Alaska Airlines 261

Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashed on January 31, 2000, due to a catastrophic failure of the horizontal stabilizer's jackscrew assembly, which controls the aircraft's pitch.

The jackscrew's acme nut, a critical component, experienced excessive wear because of inadequate lubrication over time.

This led to the threads of the nut stripping completely during flight, causing the stabilizer to become uncontrollable.

The failure resulted from maintenance lapses, as the recommended intervals for lubricating and inspecting the jackscrew assembly were not followed adequately.