BLACK BOX FOUND; RESCUERS SWITCH TO RECOVERY MODE.

Byline: Jason Kandel, Krysten Shrieve and Greg Gittrich Staff Writers

PORT HUENEME - Searchers recovered one of the black-box recorders late Wednesday that could explain why Alaskan Airlines Flight 261 crashed, while investigators focused on reports of previous mechanical problems with the plane.

The recovery of the cockpit voice recorder came after the Coast Guard decided to call off its search for survivors, over the protest of some relatives of the 88 passengers and crew members.

National Transportation Safety Board spokesman Terry Williams said the search continued for a companion box that records data on a plane's mechanical operation.

The recorders are expected to help explain why the crew of Flight 261 told controllers in the moments before the crash Monday that their horizontal stabilizer had frozen, causing the plane to lose altitude.

National Transportation Safety Board investigators said Wednesday night that they had interviewed four witnesses to the crash, including three pilots of other planes, who said the Alaska Airlines jet corkscrewed and tumbled nose-down into the ocean. The witnesses didn't see any flames or smoke.

Investigators interviewed Alaska Airlines employees Wednesday about reports that a different crew had complained of problems with the ill-fated plane's horizontal stabilizer as it headed toward Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on Monday.

``We don't know if it's true - we are investigating that,'' said John Hammerschmidt, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board.

The NTSB investigators also said they had grounded another jet of the same type that reported a problem with its stabilizer at 13,000 feet over Phoenix on Wednesday morning. The American Airlines jet returned to Phoenix and its flight data recorder was immediately sent to Washington, D.C., for analysis Wednesday night. Officials said they were taking the incident very seriously and wouldn't let the plane resume flight until the problem was resolved.

The audio tapes of the pilots and the Seattle maintenance crew apparently capture an exchange that took place as the pilots tried to troubleshoot what was going wrong, said Jim Hall, chairman of the NTSB.

``Obviously these pilots were struggling to maintain control of this aircraft for a significant period of time,'' Hall said. ``It's going to be very important to this investigation to understand why they were unsuccessful in this effort.''

John Kelley, chief executive officer for Alaska Airlines, said he was unaware of any problems with the horizontal stabilizers on the MD-83 jetliner. ``If there is a problem, they write it up. There was nothing written or oral.''

With help from the U.S. Navy, the NTSB deployed specialized gear 10 miles off the coast to find the recorders and recover main pieces of the fuselage, located about 700 feet underwater.

The pingers on the black box flight voice and data recorders have enough battery power to last 30 days and there's no real worry about not finding the wreckage, officials said.

A 5,000-pound, unmanned submarine fitted with cameras also was deployed to search for the recorders, finding one about 5:30 p.m. Two other remote-controlled subs will get under way in the next day or two, said Navy Capt. Bert Marsh, supervisor of salvage from Washington, D.C.

The Navy, which has not been asked to bring up the entire plane, has conducted searches in much deeper water under poorer conditions in the past, officials said.

The roiling surf and water temperature contributed to the Coast Guard's decision to call off its search.

``We have found no survivors,'' said Coast Guard Vice Adm. Tom Collins during a briefing at crash investigation headquarters in Port Hueneme.

Officials had previously estimated a person could live in the 58-degree water for about three hours before succumbing to hypothermia.

``We have far exceeded our estimate of survivability,'' Collins said. ``We have tried to give every chance for success in finding survivors. I think we have reached that point.''

The Coast Guard rescue operation covered about 1,100 square miles and involved 42,000 man-hours. No one was found alive and only four bodies have been recovered - those of an infant, two women and a man.

Many families still clung to the hope that their loved ones would be miraculously found alive, even after the Coast Guard called off its rescue mission. But as the day wore on, most began absorbing their loss.

``One minute they're very open and emotional, the next minute their face might go blank,'' said Rob Wingate, a member of the Red Cross Aviation Incident response team who spoke with family members of victims at a hotel near Los Angeles International Airport.

``There may be families who choose to hold out hope and refuse to believe what they're hearing, but this will always be a moment they won't forget,'' Wingate said.

``In the next days these families are going to have to make difficult decisions. They'll have to decide how long to stay, when to go home and whether it's worth waiting while the recovery effort continues.''

As many looked for ways to help the grieving families, a private boat captain took about 15 mourners out to the watery grave, where they tossed flowers into the blue sea.

Scores of family members are expected to be shuttled out to the Ventura County coast sometime today, officials said. It was unclear whether they would be transported by boat to the wreckage site or whether they will remain on shore.

- Staff Writers Sylvia Oliande, Lisa Van Proyen, David Greenberg and Dominic Berbeo contributed to this story.

CAPTION(S):

6 photos, box

Photo: (1 -- Page 1, color) Relatives of crash victims hug Wednesday in Port Hueneme. The Coast Guard called off the search for survivors of the Alaska Airlines flight.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(2 -- Page 1, color) A memorial for Flight 261 sits in the sand at Silver Strand Beach.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(3 -- color) National Safety Board member Wayne Pollack talks Wednesday with an unidentified witness of the crash at Silver Strand Beach.

Tina Burch/Staff Photographer

(4 -- color) Oxnard residents Jill Sterling, front and Janine Huarte toss flowers into the ocean from Port Hueneme Pier on Wenesday in honor of the Alaska Airlines crash vicims.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

(5 -- 6 -- color) Law enforcement personnel, above, search the coast for crash debris Wednesday. At left, Olga Gutierrez, center, hugs Lea Stevens while Rebecca Rosano mourns at a memorial for crash victims at Port Hueneme Beach.

Box: Information