Learning Curve

I was living in North Carolina in May of 1996 when ValuJet Flight 592, a DC-9 flying form Miami to Atlanta, plunged into the Florida Everglades, killing all 110 persons on board.



ValuJet had only existed for 2 1/2 years, and made a profit faster than any other airline in the history of American aviation.  How did they do that?

• By buying old used aircraft from around the world. (Their fleet was among the oldest in the United States, averaging 26 years.)

• And, by scrimping on maintenance and training.  Nine months before the crash of Flight 592, the Department of Defense issued a scathing report, citing serious deficiencies in ValuJet's quality assurance procedures.  Three months before the crash, the Federal Aviation Administration wanted them grounded.  ValuJet's accident rate was one one of the highest among the low-fare airlines…14 times that of the big carriers!

The crash of Flight 592 was caused by an on-board fire triggered by expired chemical oxygen generators that were illegally stowed in the cargo hold.

ValuJet was finally grounded by the FAA...a month after the crash.
In three months, they were flying again.

Then, a year after the crash of Flight 592, ValuJet disappeared.

Kind of.

Actually, they bought a smaller carrier, and took that carrier's name.

Within another year:

• The flight crew of a DC-9 chose to fly into a thunderstorm.  A flight attendant and a passenger were seriously injured when the flight encountered turbulence.  (May 1998)

• A 737 lost control and skidded off of the runway while landing.  Thirteen passengers received minor injuries.  (November 1998)

Is that scary?  It bothered me a little when I booked a flight from Greensboro to Orlando in 2000, then discovered that I was flying on ValuJet (but, of course, under their new name).

Good people and organizations acknowledge their mistakes and improve.  Sometimes that learning curve leaves a wake of destruction.

So far as I know, after the two 1998 incidents the airline never had another injury.

That, of course, probably means very little to the family of the crew and passengers of Flight 592.

But, 13 years of safe flying is a big improvement.  So, last year Southwest Airlines bought the airline...which had been known as AirTran since 1997.