Allegiant said an inspection found that a device that moves one of the plane’s two elevators had become disconnected. The plane was repaired and put back into service.


All of the airline’s jets from the MD-80 family were checked out “to ensure the flight control systems in those aircraft were functioning properly before returning them into service,” said Kimberly Schaefer, an Allegiant spokeswoman. “All aircraft were found to be in working order.”


A mechanical failure of a related system at the tail of another MD-83 led an Alaska Airline Group Inc. plane to crash into the Pacific Ocean north of Los Angeles in 2000, killing all 88 people aboard.