ValuJet Flight 592

ValuJet Flight 592 was a regularly scheduled flight from Miami to Atlanta in the United States. On May 11, 1996, the McDonnell Douglas DC-9 operating the route crashed into the Florida Everglades about 10 minutes after departing Miami due to a fire in the cargo compartment. The fire was caused by mislabeled and improperly stored chemical oxygen generators. All 110 people on board were killed.

ValuJet, a low-cost carrier, already had a poor safety record before the crash, and the incident brought widespread attention to the airline's problems. Its fleet was grounded for several months after the crash. When operations resumed, the airline was unable to attract as many customers as it had before the deadly crash. The airline acquired AirTran Airways in 1997 but the lingering damage to the ValuJet brand led its executives to assume the AirTran name. It is the deadliest aviation accident in Florida history As of 2026.

Background

ValuJet Airlines was founded in 1992 and was known for its aggressive cost-cutting measures. Many of the airline's planes were purchased in used condition from other airlines, and little training was provided to workers and contractors who were hired for maintenance and other services. ValuJet quickly developed a reputation for 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, 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 FAA declined to implement the recommendation.

Accident

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., 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 the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) when the cockpit door was opened. ValuJet's flight-attendant training manual stated that the cockpit door should normally not be opened when smoke or other harmful gases might be present in the cabin. However, by this time the intercom was no longer 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 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 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 mph. 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, 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 a large pool of jet fuel near the crash site.

Examination of debris suggested that the fire had burned through the floorboards in the cabin, resulting in structural failure and damage to the hydraulic cables underneath the instrument panels. This likely rendered the plane uncontrollable; the flight data recorder showed Kubeck lost control of the plane less than 10 seconds before impact. The NTSB report on the accident stated that "the Safety Board cannot rule out the possibility that 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 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 marsh with a floor of solid limestone. The aircraft was destroyed on impact, with no large pieces of the fuselage remaining. Sawgrass, alligators and risk of bacterial infection from cuts plagued searchers involved in the recovery effort.