during its spectacular expansion from two to fifty-
two aircraft over two and a half years, in the interest
of keeping expenses low to make such growth possi-
ble, had farmed out loading and maintenance oper-
ations to a subcontractor, SabreTech, owned by
Sabreliner of St. Louis and licensed by the Federal
Aviation Administration (FAA). Both ValuJet and
the FAA, as it turned out, had exercised very little su-
pervision over SabreTech, which hired many under-
paid casual workers in order to be competitive. The
oxygen generators had not been properly packed,
lacked the mandatory plastic safety caps over their
firing pins, and were mislabeled as being empty
rather than as hazardous cargo since the chemical
reaction that creates oxygen can also generate heat
well over 500, even 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit—
which is what had happened.
The investigation uncovered “serious deficien-
cies” in the airline’s operations—inappropriate re-
pairs, improper documentation, and ignoring FAA
safety directives. ValuJet resumed flights several
months later, eventually changing its designation to
AirTran. In December, 2001, SabreTech faced 220
charges of murder and manslaughter involving the
110 crash victims. It was allowed to donate to charity
by way of compensation.
Final NTSB Report The final report of the National
Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) of August 19,
1997, criticized the FAA for failing to enforce its ten-
year-old recommendation that smoke detectors and
fire suppression systems be installed in all cargo
holds. Underlying it all was the cozy relationship be-
tween the airline on one hand and those at the FAA
and its supervisory U.S. Department of Transporta-
tion (DOT) responsible for the public’s safety on the
other. This is a general problem because often the
government regulators themselves come from the
industry that they are also supposed to control.
Then there is politics. The airline industry is a sig-
nificant financial contributor to the campaigns of
various congressional representatives and senators
who sit on key civil aviation committees. Accord-
ingly, here, too, there is considerable reciprocal
back-scratching. Thus, even crusaders among the
regulators (such as federal whistle-blower Mary
Schiavo, former inspector general of the DOT) were
voices crying in the wilderness when charging that
crucial negative reports on ValuJet’s earlier viola-
tions had been suppressed.
Impact On May 23, 1996, all passenger planes were
forbidden to carry the kind of oxygen generators
suspected of causing the crash (empty generators
were exempted from the ban). After Schiavo re-
signed her job in July, 1996, and went public with her
complaints, Congress reworded the dual mandate
with which the FAA had been entrusted. It now
called for safety first and foremost.Further Reading
Cobb, Roger W., and David M. Primo.The Plane
Truth: Airline Crashes, the Media, and Transportation
Policy.Washington, D.C.: The Brookings Institu-
tion, 2003. Includes a good account of ValuJet
Flight 592.
Langewiesche, William. “The Lessons of ValuJet
592.”The Atlantic Monthly, March, 1998, 81-98. A
former working pilot tries to demonstrate that
this was a case of “systems failure” lying beyond
the reach of conventional solutions.
Matthews, Rick A., and David Kauzlarich. “The
Crash of ValuJet Flight 592.” InState-Corporate
Crime: Wrongdoing at the Intersection of Business and
Government, edited by Raymond J. Michalowski
and Ronald C. Kramer. New Brunswick, N.J.:
Rutgers University Press, 2006. Stresses the mutu-
ally reinforcing interaction between the private
sector (ValuJet and SabreTech) and the benign
tolerance of government (the FAA) in the acci-
dent.
Peter B. HellerSee also Airline industry; EgyptAir Flight 990
crash; TWA Flight 800 crash. Ventura, Jesse
Identification Governor of Minnesota, 1999-2003
Born July 15, 1951; Minneapolis, MinnesotaVentura parlayed his earlier careers as a professional wres-
tler, actor, and radio talk show host into a major political
upset when he defeated both of the major-party candidates to
win the 1998 Minnesota governor’s race. The victor y
gained him instant fame and extensive media coverage dur-
ing the final years of the decade.James George Janos, a former Navy SEAL, achieved
success as a professional wrestler under the name
Jesse “The Body” Ventura during the 1970’s and892 Ventura, Jesse The Nineties in America