Delta, Twa Made Improper Shipments

Until recently, Delta and TWA were improperly shipping oxygen generators of the kind that are blamed for the ValuJet crash, a Transportation Department official testified Wednesday morning in hearings into the May 11 crash.

Delta stopped because one of the generators caused a fire on a loading dock in December when it discharged, possibly because of sabotage, according to investigators, and the airline decided in future to dispose of old generators locally instead of shipping them by air. TWA stopped after the Valujet crash.