ValuJet Airlines

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The ValueJet logo included a happy, smiling jet plane nicknamed "Critter". "Critter" was also the official air traffic control radio designation for ValuJet flights.

ValuJet Airlines (IATA: J7, ICAO: VJA, and Callsign: Critter) was a low-cost carrier that operated in the Southeastern United States during the 1990s. After a series of safety problems and the fatal crash of ValuJet Flight 592, the company executed a reverse merger with the much smaller regional airline AirWays Corp., now known as AirTran Holdings; thus, ValuJet now operates as AirTran Airways.

[edit] History

[edit] Inception

ValuJet's first flight was on October 26, 1993, with service from Atlanta to Orlando, Jacksonville and Tampa with a single Douglas DC-9 that had previously belonged to its chief competitor, Delta Air Lines. The carrier was headed by a group of industry veterans including cofounder and chairman Robert Priddy, who had started a string of successful airlines including Atlantic Southeast Airlines (ASA), Air Midwest Airlines, and Florida Gulf Airlines. Board members Maury Gallagher and Tim Flynn, the other two cofounders, 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 was taken public in June of 1994, after a year of tremendous growth with the addition of fifteen planes since the first flight in 1993. It became the fastest airline in the history of American aviation to make a profit, earning US$21 million in 1994 alone. In October of 1995, ValuJet placed an order with airplane manufacturer McDonnell Douglas for fifty MD-95 jets (renamed the 717-200 after McDonnell Douglas' merger with Boeing in 1996) with an option for fifty more, thus making it the first low cost airline to launch an aircraft.

[edit] Safety problems

In 1995, the Department of Defense (DoD) rejected ValuJet's bid to fly military personnel, citing unacceptable flaws in the carrier's actions after numerous air accidents. The DoD said that they did not see the changes as long-term, significant changes but rather as short-term, symptomatic repairs.

The Federal Aviation Administration's (FAA) Atlanta field office sent a memo on February 14, 1996, to Washington, D.C., stating that "consideration should be given to the immediate FAR-121 rectification of this airline (ValuJet)." In other words, the airline should be grounded. ValuJet's accident rate was ten times that of the ten major airlines in the U.S. In fact, ValuJet planes made fifteen emergency landings in 1994, fifty-seven in 1995, and fifty-seven from January through May of 1996. In February the FAA ordered ValuJet to seek approval before adding any new aircraft or cities to its 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. [1]

[edit] Incidents and accidents

[edit] Flight 597

On June 8, 1995, the DC-9-32 ValuJet flight 597, suffered an aborted takeoff from Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport after a catastrophic engine failure. 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 the captain ordered evacuation of the airplane.

The subsequent fire destroyed the aircraft. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determined that the engine failure was caused by a detectable crack in a compressor disk, on which a maintenance contractor had failed to perform a proper inspection.

Among the five crew members, one flight attendant received serious puncture wounds from shrapnel and thermal injuries, and another flight attendant received minor injuries. Although none of the 57 passengers were killed, five passengers received minor injuries.

[edit] Flight 592

Main article: ValuJet Flight 592

At 2:04 p.m. on May 11, 1996, ValuJet Flight 592, a DC-9 aircraft, departed Miami for Atlanta. At 2:10 p.m. the plane began experiencing electrical problems and requested a return to Miami. Seconds later, shouts of "fire, fire, fire, fire" were recorded on the plane's cockpit voice recorder coming from the cabin. A flight attendant opened the cockpit door to inform the flight crew that the cabin was on fire, because the intercom was inoperable (even though the ValuJet flight attendant manual stated that the cockpit door should not be opened when smoke or other harmful gases may be present in the cabin, there was no other way to inform the pilots). The plane's interior was completely on fire.

The captain, Candi Kubeck, was the first female captain to die while on duty. The NTSB ruled that a ValuJet subcontractor, SabreTech, had illegally loaded more than 100 expired, but full, chemical oxygen generator canisters onboard Flight 592 without safety caps. When they activated sometime before takeoff, they produced oxygen and heat of more than 500° F (260° C). The oxygen from the generators fueled the resulting fire in the cargo hold of the plane. ValuJet was blamed for improper oversight of SabreTech and the FAA was faulted for failing to properly monitor ValuJet. Soon after the accident the FAA mandated that all passenger aircraft cargo holds be equipped with fire detection and suppression systems. While in the national spotlight, ValuJet was the first airline to complete this work on their small fleet.

[edit] Incident summary

[edit] Fallout from the crash

On June 17, 1996, ValuJet was grounded by the FAA. On September 26, 1996, ValuJet resumed flying with 15 jets, down from 52 before the crash, after complying with all U.S. Department of Transportation and FAA requirements. On November 4, 1996, ValuJet announced that Joseph Corr, former CEO of Continental Airlines, would become CEO and President of the airline at a time when the airline was in serious trouble. 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, ValuJet announced it would merge with the much smaller Airways Corporation, parent of AirTran Airways. The merged company would retain the AirTran name, although ValuJet was the senior partner and nominal survivor of the merger. [12] [13] . In November of 1997, the company announced it would move its headquarters from Atlanta to Orlando. On November 17, 1997, AirWays Corp. and ValuJet completed their merger, and the ValuJet name passed into aviation history.

The ValuJet name was so tarnished by Flight 592 that AirTran mentions almost nothing about its past. Many families of the Flight 592 victims were outraged that ValuJet/AirTran was not prosecuted. They point to statements made by ValuJet officials immediately after the crash that appeared to indicate ValuJet knew the generators were on the plane, and in fact had ordered them returned to Atlanta rather than properly disposed.