MIAMI - The airline maintenance company driven out of business after the crash of a ValuJet plane in 1996 went on trial yesterday on the first criminal charges ever filed over a commercial jet crash.

Investigators spread blame for the Florida Everglades crash between the maintenance contractor -- SabreTech -- the airline and the Federal Aviation Administration. The ValuJet plane crashed and burned after outdated oxygen generators caught fire in its hold. The generators had been packed and mislabelled by two SabreTech employees, who, along with another employee, are also on trial. The three workers, as well as SabreTech, are charged with conspiracy and making false statements in connection with the May 11, 1996, crash that killed 110 people.

SabreTech also is charged with mislabelling and mishandling hazardous material and failing to properly train its workers to handle the hazardous waste.

Caroline Heck Miller, an assistant U.S. attorney, blames a series of deliberate acts with "a common objective of profiting SabreTech at the expense of safety concerns."

But Kenneth Quinn, the firm's lawyer, has argued the federal government is now trying to make a felony out of human error, a catchall phrase used to explain thousands of flukes in a high-tech age. "This was an accident, not a crime," Mr. Quinn told an aviation maintenance conference last month. "The criminalization of aviation accidents is an ominous development."

A SabreTech crew had removed outdated oxygen generators from the compartments above passenger seats in another ValuJet plane and delivered them to the discount carrier for a flight to its home in Atlanta .

But required plastic safety caps weren't installed on the explosive-tipped generators. They were also mislabelled as empty, and a ValuJet ground crew loaded them onto Flight 592.

The National Transportation Safety Board concluded the generators fuelled a cargo fire that brought down the DC-9 about 11 minutes after takeoff from Miami , killing all on board.

Federal prosecutors charged SabreTech, maintenance vice-president Daniel Gonzalez, and two company mechanics, Eugene Florence and Chilean native Mauro Valenzuela, with conspiracy and making false entries on repair documents.

Mr. Valenzuela, who is on the run, has also been charged with contempt of court for failing to comply with his conditions of pre-trial release. The three men each could face up to 55 years in prison and fines as high as $2.7-million U.S.

SabreTech, a defunct subsidiary of St. Louis-based Sabreliner, and the two mechanics also were indicted for illegal transportation of hazardous materials.

A 12-member jury will be asked to decide whether the tasks of line mechanics and the pressures for a quick turnaround on simple chores led to the crash and should translate to a criminal conviction.

U.S. District Judge James Lawrence King placed the case on a fast track, setting the trial to begin just five months after the indictment. He hopes to have the jury picked quickly from a pool of 60 people despite widespread media coverage.

SabreTech has balked at being singled out for blame and wants to focus on the lack of hazardous materials training by ValuJet and enforcement by the FAA.

Generators removed from jets are considered hazardous materials, something ValuJet was not authorized to carry.

The FAA never reviewed SabreTech's hazardous materials training. A ValuJet ramp agent recalled a take-home test on warning signs, and the generators themselves carried no warnings or labels.

SabreTech also plans to raise doubts about the NTSB findings by suggesting an electrical fire led to the crash. The FAA has issued two post-crash directives to airlines to make two electrical modifications on DC-9s.

The company also faces state charges of murder and manslaughter.

Idnumber: 199911160198
Edition: All But Toronto
Story Type: News; Crime
Length: 599 words
Keywords: AEROSPACE INDUSTRY; AIRCRAFT ACCIDENTS; DEATHS; TRIALS; EMPLOYEES; CONSPIRACY; CONTEMPT OF COURT; LEGAL ACTION
Company: SabreTech; ValuJet
Name: Daniel Gonzalez; Eugene Florence; Mauro Valenzuela