Miami, FL ValuJet Plunges Into Everglades, May 1996

JET WITH 109 ABOARD CRASHES IN FLORIDA.

DC-9 Plunges Into Everglades; No Survivors Reported.

Miami -- A ValuJet DC-9 carrying 104 passengers and a crew of five plunged into the Everglades and virtually disintegrated Saturday. There were no signs of survivors.
The jetliner, bound for Atlanta, went down just 12 miles north of Miami International Airport about 1:25 p.m. CDT, just minutes after taking off. The pilot was apparently attempting to return to Miami after smoke was reported in the cockpit, officials said.
Flight 592 had taken off about 1 p.m. CDT and was approximately 100 miles from the airport when the pilot signaled the control tower of his intention to return for an emergency landing, according to Federal Aviation Administration spokesman ANTHONY WILLET.
According to LEWIS JORDAN, president of Atlanta-based ValuJet, the lane's crew indicated at 1:15 p.m. that it was returning to the airport. Soon after the aircraft disappeared from the radar screens of air traffic controllers.
A private pilot said he was flying near the site of crash and saw the plane go down. The DC-9 was flying toward the ground in a "75-degree nose-down position," said DANIEL MUELHAUPT, who initially thought the plane might be practicing flight maneuvers and would begin to ascend before reaching the ground.
"When it hit the ground and I saw the dirt and water fly up in the air, I knew something was wrong," MUELHAUPT told CNN. He said he reported the crash by radio and circled the site several times to help authorities locate it.
Within an hour of the crash, relatives and friends of those on board began arriving grim-faced at Miami International Airport, where they were directed by a hastily-drawn sign that misspelled the airline's name:
"Valuejet family room." Inside the small auditorium counselors were on hand.
Although the crash site is just 12 miles north of the airport, and half that distance from a busy commercial and residential area, it took rescuers more than three hours to reach the scene through rugged, swampy terrain that is nearly inaccessible by land.
"It's a watery, marshy area, and it's proving difficult to reach the crash," said LUIS FERNANDEZ, a spokesman for Metro-Dade County Fire-Rescue.
With daylight fading, rescuers ferried in by helicopters arrived at the site of the crash about 5:30 p.m. After listening to warnings about alligators and poisonous snakes, some used scuba gear to begin probing beneath the surface of the 4-to-5-foot-deep water. Rushing to take advantage of the remaining daylight, rescuers marked the area with floatation devices, but held out little hope of finding anyone alive.
Several members of the Miccosukee Indian tribe showed up in airboats to aid the search operation, but were prohibited from entering the area because of the volatile jet fuel in the water.
"The fuel is sitting there waiting for ignition," FERNANDEZ said.
Long before the first rescuers reached the scene, Coast Guard searchers and news crews, hovering above the site in helicopters, reported no signs of survivors.
What was visible from the air was a patch of scorched saw grass and countless bits of debris that looked like Christmas tinsel as it reflected the afternoon sun. Nothing that could be seen from the air was remotely recognizable as a piece of an aircraft.
"The Coast Guard decided there was no reason to put someone on the ground. The Coast Guard pulled out of (the rescue effort)," said DANIEL McSHANE, assistant law enforcement duty officer at the Coast Guard command center at Miami. "We're not going to search for survivors. There's nobody there to rescue. They called off the paramedics and the triage team. There's no need for them."
The first Coast Guard plane arrived within minutes of the crash and saw smoke, apparently from burning fuel. Even then, McSHANE said, "there was nothing left" of the airplane, only what one Coast Guard pilot on the scene called "a smoking hole" where the plane apparently burrowed into the limestone under the water.
"The pilot said it looked like it went down nose first," McSHANE said.
The area where the jet crashed is thick with razor-toothed sawgrass and a variety of wildlife, including alligators. Popular with airboaters, froggers and fishermen, the swampy muck beneath the water may have acted as a pin cushion, essentially swallowing the disabled DC-9 aircraft.
The last airline crash to occur in this area was that of an Eastern Airlines L-1011, which went down on Dec. 29, 1972, killing 101 of 176 people aboard.
ValuJet, which began operations in 1993, is a no-frills airline offering service to 26 cities and 17 states. ValuJet president LEWIS JORDAN said the aircraft that went down first saw service in 1969 and was last inspected May 7.
JORDAN dismissed speculation as to the cause of the crash. "There's no concern that the engine is in any way suspect at this time," he said.
Weather was not believed to be a factor. Skies were mostly sunny, and winds were light.

Rescue Efforts To Continue Today.
Miami -- Dozens of rescue workers will regroup at the Everglades crash site Sunday morning to continue their search for bodies and any evidence of what caused the worst aviation accident in South Florida history.
"A lot of us were at the Oklahoma City bombing and are unwilling to give up," said Metro Fire Assistant Chief CARLOS CASTILLO.
Their task is arduous: They are trying to find 109 passengers from the ValuJet flight, and they have no firm ground to stand on. The plane crashed in soft, goey much. They are uncertain if the plane disintegrated or if part of it is lodged in the Everglades, invisible to the eye.
"It's a very dangerous situation for the rescuers," Metro fire Lt. LUIS FERNANDEZ said. "Once they get in they have to slosh through water 4 feet deep."
Rescue teams kept about 10 airboats at the site Saturday night, but planned to wait until daybreak before resuming their efforts. They are expected to be joined by more airboats, helicopters and wildlife trappers Sunday.
Also in attendance will be federal aviation investigators, D. C., who will search for the DC-9's black box.

'It Was Like A FIreball Of Dirt And Debris,' Witness In Airplane Says.
Miami -- DANIEL MUELHAUPT was flying over the Everglades Saturday in his single-engine plane when he spotted another plane careening toward him.
At first, he thought the pilot was doing maneuvers over a canal.
Within seconds, he realized it was a passenger jet and it was out of control.
As MUELHAUPT, 27, and his chum from their University of Miami days, RICK DeLISLE, watched in horror, the jet plummeted at a 75-degree angle. It smashed into the swamp, and the ground exploded.
"It was like a fireball of dirt and debris," said MUELHAUPT.
"Like a mushroom cloud," added DeLISLE.
The two men expected a blast of fire. It never came.
After a few seconds, they called for help on their radio. Then they swooped down to look for survivors.
But they had trouble finding the crash site. DeLISLE grabbed binoculars. They circled and circled over the swampland.
The only thing they saw that was intact, they said, was the jet engine. Everything else appeared scattered.
"It looked like someone had opened a garbage bag and tossed out all that was in it," said DeLISLE.
"We knew there were no people," MUELHAUPF said. "There was no movement."
SAM NELSON and CHRIS OSCEOLA were on a bass boat fishing when they saw the plane falter.
"The plane was going when all of a sudden it just made a right turn," said NELSON, 52.
"I don't know what it was doing. It looked like it was trying to go back up. It was pretty low. It kind of turned sideways, then it just nose-dived, right down straight into the swamp."
"The last thing we saw was the tail end going down," NELSON said. "Then it hit, and there was a big, big explosion. You could hear the motor, like it was under full power."
"After the explosion went away, there was no smoke. It was like nothing ever happened."

Waterloo Courier Iowa 1996-05-12

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SUBMERGED VALUJET ENGINES FOUND AT 'DIFFICULT' CRASH SITE.

NAVY DIVERS BROUGHT IN TO HELP FIND BLACK BOXES; FIRST REMAINS OF VICTIMS RECOVERED.

Miami (AP) -- Investigators at the most difficult crash scene in memory probed inch-by-inch in inky water and Everglades muck and fround the submerged engines of Valu-Jet Flight 592.
But exactly how to remove the wreckage and 109 bodies from the alligator and snake-infested swamp remained as uncertain as the cause of smoke that filled the cockpit and cabin before Saturday's crash.
This morning, stock in the 3-year-old airline was down sharply. Federal regulators began an intensive review of its practices, stepping up safety efforts that had been under way since earlier this year.
Navy salvage specialists were to aid in the search today.
"Given the environment out in the swamp there, with the mud and the water particularly, the combination, it is very, very tough to figure out how we're going to get the aircraft out," ROBERT FRANCIS, National Transportation Safety Board vice chairman, said Sunday night.
Shortly after dawn today, Metro Dade fire rescue vehicles could be seen passing as staging area, heading toward the site six to seven miles away. One truck was towing a boat. A short time later, four helicopters ferrying recovery workers, headed for the scene from another staging area. The weather was clear.
Asked on NBC's "Today" show this morning how long the recovery of debris and bodies could take, FRANCIS declined to be specific. "We're going to have to be prepared for the fact that this may take us some time," he said.
Amont ideas being considered were draining a portion of the swamp or extending a dike to the site. But officials from the Army Corps of Engineers, the Navy, state and local agencies and the NTSB remained "nowhere near a consensus," FRANCIS said earlier.
The first remains of victims were recovered Sunday night and were taken to the Dade County medical examiner's office, dispatcher LAUREL LODER told the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale. She works for Professional Transport, the company that carries bodies for the coroner.
FRANCIS could not confirm that any remains were found.
The grim task proceeded in an eerie, surreal atmosphere, as the vast Everglades seemed to have swallowed the plane. Even at the spot where the aircraft pierced the water, divers literally groped for clues.
"They're down to less than an inch as far as underwater visibility. A lot of it is being done by feel," said NTSB investigator GREG FEITH.
The New York Times quoted a detective as saying searchers prodding with poles located what may be a segment of the plant's fuselage, measuring some 20-30 feet wide and 60-70 feet long. Officials would not confirm the report.
NTSB officials said a fragment 8 feet long was the largest they had seen. Both engines were found in about 2 feet of water, the NTSB said.
FRANCIS said much of the wreckage found so far is painted blue, which is the color ValuJet paints the rear of its planes. The rear is where the flight data and cockpit voice recorders are located.
The water ranged from 6 inches to 5 feet deep. Beneath that was much that some locals say can be 30 to 40 feet deep.
Navy divers, specialists in underwater salvage recovery, were bringing sonar equipment with which officials hope they will locate the plane's flight data recorders.
Senior NTSB investigators with hundreds of crash investigations behind them called the site, far from roads and accessible only by airboats, "the most difficult scene that they have ever encountered," FRANCIS said.
Divers had to be concerned with getting snagged in wreckage, and alligators and deadly water moccasins are common in the swamp.
Mosquitoes and heat in the mid-80s also plagued recovery workers.
The swamp yielded pieces of clothing Sunday, in addition to a family photo album and a floating airplane seat that were found Saturday.
Flight 592 took off Saturday afternoon en route to Atlanta but the crew soon reported smoke in the cockpit and cabin and asked to turn back. The tape of the conversation with the air traffic controller showed that the pilot felt "a considerable sense of urgency," FRANCIS said. The plane crashed about 15 miles northwest of Miami International Airport.
The source of the cockpit smoke was unknown.
In the first trading on Wall Street since the crash, ValuJet stock tumbled almost 25 percent today, dropping $4.37 1/2 to $13.50 a share at midmorning on the Nasdaq Stock Market.

Waterloo Courier Iowa 1996-05-13

Complete List Of Passengers And Crew
According to ValuJet, of the 104 passengers and five crew members aboard Flight 592:
SAEEDA ALIHASSAN, Atlanta.
JAMES ALLAWAY, Miami.
ISABEL ANDERSON, Cookeville, Tenn.
LESLIE ARCHIBALD, Opa-Locka, Fla.
RIZWAN ARSHAD, Philadelphia.
GIUSEPPE BAFUNNO, Blackwood, N. J.
MARLO BALANDRAN, Topeka, Kan.
THOMAS BALANDRAN, Topeka, Kan.
JEN BARREIRO, Bloomington, Ind.
HERBERT BELL, Elkwood, Va.
PEGGY BELL, Elkwood, Va.
TERRI BELL, The Colony, Texas.
ANTHONY BROWN, Rose Hill, N. C.
FRANCES BROWN, Baltimore.
LYNN BROWN, Rose Hill, N. C.
JOE BURNETT, Shawnee Mission, Kan.
CECELIA CABRERA, Miami.
RONALD CARPENTER, Murfreesboro, Tenn.
LISA CARLETON, Conyers, Ga.
NINON CORNEILLE, Lynn, Mass.
EDNA CRYE, Richmond, Ind.
KEN CRYE, RIchmond, Ind.
KAREN CULVER, Woodstock, Ga.
RODNEY CULVER, Woodstock, Ga.
MANSOR DARBOR, Atlanta.
BRADLEY EHRLICHMAN, Indianapolis, Ind.
BETSY FAVERO, Duluth, Ga.
FRANCO FAVERO, Duluth, Ga.
LAURA FAVERO, Duluth, Ga.
CHARLES FLUITT, Miami.
ELIZABETH GABRIEL, Mooresville, N. C.
DEANA GABR, Conyers, Ga.
PAMELA GABR, Conyers, Ga.
CARLOS GONZALEZ, Alpharetta, Ga.
ANGIE GREEN, Nashville, Tenn.
MARK GRINER, Marietta, Ga.
STEVE GUILER, Buford, Ga.
CONWAY HAMILTON, Miami.
LAURIE HAMILTON, Miami.
CAROL HANCHEY, Conyers, Ga.
JOHN HANCHEY, Conyers, Ga.
ELAINE HAYMAN, Columbus, Ohio.
ROBERT HAYMAN, Columbus, Ohio.
SUSAN HEFFERNAN, Murfreesboro, Tenn.
MICHAEL HOWARD, Hialeah, Fla.
WALTER HYATT, Nashville, Tenn.
DAN JARVIS, Gastonia, N. C.
LINDA JARVIS, Gastonia, N. C.
KATHLEEN KESSLER, Atlanta.
ISON KIM, Shawnee Mission, Kan.
RAFAEL LAMEDA, Cookeville, Tenn.
ALIYAGI LANDRY, Hollywood, Fla.
DANA LANE, Alpharetta, Ga.
ROGER LANE, Alpharetta, Ga.
RAY LATHEM, Alpharetta, Ga.
ANDREW LEONARD, Cloverdale, Ind.
JEREMY LEONARD, Cloverdale, Ind.
TABITHA LEONARD, Cloverdale, Ind.
JIMMY LEWIS, Fayetteville, Ga.
DEVLIN LOUGHNEY, United Kingdom.
ROGER LOUGHNEY, United Kingdom.
PHILMORE MARKS, Miami.
BETTY McLEMORE, Tybee Island, Ga.
CLARK McNITT, Powder Springs, Ga.
JUDY McNITT, Powder Springs, Ga.
LAURA McNITT, Powder Springs, Ga.
LINDSEY McNITT, Powder Springs, Ga.
NEIL McNITT, Powder Springs, Ga.
JUDY MEDEIROS, Rex, Ga.
ROBERT MEDEIROS, Rex, Ga.
ELLA MITCHELL, Miami.
ANDREW NEVIL, Raleigh, N. C.
LUCILLE NEWBOLD, Nassau, Bahamas.
MAXWELL NEWBOLD, Nassau, Bahamas.
WHILHELMINA OLIVER, Athens, Ga.
LISA PEARSON, Kansas City, Mo.
LAURESE PERKINS, Miami.
DAVID QUINONES.
ELIDA RAMIREZ, Dunwoody, Ga.
DONNA RENOLDS, Whittaker, Mich.
KIM RENOLDS, Ypsilanti, Mich.
HOWARD RIETZ, Mt. Juliet, Tenn.
TERRI RUGG, Richmond, Ind.
DENNIS SABO, Auburn, Ala.
ANA SANCHEZ, Metairie, La.
KARIN SHIER, Savannah, Ga.
VI SHIER, Fayetteville, Ga.
AILVEN SHOTWELL, College Park, Ga.
JARVIS SHOTWELL, College Park, Ga.
JOYCE SIMONTON, Macon, Ga.
PAUL SMITH, Montgomery, Ala.
JOULAUN SNOWDEN.
HUGH STANLEY, Gainesville, Ga.
LOUISE STANLEY, Gainesville, Ga.
FRED STEINBRENER, Acworth, Ga.
JERROLD THOMPSON, Kansas City, Mo.
ROOSEVELT TILLMAN, Lynchburg, Va.
LILA VILOLETA, Alpharetta, Ga.
DELMARIE WALKER, Erie, Pa.
JAMES WEIMER, Cloverdale, Ind.
JANICE WEIMER, Cloverdale, Ind.
TERESA WILSON, Tybee Island, Ga.
RUTH WOLFE, Gainesville, Ga.
ROBERT WOODUS, Upper Marlboro, Md.
Crew:
Captain: CANDALYN KUBECK, Bedford, Texas.
First Officer: RICHARD HAZEN, Mineola, Texas.
Flight Attendant: LORI CUSHING, Austin, Texas.
Flight Attendant: JENNIFER STEARNS, Farmers Branch, Texas.
Flight Attendant: MANDY SUMMERS, Irving, Texas.

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Researched and Transcribed by Stu Beitler. Thank you, Stu!