Prasad visits the monument to the crash in Port Hueneme every Jan. 31 anniversary. Alaska Air Flight 261 Memorial Sundial “I feel like we needed to connect and be there on the 31st,” he said.

Organizers said that Friday's gathering, held at the large beachside memorial sundial sculpture, is the last formal ceremony. But Ameet Prasad, who has visited Port Hueneme for nearly all 25 ...

Alaska Airlines Flight 261 corkscrewed into the ocean here from about 17,000 feet just hours earlier at 4:21 p.m. on Jan. 31, 2000. The force sent walls of water spraying 200 feet into the air.

People sit on Silver Strand Beach next to a makeshift memorial to victims of the Alaska Airlines crash Feb. 9, 2000, in Oxnard, Calif. Alaska Airlines Flight 261 crashed Jan. 31, 2000, off Point ...