The Federal Aviation Administration confirmed that a certain Continental Airlines flight from LAX to Houston is being investigated. The airplane was storing chemical oxygen canisters in its cargo, similar to the type of canisters blamed in the 1996 ValuJet disaster in the Florida Everglades. In the aftermath of the ValuJet crash, the FAA took action by banning all oxygen canisters as cargo on commercial flights. Seven capped disarmed canisters were located on the Continental airplane in an unsealed box that had been labeled “airline parts.”
Mechanical engineer and aviation attorney Paul Hedlund, whose national law firm, Baum Hedlund, represented several victims of the ValuJet Flight 592 crash, spoke about passenger planes carrying oxygen canisters. “After the terrible, terrible tragedy in ValuJet, I can’t see anybody getting near oxygen canisters — full, discharged, capped, not capped, disarmed, not disarmed…it makes no difference. You don’t carry it under any circumstances with passengers.”
Air Date: 5-13-97
Incident Date: 4-15-97
