The crash of Valujet 592 wasn't stupid.
It was criminal.
The pilots never knew what was loaded (and the Captain must be told, before the airplane leaves the gate, of any dangerous goods).
The ground crew, employed by Sabertech (sp?), deliberately hid the fact that they were shipping oxygen canisters, which are OK if installed, but prohibited (now, and then) in the cargo hold. They listed the canisters as depleted on an internal manifest, when in fact, they were live. Then they changed the pilot notification and manifest to read "COMAT" or non-hazardous company material.
Worse, they were thrown loosely in a box, instead of individually packaged, and even worse, instead of having the protective cap (protecting the initiator) installed, a piece of scotch tape was placed over the pin.
The oxygen canisters are initiated by that pin, easily moved (it's what starts the flow of oxygen when you pull down your mask in many airplane types). When they start up, they get hot, about 600F, and produce pure O2.
So, they threw dozens of pyrotechnic devices, that create both high heat and oxygen, without safeguards, in a box.
And put that in an airplane.
Next to a bunch of tires. Which are flammable, if exposed to...yep...heat and oxygen.
And they knew what they were doing was illegal, and they hid it.
Once that airplane taxied out, with essentially a bomb on board, it was doomed.
During taxi, a canister shifted, and began producing heat and oxygen. Shortly after takeoff, a "boom" was heard. One of the tires in the cargo bay had exploded. Fuel, heat, and more pure oxygen. A raging fire took place under the cockpit. Passengers and flight attendants could be heard screaming on the CVR. Electrical failures cascaded throughout the airplane. Then the airplane rolled over and hit the swamp going straight down.
It's not clear if the pilots died from smoke inhalation* or if the control cables burned through resulting in a crash. But it matters little. The cables would've burned through, or the aluminum structure would've failed from heat, prior to them reaching Miami.
Criminal charges were filed, if I recall...and personally, I would be OK with summary execution.
Firing squad, preferably.
No blindfold.
*Very few remains were recovered from Valujet 592. Some teeth, a jawbone, a few bits. Nothing at all of the pilots. The angle and speed of impact destroyed nearly everything.
In other onboard fire incidents in which remains were recovered, toxicology performed on the flight crew showed significant poisoning from smoke absorption through their eyes and skin. They were on oxygen, so they didn't get smoke in through their lungs. There is a pilot push for retrofitting the now-standard full face masks, which provide pure oxygen to pilot's eyes as well as nose and mouth, to older airplanes, but no regulatory impetus yet supports it.
Swiss Air 111 is another case of mechanic/engineering negligence bringing down an airplane via onboard fire. The crew had significant toxins in their blood. Despite the airplane hitting the ocean at over 300 mph, most of the airplane, crew and passengers were recovered.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swissair_Flight_111
