IN FEBRUARY 1996, the FAA initiated a 120-day Special Emphasis Review because of the low-fare carrier's exceptionally high growth-rate and four safety-related incidents in January and February 1996.
On 14 May, FAA administrator David Hinson denied that low-cost airlines, such as ValuJet, are in any way less safe than the major carriers. "When we say an airline is safe to fly, it is safe to fly. There is no grey area," Hinson told a Senate committee.
On 15 May, Hinson ordered a 30-day intensive investigation into Valujet, beginning immediately and involving at least once-weekly flights to observe flightcrew procedures.
The investigation is "...to ensure that Valujet is meeting all of the FAA's regulations, especially those concerning the operation of older aircraft," says Hinson.
In April, ValuJet undertook to slow its rapid growth to improve its flight operations and maintenance programmes. Immediately following the Miami accident, the FAA expanded the special review to include aircraft inspection, contracted repair operations, line maintenance and quality-control programmes. Flight-operations surveillance already in place was intensified.
The FAA says that it will also review the maintenance history of every ValuJet aircraft to ensure compliance of with the detailed regulations concerning the continued operation of given aircraft types beyond a specific age or number of flight cycles. All reports of mechanical problems filed in the past 12 months are being reviewed to ensure that corrective action was taken. Overnight maintenance will be double-checked.
Meanwhile Bertil Werjefelt, president of Vision Safe, a company which produces an FAA-rejected device to allow pilots to see their instruments and windscreen despite smoke in the cockpit, says that the pilots of the DC-9 did not have control of their aircraft at the time it crashed. Werjefelt, as part of a long-running battle with the FAA, filed a complaint with the US Department of Transportation on 26 April, alleging that the FAA was refusing to take the smoke risk seriously.
Source: Flight International
