"This report should be a wake-up call for the quality-assurance
department of Alaska Airlines that they need to step up the
surveillance of their outsourced maintenance."
Source: Former NTSB member John Goglia, in an
interview with the Seattle Times after mechanics at Alaska Airlines
found two instances of unlubricated horizontal stabilizer
jackscrews on board separate MD-83s. The discovery is
bone-chilling, considering the NTSB's finding that an unlubricated
jackscrew caused the crash of Alaska Airlines Flight 261 off the
coast of California almost six years ago. The FAA is investigating
these latest discoveries.