Candalyn "Candi" Kubeck was an American commercial airline pilot and the captain of ValuJet Flight 592. This flight crashed into the Everglades in 1996, after oxygen generators illegally placed in a cargo hold started and maintained a fire that disrupted aircraft functionality and flooded the entire cabin and cockpit with smoke. The crash made Kubeck the first female captain to die in a commercial airline crash.
Candi Kubeck began as an instructor pilot at small airfields and working at various commuter and freight airlines based in California and Arizona. From there, she became an Air Traffic Controller at El Paso International Airport. But these were just the first steps to what she really wanted to be. She wanted to fly for commercial airlines. Kubeck applied for the major airlines, American Airlines, Delta Air Lines, and United Airlines, but as a low-time pilot she was not accepted at the time. In 1989, she was hired by Eastern Airlines as a strikebreaker, crossing the picket line during a strike by the company's unionized pilots. It was a move that she believed was necessary to break in, but it also made her a target of harassment by strikers. The harassment was also directed at her family members and continued after her death. Upon completion of training, Kubeck was assigned as a first officer on Eastern's biggest plane, the Airbus A300, subsequently leaving Eastern after its abrupt shutdown in January 1991. When low-cost startup Valujet Airlines began operations in 1993 she was hired almost immediately. Kubeck became a captain for ValuJet and flew DC-9s.
Crash of ValuJet Flight 592
On May 11, 1996, ValuJet Flight 592, a DC-9 she was piloting, crashed into the Florida Everglades just ten minutes after take-off. The disaster was caused when expired oxygen generators illegally stored in the cargo hold started a fire. The flight was scheduled to leave at 1:00 pm, but because of mechanical problems there was a delay. The DC-9 took off from Miami International Airport on runway 9L at 2:04 pm and began a normal climb. At 2:10 pm, Captain Kubeck and First Officer Richard Hazen heard a loud bang on their headphones. Kubeck said, "What was that?", to which Hazen responded "I don't know." Then the DC-9 began losing electrical power. Kubeck said, "We need, we need to go back to Miami." Hazen asked Air Traffic Control for an immediate return to Miami. Air traffic controller Jesse Fisher asked, "What kind of problem are you having?" Kubeck can be heard on the cockpit voice recording shouting "Fire!". Hazen reported smoke in the cabin and cockpit to Fisher. As the plane was turning left to Miami, it banked sharply to the left, which caused it to lose lift and fall from the sky. Kubeck struggled with the aircraft, but failed; the fire had melted all of the wiring and hydraulic cables in the back of the plane, making it uncontrollable. The DC-9 plummeted nose first in the Everglades, shattering upon impact and killing everyone on board instantly. There was no chance of getting the plane on the ground safely. Kubeck's remains were never identified. Kubeck died one day after her 35th birthday.
Legacy
Memorial Scholarship
In honor of Kubeck, the National Intercollegiate Flying Association Foundation in conjunction with the Chamberlain and Kubeck families created the "Candi Chamberlain Kubeck Award". The $1,000 Scholarship is given out at the Annual International Women in Aviation Conference to the nationally ranked Top Female Collegiate Pilot.
