Remembering #261: Ride the Dolphins at Sea-Tac!
Donation protected
To mark the 20th anniversary year of the crash of Alaska Flight #261 a Seattle monument is planned for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport: two bronze dolphin benches designed by Bud Bottoms (who designed the sundial monument at the crash site) at Sea-Tac!
20 years ago January 31st, 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261—originating in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico and destined for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport via San Francisco—never made its destination. Instead, all 88 people on board tragically died at 4:21 pm that day when the airplane’s jackscrew failed and the plane spiraled into the Pacific Ocean just north of Los Angeles in an attempted emergency landing at LAX.
Half of those passengers were destined to return home to Seattle but they never came home. Among the victims, there were two Alaska Airline pilots, three flight attendants, and several children. The Seattle area was greatly impacted by the lost of so many dearly loved Seattle citizens and the grief was felt far and wide.
A few years after the crash, the families erected a giant sundial monument with bronze dolphins designed by Santa Barbara artist Bud Bottoms on the beach looking out towards the crash site near Anacapa Island.
Each year many families make the pilgrimage to the monument on January 31st to remember that moment in time that changed their lives forever.
A fund established was established in the year 2000 at the Seattle Foundation to raise money for a smaller monument in Seattle.
Many individuals in Seattle who knew people on the ill-fated flight, or who were just touched by the tragedy, contributed money towards the fund which grew to $7,000.
Bud Bottoms of Santa Barbara—the artist who created the sundial monument with three bronze dolphins leaping upwards from the sundial—made several sketches over the years for a smaller version monument in Seattle, ideally at the airport to mark the spot where the families waited in vain for their loved ones to return to the home port.
Bud died last year, but his widow Carole Ann still oversees the casting of his bronze dolphin pieces. Bud designed two dolphin benches for children for a plaza in Santa Barbara that can be replicated for the Seattle monument. The molds still exist! It is our hope that the bronze dolphins which can be “ridden” by children and can be replicated for Seattle, will be a beautiful and meaningful tribute to those lost on Flight 261, and an artistic addition to the landscape at Sea Tac airport. We love the idea that the monument will be a place to entertain children and decrease a family’s stress levels as they negotiate the long hours of air travel.
Interestingly the migration routes of whales and dolphins echoes that of the flight from Mexico to California to way up north to Oregon and Washington. Dolphins were reputed to have circled the crash debris in California that fateful night and have a special meaning to the families.
We are establishing this GoFundMe to raise the remaining funds needed to fabricate the two dolphin benches for installation at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, at a spot outside the terminal for reflection for those lost on Flight 261. The total cost to fabricate the benches is $23,000, plus $2,000 for delivery to Seattle and install. There is already $7,000 in the Seattle Foundation fund, raised the year of the crash for this very purpose. So $18,000 more is needed.
The Flight #261 Family Group and the airport team agree that the airport location (still TBD) and dolphin bench design will establish an uplifting area for reflection.
Please consider donating for the dolphin benches at Sea-Tac Airport! If you can’t contribute financially, please consider sharing this fundraiser with your friends and family!
Paige Stockley (daughter of #261 victims Tom and Peggy Stockley)
Alaska #261 Family Group
20 years ago January 31st, 2000, Alaska Airlines Flight 261—originating in Puerta Vallarta, Mexico and destined for Seattle-Tacoma International Airport via San Francisco—never made its destination. Instead, all 88 people on board tragically died at 4:21 pm that day when the airplane’s jackscrew failed and the plane spiraled into the Pacific Ocean just north of Los Angeles in an attempted emergency landing at LAX.
Half of those passengers were destined to return home to Seattle but they never came home. Among the victims, there were two Alaska Airline pilots, three flight attendants, and several children. The Seattle area was greatly impacted by the lost of so many dearly loved Seattle citizens and the grief was felt far and wide.
A few years after the crash, the families erected a giant sundial monument with bronze dolphins designed by Santa Barbara artist Bud Bottoms on the beach looking out towards the crash site near Anacapa Island.
Each year many families make the pilgrimage to the monument on January 31st to remember that moment in time that changed their lives forever.
A fund established was established in the year 2000 at the Seattle Foundation to raise money for a smaller monument in Seattle.
Many individuals in Seattle who knew people on the ill-fated flight, or who were just touched by the tragedy, contributed money towards the fund which grew to $7,000.
Bud Bottoms of Santa Barbara—the artist who created the sundial monument with three bronze dolphins leaping upwards from the sundial—made several sketches over the years for a smaller version monument in Seattle, ideally at the airport to mark the spot where the families waited in vain for their loved ones to return to the home port.
Bud died last year, but his widow Carole Ann still oversees the casting of his bronze dolphin pieces. Bud designed two dolphin benches for children for a plaza in Santa Barbara that can be replicated for the Seattle monument. The molds still exist! It is our hope that the bronze dolphins which can be “ridden” by children and can be replicated for Seattle, will be a beautiful and meaningful tribute to those lost on Flight 261, and an artistic addition to the landscape at Sea Tac airport. We love the idea that the monument will be a place to entertain children and decrease a family’s stress levels as they negotiate the long hours of air travel.
Interestingly the migration routes of whales and dolphins echoes that of the flight from Mexico to California to way up north to Oregon and Washington. Dolphins were reputed to have circled the crash debris in California that fateful night and have a special meaning to the families.
We are establishing this GoFundMe to raise the remaining funds needed to fabricate the two dolphin benches for installation at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, at a spot outside the terminal for reflection for those lost on Flight 261. The total cost to fabricate the benches is $23,000, plus $2,000 for delivery to Seattle and install. There is already $7,000 in the Seattle Foundation fund, raised the year of the crash for this very purpose. So $18,000 more is needed.
The Flight #261 Family Group and the airport team agree that the airport location (still TBD) and dolphin bench design will establish an uplifting area for reflection.
Please consider donating for the dolphin benches at Sea-Tac Airport! If you can’t contribute financially, please consider sharing this fundraiser with your friends and family!
Paige Stockley (daughter of #261 victims Tom and Peggy Stockley)
Alaska #261 Family Group
Organizer
Paige Stockley
Organizer
Seattle, WA