ValuJet Crash Site Memorial in Florida

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Get directions Miami-Dade County, Florida, USA

Coordinates: 25.76187, -80.67198
Cemetery ID:

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About these numbers These percentages indicate the number of Find a Grave memorials that have a grave photo or GPS coordinates. We don't know the total number of burials in a cemetery, so we cannot calculate a percentage of those with memorials, photos or GPS coordinates.

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On May 11, 1996, Valujet Flight 592 was one of the regularly scheduled flights from Miami to Atlanta. The 27 year old McDonnell Douglas DC-9-32 crashed into the Everglades shortly after takeoff due to a fire in the cargo compartment. The fire was caused by improperly and illegally stored and labeled hazardous cargo determined to be expired oxygen canisters. The two experienced pilots lost control of the flight controls due to the fire and had no way to correct it. Both pilots, the three flight attendants, and all 105 passengers perished in the crash. The impact site was on the eastern edge of the Florida Water Conservation Area 3B, between two levees known as the L-67 Pocket.

In 1999, on the 3rd anniversary of the fateful crash of Valujet 592, a sobering and strikingl memorial was dedicated to the victims in the Everglades. The memorial includes 110 concrete pillars in varying sizes representing those who lost their lives that day and is located 12 miles west of Krome Avenue in Miami-Dade County. It is just north of the Tamiami Trail, along the Tamiami Canal to the east of Lock L-67. You need to cross the canal to get to the memorial. It is 10 miles east of the Miccosukee Tribe of Indians of Florida Casino, and sits on a small hill above the canal.

The shape of the memorial reflects the shape of an airplane wing and resembles an oversized chess board. The formation of the concrete pillars points directly to the location of the impact site. A granite slab lies adjacent to the pillars, bearing the names of the dead and also pointing toward the site of the impact, 12 miles due north.