While inverted, the engines experience multiple compressor stalls and likely failed, causing the aircraft's rapid final descent. Just before 16:22 PST, Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashed inverted into the Pacific Ocean. All 88 passengers and crew members were lost in the accident.

Alaska Airlines Flight 261 did indeed fly in an inverted (upside-down) position for the final moments of its tragic flight on January 31, 2000. Following the catastrophic failure of the jackscrew assembly in the horizontal stabilizer—caused by insufficient lubrication and excessive wear—the aircraft entered an uncontrollable nosedive. In an act of extraordinary heroism and technical ingenuity, Captain Ted Thompson and First Officer William Tansky attempted to stabilize the MD-83 by intentionally flying it upside down to counteract the extreme downward pitch. They successfully managed to fly the aircraft inverted for approximately one minute, even maintaining some level of altitude, before the mechanical damage became too severe to overcome. The aircraft eventually plunged into the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Anacapa Island, California. This maneuver is frequently studied in aviation safety as a testament to the crew's bravery and skill in a "zero-probability" survival scenario, which ultimately led to a global overhaul of maintenance intervals for critical flight components.