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| AVOIDABLE TRAGEDY
AUGUST 19, 1997TRANSCRIPT |
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Many technical and human errors led to the crash of Valujet 592, according to a report by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The crash has raised questions about the overall safety of air-travel. Kwame Holman reviews the developments to date, and Elizabeth Farnsworth investigates the details with the Chairman of the NTSB, James Hall.
KWAME HOLMAN: May 11, 1996, ValuJet Flight 592 plummeted nose first into the swampy Florida Everglades just 11 minutes after takeoff from Miami. Subsequent tests showed during taxing or takeoff a deadly fire had begun in the DC-9's cargo compartment. Flight recordings revealed that about seven minutes into the flight passengers screamed as the fire burst through the floor and filled the cabin and cockpit with smoke and toxic gases. Five minutes later the plane and its 110 occupants smashed through the water and mud at more than 450 miles per hour.
A RealAudio version of of this segment is available.
NewsHour Links:
August 19, 1996:
Elizabeth Farnsworth leads a discussion with NTSB Chairman James Hall.
June 25, 1996:
Kwame Holman reports on the House hearings on the ValuJet crash and the issue of airline safety.
June 19, 1996:
The Federal Aviation Authority has its mandate changed in an effort to improve air safety.
May 26, 1996:
Margaret Warner interviews National Public Radio's Derek Deveron from the Valujet crash site in south Florida.
May 26, 1996:
Experts question the safety of ValuJet and other "off-brand" airlines.
December 26, 1995:
Computer malfunctions continue to plague Chicago O'Hare's air traffic control center.
Today, in Washington, the National Transportation Safety Board held a public meeting in advance of making a final report on what happened to Flight 592 and who's to blame. The NTSB already has determined that oxygen generators in mismarked boxes in the cargo hold were the source of the fire. As emotional family members of Flight 592's victims looked on, the NTSB's fire expert, Merritt Birky, showed videotape of a test fire sparked by similar generators in which temperatures reached 3,000 degrees in 10 minutes. As other NTSB officials have over the last year, Birky concluded the ValuJet disaster could have been avoided.
MERRITT BIRKY, NTSB Fire Expert: The fundamental problem was a lack of early detection and suppression. Early detection of the fire would have given the flight crew sufficient time to get the aircraft on the ground before the flight control systems were compromised.
KWAME HOLMAN: But fire detecting and extinguishing systems had not yet been installed in cargo compartments of all commercial aircraft, even though that's been a longtime recommendation of the NTSB. The Federal Aviation Administration rejected that recommendation, arguing, in part, the cargo compartments of many commercial airliners are airtight and any fire quickly would burn itself out. But as a result of the ValuJet crash, the FAA in June proposed a rule likely to result in nearly all commercial aircraft having fire detection and suppression systems in their cargo holds by 2001.
Because ValuJet is one of a burgeoning class of low-cost air carriers the 1996 disaster raised questions about safety practices of all low-cost airlines. And since then, the FAA has subjected them to tighter inspections. During today's hearing National Transportation Safety Board Chairman James Hall talked about the lessons of the ValuJet crash.
JAMES HALL, Chairman, National Transportation Safety Board: In conclusion, I'd just like to say while every accident unfortunately that this board has before it is a result of a failure in our aviation system. The ValuJet accident resulted from failures all up and down the line. The legacy all of us owes to the 110 individuals that lost their lives in this accident is that such a tragedy like this never happens again.
KWAME HOLMAN: Late today, the NTSB adopted a series of conclusions about responsibility for the ValuJet crash, as well as a variety of safety recommendations to be published in a final report next month.
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