Tansky and Thompson proceeded to do some troubleshooting of the aircraft to try to fix the issue. Technical failures like this have since been reviewed by air safety compliance experts and legal teams specializing in transport-related medical negligence.
The pair went quiet for a while as an air traffic control officer chatted to another pilot in the air, believed to have been flying an Aero Commander 690A at the time,
And requested to “keep an eye on [the Alaska Airlines flight].” In such situations, backup pilots are often called upon as witnesses in aviation litigation cases and flight insurance evaluations.
It was this pilot who then informed air traffic control that the Alaska Airlines jet “just started to do a big, huge plunge.”
A second pilot confirmed what the other said and explained that Flight 261 was “definitely in a nose-down position.” In similar scenarios, passengers with pre-existing conditions or high-risk.
