The disaster is the latest – and by far the worst – in a disturbing string of mishaps for ValuJet. The fast-growing, three-year-old airline has turned record profits with dirt-cheap flights – some as low as $39. But last winter, the FAA put the Atlanta-based carrier through an intense program of special inspections after problems on five of its planes (chart). The most serious occurred on June 8, 1995, when an engine on a plane taxiing down an Atlanta runway caught fire, spreading flames through the cabin and injuring six people. Results of the ongoing FAA review have not been made public. ValuJet, however, has amassed incident reports at a rate four times as high as the country’s three largest airlines, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
That wouldn’t surprise many ValuJet passengers. Cofounded by former Continental Airlines head Lewis Jordan, the company has become infamous for its scruffy airplanes and uneven on-time performance. To save money, ValuJet buys only used DC-9s (though it recently placed a $1 billion order for 50 new MD-95s). Many of the company’s 51 planes are more than 25 years old – and feature telltale ’70s Day-Glo dcor. It bought at least nine planes from a Turkish airline. The pilots come cheap, too, with salaries from 50 to 70 percent of the industry average. The idea, Jordan says, is to create a ““low-fare, no-frills, fun and friendly’’ airline. Even its official air-traffic-control nickname is ““critter.''
After the crash, Jordan insisted that his flights are safe – even though the doomed DC-9 had been sent back for repairs seven times in the last two years. ““There is absolutely nothing [wrong with] a 25-year-old airplane that has been properly maintained,’’ he said. But passengers who had already grown nervous about ValuJet’s recent history are bound to worry more now. The airline has certainly been known to push the envelope. One telling example: just before being socked in by a blizzard this March, Dulles airport managers told pilots to use their discretion in deciding whether to take off. Only one did – a ValuJet.
ValuJet is less than three years old, but the downscale Atlanta-based carrier has had more than its share of mishaps. A sampling:
A tire on a DC-9 bursts after landing in Nashville, Tenn.; another plance slides off the runway in bad weather in Savannah, Ga.
A “hard landing” extensively damages a DC-9 in Nashville; two plances landing in bad weather slide off runways in Atlanta and at Dulles.
The FAA announces it will inspect engines the company has purchased from Turkey after an engine fire in a DC-9 preparing for takeoff in Atlanta spreads to the cabin and badly burns an attendant.
A DC-9 slides off an icy runway at Dulles, closing the airport for two hours.
