Alaska Jet Reports Stabilizer Trouble

A Seattle-bound Alaska Airlines jet with 129 people on board returned to the ground just a few minutes after taking off Saturday when the pilot reported problems similar to those being investigated in the crash last week that killed 88 people.

Alaska flight 631 left Reno-Tahoe International Airport at about 7 p.m. and returned after seven or eight minutes in the air, after the pilot reported that the motors that control the tail stabilizer were operating improperly, said Jack Evans, spokesman for the Seattle-based airline.

The stabilizer is the wide part of the tail that helps to keep a plane level in flight. Possible problems with the stabilizer on Alaska Flight 261, which crashed last Monday in the ocean off Ventura County, are under investigation.

The pilot told passengers that he had a major mechanical problem and would have to return to Reno, said passenger Dennis Smythe of Anchorage.

“There was a lot of crying and a lot of praying because a lot of people were probably thinking about that [earlier] crash,” he said.

Passengers cheered as the pilot made a rough landing back at the airport.