I recall it was a Saturday when this horrible accident happened. It was about 2 pm or so when CNN, which I had on, started to report of the loss of this flight. Over the rest of the day, the horrors of what happened and the terrible difficulty to get to the crash site (in the middle of many miles of swampland) came about. Over the next few days, we found out the obscene reasons for this crash, how the a/c basically nose dived into the swamp and shattered the a/c and the souls on board, a horror for the recovery teams and investigators. Like many aircraft accidents and a through investigation, this accident led to important improvements in airline safety and regulation, especially of LCC's. ValuJet evolved into AirTran, which still exists today.

As a former FA for VJ I had friends among the crew of 592. I awoke early this morning and took a long walk to watch the sunrise and think about them and the others who lost their lives that day. Thanks for remembering. Now, I think I'll go hug my mom. HG

On board there were Venezuelans. I remember one case that one of the passengers was a boy who was reluctant to take the flight and his father forced him to do so...   Thanks for remembering the victims of this dreadful crash. Saludos, Roberto.

Cowards surrend on all fours, braves die standing on two.

So how many people did they never find in the swamp? I think that was probably one of the messiest recoveries ever undertaken. DeltaGuy

"The cockpit? What is it?"..."It's the little room in front of the plane where the pilot's in, but that's not important"

As a former J7 flight attendant I recall May 11, 1996. My F/A training classmate was on that flight. I was class 95-13. I had just landed in LGA from ATL on the Daddy Critter (MD80). The agents at LGA gave us the news. Very sad time. Then the shutdown one month later! RIP Critter 592

Quoting LTBEWR (Reply 1): Like many aircraft accidents and a through investigation, this accident led to important improvements in airline safety and regulation, Isn't it a shame that it takes a body count in order to change anything in the aviation industry. RIP to those that were on board the plane.

Bobby Catone / Accelerating the Marathon!

I miss seeing the happy little Critter on tails at MCO. A sad day.

-Whappeh

I knew the captain of 592. She worked for Grand Airways out of LAS for a few years. What is weird about it is, the plane that was lost was a former Grand Airways plane. May those lost be remembered, and it is indeed a sad day to remember.

I Am A Different Animal!!

Quoting AASTEW (Reply 5): My F/A training classmate was on that flight. I was class 95-13. I was 95-17 (still with AirTran). Which girl was in your class? I had flown with Rich Hazen (the F/O) the previous month.

I remember the day well. I was BOS based, but was in ATL for the day. All started to happen as I was on my way to the airport to fly back to BOS. After all Hell broke loose, my flight was cancelled, so I volunteered to work out of ATL that afternoon. Ended up on a MOB layover. [Edited 2008-05-11 10:00:12]

Quoting Whappeh (Reply 7): I miss seeing the happy little Critter on tails at MCO. The critter logo was on the fuselage. Quoting F9Animal (Reply 8): What is weird about it is, the plane that was lost was a former Grand Airways plane. Aircraft 904 was a former DL bird.

Travatl, My classmate was Lori. Went to AA after shutdown. I'm sure we know each other. Just curious what's your seniority number at AirTran now, with 13yrs seniority. AASTEW

Lori Cushing was her name - I never knew her, but I knew several others from that same class. I was #603 when I started, but I was BOS based. I'm #74 of the 2400 ATL based flight attendants now.

Another tidbit is that COPS (the TV show) happened to be filming in the area where the plane went down, and eventually a segment aired about it, complete with an overview of the crash site.... which promptly explained why it took so long to find it. A dark day in aviation, to be sure.

Remember to DRCF kids!

Interesting....I remember seeing the CBS Evening news story the following week. They made a big deal about the woman pilot, and I'll never forget they played the ATC or CVR transmissions. Today I flew MIA-TPA and we flew over the everglades....I was thinking of 592 and the Eastern L-1011 crash. Ironic to know it was 12 years ago today. RIP

AA Platinum Member - American Airlines Forever

RIP to all on bored

FLY DELTA JETS

Quoting F9Animal (Reply 8): I knew the captain of 592. She worked for Grand Airways out of LAS for a few years. I believe she piloted Eastern Airlines DC9s during her earlier years.

Airliners.net of the Future

I worked for Valujet on the ramp up in CMH when that happend. our gate agents I felt so bad for having to tell a young family about what happend and that who they were waiting for were on that flight. But I was also amazed that what we call ops which was not much more then a 2 tiny room area with no windows was filled with people from every airline at CMH and was there to talk to all of us to help try to cheer us up. God be with all that were on that flight.

I was there that day at MIA taking photos from a car park. If I had stayed 1 hour longer I would've shot it departing.

Quoting Travatl (Reply 11): Aircraft 904 was a former DL bird. and made its way to Grand (was it painted in the hideous banana colors towards Grand''s end?) and then onto Valujet.

Get that worldly look, one country at a time. Work Hard, Fly Right.

I had forgot how rough the summer of 1996 was for US commercial aviation -- TWA 800 went down a little more than two months later. I hope we don't see another summer like that again.

If its not a Boeing I ain't going

Quoting CodyKDiamond (Thread starter): Today is a very sad day in aviation. Indeed it is. I have often thought of what the pax went through in the last minutes of their lives. The sad thing is, the accident could have been easily prevented. What a terrible tragedy.

Flying Colors Forever!

Very sad day. I rememmber find out after getting off a USAir flight from BWI - LGA with my parents and seeing it on the news. The accident got lost in my memory until I joined FL during mt senior year at high school and ramp training involved major training on that topic RYAN

A high school classmate of mine lost his life on Valujet 592. A few months earlier, another high school classmate had died on AA 965 in Colombia. It was intense, losing two people to plane crashes within a few months of each other!

"I object to violence because when it appears to do good, the good is temporary; the evil it does is permanent" - Ghandi