and stop flying.

http://ap.tbo.com/ap/breaking/MGILLF6W59C.html

-- Martin Thompson (mthom1927@aol.com), June 06, 2000