>> smoke in the cabin. >> the plane crashed in the florida everglades. 110 people died. it led to new cargo hold safety rules. but not finding flight 370 or its data recorders could be a missed opportunity for change. >> whatever brought down that flight, whether it was fire, hijack, pilot suicide, explosive decompression, a bomb, whatever, it's important to find that out so we can fix it so it doesn't happen again. >> reporter: and it's security, too. the september 11th hijackings led to strengthened cockpit doors. the shoe bomber led to shoe checks. the aviation industry needs hard facts before it can make changes. >> unfortunately, we've had a history of policy making. you wait until enough people die and then make a change. >> reporter: with so few crashes in recent years, the faa is more proactive in finding problems that could cause crashes before they happen.