Airboats critical in immediate wake of ValuJet crash

MIAMI, Fla. (WINK) — When ValuJet flight 592 crashed in the middle of the Everglades on May 11, 1996, emergency crews faced a tough task in a difficult environment.

The wildlife, the swamp and the remoteness worked against emergency crews. To see what they were up against, WINK News anchor Lois Thome went out with an airboat captain who works in the challenging environment every day.

Jose Novo has been an airboat captain at Everglades Safari Park for years. He knows this marsh like the back of his hand.

"The company has been out here since 1968, you know. And a lot of the places up and down the road have also been around a long, long time, know the areas very well," Novo said.

That knowledge of the Glades was critical.

"You know where ValuJet came down, an extremely shallow area. And when it came down, it came down in some four or five feet of muck. Okay, the water is shallow, and airboats are about the only way to get to the area where that was," Novo said.

Boaters in the Glades were among the first to call in the crash and get to the site. Today, the area where the plane went down is dry from drought, but the day of the crash was different.

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"That mud swallowed it up. And underneath the mud there's also rock, you know. But that thing came down so fast, you know, it basically exploded into small pieces," Novo said.

Novo explained that alligators weren't a concern during recovery efforts. "A lot of people in the city thought, oh, man, the alligator is going to eat these people up, but the gators sense the jet fuel themselves, and they stay away from any pollutants and stuff like that," he said.

The bigger concern was the heat and the environment itself. The terrain made every step a challenge.

"You can get exhausted walking from here to that edge right over there. It'll take you, you know, five minutes. Because every time you stick your foot in the mud, it's all your strength to pull it back out. The mud's like suction, you know…the environment here, it will chew you up and spit you out," Novo said.

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Within hours, it became clear rescue teams wouldn't find survivors. But airboat captains worked side by side with emergency responders for weeks and played a critical role in finding answers for the loved ones of the 110 people who perished.

For Novo, it's a reminder of how fragile life can be. "You know, anything can happen. You know tomorrow's not guaranteed, but you've got to enjoy our lives and live as happy as we can," Novo said.