JET CRASH OFF PT. MUGU LEAVES 88 FEARED DEAD.

Byline: David R. Baker, Lisa Van Proyen and David Greenberg Staff Writers

OXNARD - Minutes after reporting mechanical problems Monday, an Alaska Airlines jet with 88 people aboard plunged nose-first into the Pacific Ocean off Point Mugu. There were no signs of survivors.

Flight 261, en route nonstop from the Mexican resort of Puerto Vallarta to San Francisco and then on to Seattle, disappeared from radar around 3:45 p.m. after its crew reported problems with the stabilizer trim on the MD-83 jetliner and asked permission to make an emergency landing at Los Angeles International Airport.

On Anacapa Island, a witness saw the plane plummet into the Pacific jcean about 9 miles off the coast.

A broad oil slick littered with debris marked the crash scene. At least one body was recovered, with unconfirmed reports placing the number at seven.

Coast Guard and Navy ships and helicopters, aided by the boats of Channel Island fishermen, searched the cold and choppy water through the night, bringing pieces of wreckage back to shore.

``We have every resource we can muster either on-scene or en route,'' said Coast Guard Capt. George Wright. ``We are going to search for survivors until there is about zero chance of finding anyone alive.''

As darkness fell, the Coast Guard's four helicopters, one airplane and three boats on the scene were joined by more than a dozen civilian boats combing the water for survivors. Coast Guard personnel were armed with infrared vision devices to spot the body heat of survivors floating on the water.

``There is always hope there will be a survivor out there,'' Wright said. ``We've seen miracles before.''

Given the 58-degree water temperature, however, officials said it was unlikely people could survive for long.

Federal Aviation Administration officials and a National Transportation Safety Board spokesman said an investigative team was immediately mobilized and was expected to arrive in Los Angeles early today. The team will lead recovery efforts and seek the cause of the crash.

An Alaska Airlines spokesman said the plane, built by McDonnell Douglas, now a division of Boeing, had no previous problems with the stabilizer trim, which automatically balances the aircraft during slight upward and downward movements.

The flight left Puerto Vallarta at 2:30 p.m. Pacific time and was scheduled to land in San Francisco just after 5 p.m. before heading on to Seattle later in the evening. Eighty-three passengers and five crew members were on board, according to the airline.

Thirty-two passengers were bound for San Francisco, according to the airline. An additional 47 were headed on to Seattle, three were going to Eugene, Ore., and one was headed to Fairbanks, Alaska.

Air traffic controllers lost contact with the crew over Los Angeles air space as the plane cruised up the coast at 17,000 feet, said a spokesman for San Francisco International Airport.

Airline officials said the crew members radioed that they were having trouble with the stabilizer trim and were diverted back to LAX.

The jet was still 20 miles northwest of the airport when it crashed, plunging into water at least 300 feet deep. There were conflicting reports about the time of the crash. The Federal Aviation Administration reported that the plane disappeared from radar about 3:45 p.m. The initial report of a crash reached the Coast Guard around 4:30 p.m.

On Anacapa Island, roughly two miles away from the crash, a National Park Service employee watched the plane slam into the ocean, said Suzan Smith, a spokeswoman for Channel Islands National Park in Ventura.

``It went in nose first,'' she said. She declined to identify the employee.

The plane hit just outside the park's boundaries, she said. The employee called in the crash to the park's dispatch center, which called the Coast Guard with the information. The park's dispatchers also reached a fishing boat crew that had witnessed the crash and was rushing to the scene.

FAA spokesman Mitch Barker said the first reports of the crash indicated the plane was upside down in the water. Further details were not available Monday night.

The twin-engine plane was built in 1992 and is a version of the MD-80 first flown in 1979. Since then McDonnell Douglas, and now Boeing, has sold nearly 1,200 of the MD-80s in various versions.

A passenger list was not available Monday evening. However, those who think family members may have been on the plane can call [phone] to reach the airline.

The American Red Cross of Greater Los Angeles deployed a team to LAX to provide grief counseling to relatives of passengers and crew members who live in the Los Angeles area.

The volunteer air team includes mental health workers, an administrator and logistics workers to provide food and shelter. At LAX, a handful of relatives of passengers and crew members were eligible to take advantage of the grief counseling, a spokesperson said.

The news stunned other travelers at the airport.

Alaska Airlines passenger Mercedes Pearlta of Modesto called home as soon as she landed at LAX for a stopover and found out about the crash. She said her son and his friends were watching the news unfold on television and were trying to determine what happened to Pearlta, who was flying home from a trip to Mazatlan.

``My son was just panicked,'' said Pearlta, teary-eyed but still determined to catch her next flight to San Francisco.

``I'm just relieved but I'm really scared,'' she said. ``I want to get home.''

- Writers Charles F. Bostwick, Phillip Browne, Jason Kandel, Eric Leach and Lori Stassi contributed to this report.

CAPTION(S):

3 photos, 2 maps, box

Photo:

(1 -- color) A helicopter searches for survivors at the crash site near Point Mugu in a live image from a television news report Monday.

Charlotte Schmid-Maybach/Staff Photographer

(2 -- color) Rescuers in a small boat join the search Monday evening in the Santa Barbara Channel, in an image from television news.

Associated Press

(3 -- color) Spectators keep vigil near dusk Monday, looking out over the ocean toward the crash site from Mugu Beach north of Point Mugu.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer

Map: (1) Alaska Airlines crash

Bradford Mar/Staff Artist

(2) Site of crash

Staff graphic

Box: RECENT AIR DISASTERS