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The Investigation
What caused ValuJet Flight 592, on a routine afternoon hop from Miami to Atlanta in nearly perfect weather, to fall from the sky on the afternoon of May 11, 1996?
The National Transportation Safety Board's preliminary conclusion was that oxygen generators being shipped in the cargo hold ignited, starting an inferno that brought down the plane shortly after takeoff.
And because there were no smoke detectors in the cargo hold, the pilots apparently didn't know about the fire until it was too late to make an emergency landing.
ValuJet was not authorized to haul hazardous cargo and has sought to blame its contractor, SabreTech, for mislabeling and packing the oxygen devices.
A ban on carrying the generators as cargo was issued shortly after the crash. It is expected to be extended to all oxygen-producing devices and chemicals.
Since the ban was put in place, the FAA has investigated 14 incidents in which generators were allegedly carried on planes. Five cases involved passenger planes but no accidents occurred.
In June of this year, the FAA announced rules requiring that all airline cargo compartments have fire detectors and extinguishers by 2001.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Related stories:
- Report expected to fault ValuJet, others, in Everglades crash - May 5, 1997
- ValuJet 592 crash to be blamed on oxygen canisters - November 15, 1996
- Government to require airline cargo fire detectors - November 14, 1996
- U.S. to ban oxygen generators as air cargo - May 22, 1996
- Everglades pose unique problems for search and rescue - May 13, 1996
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The Accident | The Airline | The Investigation |
| The Families | The FAA | data points |
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