The American aircraft maker, Boeing Corporation, has advised airlines around the world to carry out inspections of planes with equipment similar to that on an Alaska Airlines airliner which crashed into the Pacific Ocean last month.

All 88 people on board the MD-80 plane were killed when it lost stability off the Californian coast during a flight from Mexico to the United States on 31 January 31.

The American National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) said in a preliminary report that a damaged component - a jackscrew which had its thread stripped off - had been found on the tail-mounted horizontal stabiliser of the plane.

Boeing says it recommends checking the jack screw and nut for wear, inspecting its lubrication and checking the condition of the jack screw assembly.

Boeing says about 2,000 MD-80s, as well as some DC-9s and its new Boeing 717 aircraft have similar components, which control stabiliser movement.

Click here for a graphic of the last minutes of Flight 261

For at least half an hour before the crash, the crew reported problems controlling the plane's horizontal stabiliser - the wing-like structure mounted at the top of the tail in the MD-80 series of aircraft.

The stabiliser keeps the plane in steady flight and assists in climbing and descending.

Flight 261's stabiliser went to a full nose down position slightly more than 12 minutes before the plane crashed.

The elevator panels on the trailing edge of the stabiliser can be used to overcome a runaway stabiliser and the safety board said the crew successfully did that for a while.

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