ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Tuesday, November 19, 1996 TAG: 9611190111
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A-1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: MIAMI
SOURCE: Associated Press
Passengers screamed ``Fire! Fire! Fire!'' and a flight attendant warned, ``We can't get oxygen back there'' during the final terrifying moments before ValuJet Flight 592 plunged into the Everglades, killing all 110 people aboard.
The chilling eight-minute tape from the cockpit voice recorder ends with the cockpit and cabin falling silent, leaving the sound of rushing air, perhaps from a cockpit window that had been opened to let the smoke out.
A transcript of the recording was released Monday as a hearing opened on the mistakes that led to the May 11 crash. Federal investigators believe that 144 oxygen-generating canisters carried in the DC-9's cargo hold either ignited or fueled a fire.
Six minutes after takeoff from Miami International Airport, the pilot can be heard telling the co-pilot: ``We got some electrical problems. We're losing everything.''
A few seconds later, the voice recorder picked up screams of passengers in the cabin, including several women shouting, ``Fire! Fire! Fire! Fire!''
Over the next 51 seconds, shouts were heard from the cabin twice more and a flight attendant said only, ``Completely on fire'' before the cabin fell silent. The last recorded voice from the plane was that of a crew member telling the tower, ``We need the, uh, closest airport available.''
The plane, its controlling cables possibly severed by the fire, crashed nose first into the swampy muck of the Everglades 2 minutes, 22 seconds later.
While the flight attendant warned that passengers could not get oxygen, National Transportation Safety Board investigator Greg Feith said there was not enough information to say what may have happened to the oxygen masks that drop down in front of passengers during an emergency.
Relatives of the victims hope the hearing will tell them why their loved ones died.
``I dreaded coming here, but this is something that I have to do in order to have closure,'' said Gwendolyn Marks, a nurse whose 23-year-old son died in the crash. ``It may be painful, but it was my child and I want to hear what was going through his mind, what was going on in those last minutes.''
Investigators did not release the recording itself out of concern for the feelings of family members. That decision upset Richard Kessler, an Atlanta lawyer whose wife, Kathleen, was killed.
``I'm going to Washington after this to try to get them to change the law,'' Kessler said. He said he wanted to know if one of the voices repeatedly shouting ``Fire'' was his wife's.
By the time passenger screams were heard inside the aircraft, the decision had been made to try to return to Miami.
The tower controller, who was listening on a separate circuit and could not hear the commotion in the plane, asked what the problem was and was told, ``Smoke in the cockp smoke in the cabin.'' The pilot decided to turn back, and the tower gave directions to return.
At the hearing, testimony and court documents focused on alleged blunders by a ValuJet subcontractor, SabreTech Corp., in the handling of the oxygen canisters, which were being flown as cargo.
The Federal Aviation Administration last week accepted a recommendation for fire detectors and extinguishers in cargo compartments of 2,800 older aircraft. The FAA rejected a similar plan in 1993, primarily because of the estimated $350 million cost.
This week's hearing also will examine the handling of hazardous cargo, aircraft maintenance by outsiders and the supervision of start-up airlines, like ValuJet.
Maria Rivera said accounts of her mother's final moments aboard the plane were painful. Holding a picture of her mother, Cecelia Cabrera, she referred to the passengers' screams.
``I imagined it was my mother,'' she said. ``I didn't think of anything else. I just cried and cried and cried.''
LENGTH: Medium: 79 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: AP. Maria Rivera of Miami lost her mother in the crashby CNBof ValuJet Flight 592. The National Transportation Safety Board
hearing opened Monday. color.