But testimony from last week's National Transportation Safety Board hearings on the May 11 ValuJet crash that took 110 lives left victims' relatives in tears as they listened to a sickening account of an avoidable tragedy. ValuJet maintenance chief David Gentry said his company accepted blame, but he insisted that it was SabreTech's job to equip the canisters with safety caps and pack the shipment properly. Failure to prevent this incompetence was laid to inspectors for the FAA, who complained that overwork and understaffing had made it tough to oversee the fast-growing ValuJet. Yet an FAA manager said he called for a review of ValuJet's authorization to fly three months before Flight 592 plunged into the Everglades shortly after taking off from Miami. The manager, John Tutora, said his report was ignored.
Experts say more improvements in vigilance are both needed and likely.
A sea change in attitude is coming.