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Tuesday April 4 7:32 PM ET

Bad Switch Forces Alaska Air MD-80 Landing

SEATTLE (Reuters) - An Alaska Airlines MD-80 made an unscheduled landing in Seattle on Tuesday after the pilots reported a problem with the backup motor controlling the tail-mounted horizontal stabilizer, the carrier said.

Flight 97 left Seattle for Anchorage, Alaska, at about 10 a.m. local time and returned to Seattle an hour later with no injuries to the 140 passengers on board the fully ticketed twin engine narrowbody jet, spokesman Lou Cancelmi said.

``En route the crew found a problem with the alternate stabilizer trim motor. The crew did not declare an emergency but the tower called out some equipment as a precaution,'' Cancelmi said. ``In checking, they discovered that a switch in the cockpit needs to be replaced.''

Alaska Airlines, a subsidiary of Alaska Air Group Inc. (NYSE:ALK - news) suffered its worst air disaster ever when an MD-80 crashed off the California coast on Jan. 31, killing all 88 people on board.

The pilots of that doomed jet reported problems controlling the horizontal stabilizer, prompting crash investigators to scrutinize the apparatus, which controls the angle of ascent or descent, as a possible cause of the accident.

The MD-80, inherited by Boeing Co. (NYSE:BA - news) when it bought McDonnell Douglas in 1997,is one of the most popular commercial jets in service.

-- Rachel Gibson (rgibson@hotmail.com), April 04, 2000