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63-428: The crash of Flight 592 in 1996, which was caused by illegally stored hazardous materials on board, spelled doom for the airline. ValuJet was grounded the next month and not allowed to fly again until September of that same year, with a greatly reduced fleet. The airline's major customers never returned, and the company suffered major losses. In 1997, ValuJet purchased the much smaller AirTran Airways . Although ValuJet

126-498: A DC-9-32 registered N904VJ, was the 496th DC-9 assembled at the Long Beach plant. It was 27 years old and had been previously flown by Delta Air Lines . Its first flight occurred on April 18, 1969, and it was delivered to Delta on May 27, 1969 as N1281L. The airframe flew for Delta until the end of 1992, when it was retired and sold back to McDonnell Douglas. McDonnell Douglas then sold the plane to ValuJet in 1993. The aircraft

189-493: A low-cost carrier , already had a poor safety record before the crash, and the accident brought widespread attention to the airline's problems. Its fleet was grounded for several months after the accident. When operations resumed, the airline was unable to attract as many customers as it had before the accident. The airline acquired AirTran Airways in 1997, but the lingering damage to the ValuJet brand led its executives to assume

252-502: A 15-month investigation, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the fire had developed in a cargo compartment below the passenger cabin. The cargo compartment was of a Class D design, in which fire suppression is accomplished by sealing the hold from outside air. Any fire in such an airtight compartment would quickly exhaust all available oxidizers and then extinguish itself. As

315-465: A June 4, 2013 Miami Herald article, a local resident stated that while slogging through the sawgrass several months earlier, he had found a partially melted gold pendant in the same area. It was believed to have been a possession of a victim of either the ValuJet crash or the crash of Eastern Air Lines Flight 401 , which had occurred about 2 miles (3.2 km) from the ValuJet crash site. Three National Geographic shows, Why Planes Crash ("Fire in

378-512: A catastrophic engine failure caused by a stress crack in a compressor blade that occurred when the blade was made. Shrapnel from the right engine penetrated the fuselage and the right engine main fuel line, and a cabin fire erupted. The airplane was stopped on the runway, and captain Greg Straessle, 45, ordered an evacuation of the airplane. The plane was on a scheduled flight to Miami International Airport . The subsequent fire destroyed

441-515: A clean bill of health. However, after the department's Inspector General, Mary Schiavo , strongly objected to allowing ValuJet to stay in the air, the FAA grounded ValuJet on June 11, 1996. On September 26, 1996, ValuJet resumed flying with 15 jets, down from 52 before the crash, after complying with all DOT and FAA requirements. On November 4, 1996, ValuJet announced that Joseph Corr, former CEO of Continental Airlines , would become CEO and President at

504-486: A fire began in the cargo hold of the McDonnell Douglas MD-83 while the plane was in flight, caused by hazardous materials (primarily hydrogen peroxide ); in that case the crew landed the aircraft safely. After Flight 132, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) recommended to the FAA that all class D cargo holds be fitted with smoke detectors and fire-suppression systems . The aircraft,

567-638: A lackluster safety record. In 1995, the United States military refused the airline's bid to fly its personnel due to safety concerns, and some officials at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) wanted the airline grounded. In 1986, an American Trans Air McDonnell Douglas DC-10 being serviced at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport was destroyed on the ground by a fire caused by chemical oxygen generators . On February 3, 1988, aboard American Airlines Flight 132 ,

630-462: A large pool of jet fuel near the crash site. Kubeck had lost control of the plane less than 10 seconds before impact. Examination of debris suggested that the fire had burned through the floorboards in the cabin, resulting in structural failure and damage to cables underneath the instrument panels. The NTSB report on the accident stated that "the Safety Board cannot rule out the possibility that

693-414: A leaky hydraulic system, and another flew 31 times with malfunctioning weather radar. Another plane was allowed to fly despite engine rust that went unnoticed during its refit; it caught fire a few months later and was completely destroyed. At the time of the crash, the FAA was in the final stages of a three-month review of ValuJet's operations. The Transportation Department originally wanted to give ValuJet

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756-552: A maintenance contractor had failed to perform a proper inspection and had kept poor records. The incident resulted in the NTSB issuing an advisory recommending improvements to maintenance rules throughout the industry. ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 , another DC-9-32, crashed in the Florida Everglades on Saturday, May 11, 1996, due to a fire caused by the activation of chemical oxygen generators that were illegally shipped in

819-475: A string of successful airlines including Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA), Air Midwest , and Florida Gulf Airlines. Board members Maury Gallagher and Tim Flynn, the other co-founders, developed and ran WestAir before selling it to Mesa Airlines ; former Continental Airlines and Flying Tigers President Lewis Jordan joined the carrier a short time later as president. The airline went public in June 1994 after

882-473: A time when the airline was in serious trouble. Its highest-paying customers never returned, however, and it had lost $ 55 million since the crash of Flight 592. After the large amount of negative publicity surrounding the Flight 592 incident, ValuJet suffered serious financial problems. On July 11, 1997, they announced that it would merge with the much smaller Airways Corporation, parent of AirTran Airways , which

945-481: A year of tremendous growth with the addition of 15 aircraft since the first flight in 1993. It became the fastest airline to make a profit in the history of American aviation, earning $ 21 million in 1994 alone. In October 1995, ValuJet placed an order with McDonnell Douglas for 50 MD-95 jets (now known as the Boeing 717 ) with an option for 50 more. To keep costs low, the airline bought many used aircraft from around

1008-578: The United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals overturned most of the verdict against SabreTech. It found that at the time, federal law did not support criminal penalties for reckless violations of hazmat regulations. SabreTech had been convicted of violating the Hazardous Materials Transportation Act , which did not provide criminal penalties for reckless violations of the act. However, the 11th Circuit did allow

1071-409: The altimeter reading in the flight data recording were attributed to the sudden cabin-pressure change caused by one of the wheels in the cargo hold exploding from the heat. Investigators also determined that in this process, the fire began to destroy control cables that ran to the back of the aircraft, which explained why the pilots began losing control before the plane crashed. The NTSB concluded that

1134-499: The cockpit voice recorder (CVR) when the cockpit door was opened. Although ValuJet's flight-attendant training manual stated that the cockpit door should not be opened when smoke or other harmful gases might be present in the cabin, the intercom was not functional and there was no other way to alert the pilots. The flight data recorder (FDR) indicated a progressive failure of the DC-9's electrical and flight control systems resulting from

1197-405: The 110 victims were identified, in some cases from examining jawbones, and at least one individual from a single tooth . A piece of torn flesh was proven to belong to Hazen, but Kubeck's remains were never found. Because of the adverse conditions, performing toxicology tests on the human remains to determine their exposure to fumes and smoke from the in-flight fire was not possible. At the end of

1260-524: The AirTran name. It is the deadliest plane crash in Florida as of 2024 . ValuJet Airlines was founded in 1992 and was known for its occasionally aggressive cost-cutting measures. Many of the airline's planes were purchased in used condition from other airlines, little training was provided to workers and contractors were hired for maintenance and other services. ValuJet quickly developed a reputation for

1323-451: The DC-9. On the afternoon of May 11, 1996, Flight 592 left Gate G2 in Miami after a delay of one hour and four minutes because of electrical problems. There were 110 people on board: 105 passengers, mainly from Florida and Georgia, and a crew of two pilots and three flight attendants. At 2:04 p.m. EDT, the DC-9 departed from Runway 9L (now Runway 8R) and began a normal climb. At 2:10 p.m.,

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1386-478: The FAA wanted ValuJet grounded. ValuJet airplanes made 129 emergency landings: fifteen in 1994, 57 in 1995, and 57 from January through May 1996. In February, the FAA ordered ValuJet to seek approval before adding any new aircraft or cities to their network, something the industry had not seen since deregulation in 1979. This attempt at removing ValuJet's certification was "lost in the maze at FAA" according to NTSB Chairman Jim Hall. By this time, ValuJet's accident rate

1449-467: The L-67 Pocket. All on board were killed in the crash. Recovery of the aircraft and victims was severely complicated by the location of the crash. The nearest road of any kind was more than a quarter of a mile (400 m) away from the crash scene, and the location of the crash itself was a deep-water swamp with a floor of solid limestone . The aircraft was destroyed on impact, with no large pieces of

1512-506: The Sky"), Seconds from Disaster ("Florida Swamp Air Crash") and Mayday ("Fire in the Hold"), covered the crash. It was also featured in the last episode of the four-part Travel Channel series Probable Cause: Air Crash Investigations and in an episode of Cops being filmed in the Miami area at the time. ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 Too Many Requests If you report this error to

1575-554: The ValuJet Airlines/AirTran Airlines operating certificate was surrendered. ValuJet's legal existence ended in 1999 when AirTran Airlines merged into AirTran Airways. However, while the merged airline operated under AirTran's FAA certificate, it retained ValuJet's stock price history and was initially headed by ValuJet's management team. Thus, ValuJet was the nominal corporate survivor. AirTran, prior to its purchase by Southwest, made no notable mention of

1638-463: The ValuJet past. Instead, AirTran kept a large cache of ValuJet memorabilia, including radio ads, locked in an Atlanta warehouse. AirTran also opted not to make any major announcements on the crash's tenth anniversary out of respect for the victims' families. ValuJet operated an all-McDonnell Douglas fleet of 98 aircraft consisting of McDonnell Douglas DC-9s , along with a few McDonnell Douglas MD-80s . The aircraft were fitted with orange seats. Most of

1701-663: The accident in 1999, a memorial was dedicated to the victims in the Everglades. The memorial, consisting of 110 concrete pillars, is located just north of Tamiami Trail , about 12 miles west of Krome Avenue in Miami-Dade County. It points to the location of the crash site 12 miles to the north-northeast. Students from the American Institute of Architecture Students designed the memorial, and local contractors, masons and labor unions built it for free. In

1764-468: The aircraft purchased were more than 15 years old, many obtained from other carriers. ValuJet had on average one of the oldest fleets in America, averaging 27 years. All the planes were painted white with blue and yellow trim, with the smiling "critter" painted on both sides of the plane on the front. ValuJet's FAA call sign was "critter" due to the airline's smiling airplane logo. At the time of its demise

1827-430: The aircraft taxied and took off, the generator began releasing heat that caused other canisters to activate. Each activation created more heat, which rapidly caused all of the generators to activate. The intense heat ignited a fire in the other materials in the cargo hold. The fire was worsened by the presence of two main aircraft tires, one of them mounted on a main wheel, and a nose tire and wheel that were also included in

1890-435: The aircraft was under positive control by the pilots until the time of the sharp right turn and dive immediately prior to impact. Smoke detectors in the cargo holds can alert the flight crew of a fire long before the problem becomes apparent in the cabin, and a fire-suppression system buys valuable time to land the plane safely. This would prevent a scenario similar to Flight 592 in which the emergency had escalated well beyond

1953-400: The aircraft. Among the five crew members, one flight attendant received serious puncture wounds from shrapnel and thermal injuries, and another flight attendant received minor injuries. Of the 57 passengers on board, five suffered minor injuries. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the engine failure was caused by a detectable crack in a compressor disk , on which

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2016-425: The cargo hold by ValuJet's maintenance contractor, SabreTech. The fire damaged the airplane's flight control cables, which led towards the crew losing control of the aircraft, resulting in the deaths of all 110 people on board. The airplane was on its way from Miami to Atlanta . This accident also contributed to ValuJet ceasing operations in 1997. ValuJet Airlines Flight 592 ValuJet Airlines Flight 592

2079-426: The cargo hold without safety caps. The generators were put on the plane by maintenance subcontractor SabreTech. The resulting investigation revealed numerous systemic flaws, and ultimately faulted both SabreTech for storing the generators on the plane along with ValuJet for not supervising them. After the crash, many of ValuJet's other cost-cutting practices came under scrutiny. One of its planes flew 140 times despite

2142-406: The conviction for improper training to stand, and remanded that count to a lower court for resentencing. In 2002, federal judge James Lawrence King sentenced SabreTech to a $ 500,000 fine and three years' probation. Just before the federal trial, a Florida grand jury indicted SabreTech on 110 counts of manslaughter and another 110 counts of third-degree murder : one for each person who died in

2205-401: The crash's 10th anniversary out of respect for the victims. In 2011, AirTran was purchased by Southwest Airlines. Many families of Flight 592's victims were outraged that ValuJet was not prosecuted, given the airline's poor safety record. ValuJet's accident rate was not only 14 times higher than that of legacy airlines, but one of the highest in the low-fare sector as well. In the aftermath of

2268-410: The crash, an internal FAA memo surfaced questioning whether ValuJet should have been allowed to stay in the air. The victims' families also point to statements made by ValuJet's officials immediately after the crash that led many to believe that ValuJet knew that the generators were on the plane and had ordered them returned to Atlanta rather than properly disposed in Miami. On the third anniversary of

2331-443: The crash. SabreTech settled the state charges by agreeing to plead no contest to a state charge of mishandling hazardous materials and make a $ 500,000 donation to promote aviation safety. SabreTech was the first American aviation company to be criminally prosecuted and convicted for its role in an American airline crash. The company, a subsidiary of St. Louis -based Sabreliner Corporation , went out of business in 1999. ValuJet

2394-458: The ends. SabreTech employees indicated on the cargo manifest that the "oxy canisters", which were loosely packed in boxes that were each sealed with tape and bubble wrap, were "empty." ValuJet workers then loaded the boxes in the cargo hold in the mistaken belief that the devices were simply empty canisters that would be safe and legal to transport on a passenger aircraft. Chemical oxygen generators, when activated, produce oxygen for passengers if

2457-488: The fire suppression can be accomplished without any intervention by the crew, such holds are not equipped with smoke detectors. The NTSB determined that just before takeoff, 144 expired chemical oxygen generators , each slightly larger than the size of a tennis-ball can, had been placed in the cargo compartment in five boxes marked COMAT (company material) by ValuJet's maintenance contractor SabreTech. This violated Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) regulations forbidding

2520-598: The fleet consisted of: ValuJet's main hub was in Atlanta, and their focus cities were Orlando , Philadelphia , Boston , Miami , and Washington Dulles . Before the crash of Flight 592, ValuJet operated to 22 cities in the U.S. and one in Canada. Most people chose ValuJet for their low fares, such as $ 39 tickets for a flight from Atlanta to Jacksonville . On June 8, 1995, a DC-9-32 , was forced to abort its takeoff from Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport after

2583-672: The flight crew's ability to respond by the time that the problem had become apparent. In February 1998, the FAA issued revised standards requiring all Class D cargo holds to be converted by early 2001 to Class C or E; these types of holds have additional fire-detection and fire-suppression equipment. The NTSB report placed responsibility for the accident on three parties: In 1997, a federal grand jury indicted SabreTech for mishandling hazardous materials, failing to train its employees in proper handling of hazardous materials, conspiracy and making false statements . SabreTech's maintenance supervisor Daniel Gonzalez and two mechanics who worked on

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2646-436: The flightcrew was incapacitated by smoke or heat in the cockpit during the last 7 seconds of the flight." Interruptions in the cockpit voice recorder occurred on two occasions, one of which was one minute and 12 seconds in length. The aircraft hit the water at 2:13:42 p.m. EDT, about 10 minutes after takeoff. The impact site was on the eastern edge of Florida Water Conservation Area 3B , between two levees, in an area known as

2709-404: The fuselage remaining. Sawgrass , alligators and risk of bacterial infection from cuts plagued searchers involved in the recovery effort. Notable passengers killed on the flight included: Recovery of the passengers and crew took several weeks, and very few intact human remains were found given the sheer violence of the impact, immersion in swamp water and scavenging by wildlife. About 68 of

2772-412: The list of materials shipped as COMAT. Laboratory testing showed that canisters of the same type could heat nearby materials up to 500 °F (260 °C). The oxygen from the generators fed the resulting fire in the cargo hold without any need for outside air, defeating the cargo hold's airtight design. A pop and jolt heard on the cockpit voice recording and correlated with a brief and dramatic spike in

2835-487: The nose of the airplane dropped and continued downward. The airplane struck the ground in a nearly vertical attitude." They reported seeing no external damage nor any sign of fire or smoke other than the engine exhaust. A group of sightseers in a small private plane also witnessed the crash and provided a nearly identical account, stating that Flight 592 seemed to "disappear" after hitting the swamp and that they could see nothing but scattered small debris, part of an engine and

2898-475: The passengers began to smell smoke. At the same time, the pilots heard a loud bang in their headsets and noticed that the plane was losing electrical power. The sag in electrical power and the banging sound were eventually determined to be the result of an explosion of a tire in the cargo hold. Seconds later, a flight attendant entered the cockpit and informed the flight crew of a fire in the passenger cabin. Passengers' shouts of "fire, fire, fire" were recorded on

2961-482: The plane banked sharply, rolled onto its side and nosedived into the Francis S. Taylor Wildlife Management Area in the Everglades, a few miles west of Miami, at a speed in excess of 507 miles per hour (441 kn; 816 km/h). According to the NTSB's report, two witnesses fishing nearby testified that "they saw a low-flying airplane in a steep right bank. According to these witnesses, as the right bank angle increased,

3024-416: The plane suffers a decompression. However, they also produce a great quantity of heat because of the exothermic nature of the chemical reaction involved. Therefore, not only could the heat and generated oxygen start a fire, but the oxygen could also keep the fire burning. Investigators determined that one of the oxygen generators was likely triggered when the plane experienced a slight jolt while taxiing. As

3087-463: The plane, Eugene Florence and Mauro Ociel Valenzuela-Reyes, were charged with conspiracy and making false statements. Two years later, having been found guilty on the mishandling hazardous materials and improper training charges, SabreTech was fined $ 2 million and ordered to pay $ 9 million in restitution. Gonzalez and Florence were acquitted on all charges, while Valenzuela failed to appear and was indicted in absentia for contempt of court . A warrant

3150-423: The spreading fire. Kubeck and Hazen immediately asked air traffic control to return to Miami and were given instructions for a return to the airport. One minute later, Hazen requested the nearest available airport. Kubeck began to turn the plane left in preparation for the return to Miami. Flight 592 disappeared from radar when it crashed at 2:13:42 p.m., about ten minutes after takeoff. Eyewitnesses watched as

3213-540: The switch panel could cause "fire and uncontrolled smoke throughout the cockpit as a result of chafing and shorting." In the flight deck were two experienced pilots, Captain Candi Kubeck (35) and First Officer Richard Hazen (52). Kubeck had accumulated 8,928 total flight hours throughout her career (including 2,116 hours on the DC-9) and Hazen had more than 11,800 total flight hours throughout his career, with 2,148 on

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3276-421: The transport of hazardous materials in passenger-aircraft cargo holds. Failure to cover the generators' firing pins with the prescribed plastic caps made accidental activation much more likely. The investigation revealed that rather than covering the pins, maintenance personnel simply cut the cords attached to the pins or applied duct tape around the cans, and consumer-grade adhesive tape was also used to secure

3339-718: The work to other companies. Whenever delays were caused by mechanics, ValuJet cut the pay of the mechanics working on that plane. In August 1995, the United States Department of Defense (DoD) rejected ValuJet's bid to fly military personnel, citing serious deficiencies in ValuJet's quality assurance procedures. The Federal Aviation Administration 's (FAA) Atlanta field office sent a memo on February 14, 1996, to its headquarters in Washington, D.C., stating that "consideration should be given to an immediate FAR 121 re-certification of this airline"—in other words,

3402-707: The world. At the time ValuJet's fleet was among the oldest in the United States, averaging 26 years. In 1995, the airline sued Delta Air Lines and TWA over landing slots . Like most low-cost airlines, ValuJet did not own any hangars or spare parts inventories. Moreover, many of the measures it took to hold down fares were very aggressive even by low-cost standards. For example, it required pilots to pay for their own training and only paid them after completed flights. It gave its flight attendants only basic training. It also outsourced many functions other airlines handle themselves. For instance, it subcontracted maintenance to several companies, and these companies in turn subcontracted

3465-447: Was a big mascot of ValuJet Airlines and was on the safety cards, tickets, and was even on the "wings" that pilots can give you. With the term Call sign , it means that when Air traffic control talks to your aircraft, they would say for instance, "Critter 392, fly heading 180, (which is south)" There are many different call signs, including Cactus for U.S. Airways, and many airlines with their call sign being their airline name. ValuJet

3528-530: Was a regularly scheduled flight from Miami to Atlanta in the United States. On May 11, 1996, the ValuJet Airlines McDonnell Douglas DC-9 operating the route crashed into the Florida Everglades about ten minutes after departing Miami as a result of a fire in the cargo compartment probably caused by mislabeled and improperly stored hazardous cargo ( oxygen generators ). All 110 people on board were killed. ValuJet,

3591-469: Was completed on November 17, 1997. Airways Corporation merged into the ValuJet's holding company, ValuJet, Inc. The merged company retained ValuJet's pre-1997 stock price history, but changed its name to AirTran Holdings . In November 1997, AirTran Holdings announced it would move its headquarters from Atlanta to Orlando . ValuJet Airlines was renamed AirTran Airlines after the merger. All fleet and operations were transferred to AirTran Airways in 1998, and

3654-416: Was founded in 1992 and began operations on October 26, 1993. It originally offered service from Atlanta to Orlando , Jacksonville , and Tampa with a single McDonnell Douglas DC-9-21 that previously belonged to Delta Air Lines . The first flight, Flight 901, flew from Atlanta to Tampa. The carrier was headed by a group of industry veterans including co-founder and chairman Robert Priddy, who had started

3717-469: Was grounded by the FAA on June 16, 1996. It was allowed to resume flying again on September 30, but never recovered from the crash. In 1997, the company acquired AirTran Airways . Although ValuJet was the nominal survivor, the merged airline took the AirTran name. ValuJet executives believed that a new name was important to regain the trust of the flying public. AirTran made little mention of its past as ValuJet, though it did not make any major announcements on

3780-484: Was issued for Valenzuela's arrest in 2000, and he remains a fugitive as of 2023. In 2010, he was specifically highlighted in the EPA's announcement of a website to search for "environmental fugitives." The FBI has offered a $ 10,000 reward for information on his whereabouts. In May 2001, SabreTech agreed to pay $ 2.25 million in fines to the FAA (later reduced to $ 1.75 million), but did not admit wrongdoing. In November 2001,

3843-494: Was not only one of the highest in the low-fare sector, but was more than 14 times that of the legacy airlines. On May 11, 1996, ValuJet suffered its highest-profile accident when Flight 592 , a DC-9 flying from Miami to Atlanta , crashed into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 people on board. The crash was caused by an onboard fire triggered by full but expired chemical oxygen generators illegally stowed in

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3906-402: Was powered by two Pratt & Whitney JT8D-9A turbofan engines. The aircraft had suffered a series of incidents in the two years before the crash, including two aborted takeoffs and eight emergency landings . Engine and pressurization errors were the primary issues in several of the incidents. In May 1995, the FAA issued a rewiring directive for all DC-9 cockpits because the wire bundles in

3969-431: Was the nominal survivor, executives believed that a new name was important to regain passenger traffic, so the merged company adopted the AirTran name in a reverse takeover . After the merger, AirTran made little mention of its past as ValuJet. AirTran was purchased by Southwest Airlines in 2011 and ended flights in 2014. Critter was the callsign of ValuJet, but the smiling plane decal was named "Critter" as well. Critter

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