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>> reporter: valujet flight 592 from miami to atlanta, the day before mother's day 1996, the pilots hear a loud boom six minutes in to the flight. >> return to miami. >> what kind of problem? >> smoke in the cabin. >> the pilots head to the nearest airport. meanwhile, passengers are yelling about a fire. the aircraft rolls on its side and then crashes nose nose first in to the florida everglades killing all 110 people on board. the ntsb determined the fire began in a cargo compartment. >> if we have fire detection system the crew would have been afforded more time to get the plane on the groun...

There is no concrete evidence of where it is or what has happened in its final moments. now some people are wondering if the plane will ever be found. how that scenario could impact not just this case, but the future of aviation. >> reporter: as searchers race to find any wreckage of flight 370, the cost of not finding the plane could impact the safety of future flights. accidents equal safety and security improvements. in 1983, a fire broke out in a lavatory on air canada flight 797. the plane landed, but 23 people on board died. after that, smoke detectors and automatic fire extinguishers we...

And that's because many of the safety and security regulations are currently in place, they came about as a result of a crash or an incident involving an aircraft. september 11th, for example, hijacking. that led to the cockpit doors. the shoe bomber. that led to shoe checks at the airport. in 1996, if you remember, hazardous cargo onboard value jet flight 592. that caught fire. 110 people died in that crash when it went down in the florida everglades. that crash, that led to new cargo hold safety rules. so you can see how these crashes lead to changes within the industry. but if we don't find...

Our aviation correspondent rene marsh is taking a look at that part of the story for us. rene? >> it's a question that you can't help but ask. what if flight 370 is never found. one thing seems apparent. proof that 370 had mechanical problems would likely lead to safety improvement, proof that 370 was hijacked would likely lead to security improvements. but without any proof, we only have speculation and speculation may not change a thing. the history of aviation reads like an equations. in 1983, a fire broke out in a laboratory on air canada flight 797. the plane landed but 23 people on board...

Flight 592 the families pushed to get fire suppression in cargo holds. >> miles o'brian, from all this you've seen here, can we eliminate a bomb? >> no, i don't think so. what about a -- i'm talking about maybe a small bomb that was aimed at the front of the airplane, sort of a decapitation effort, something that was aimed where the electronics and avi avionics are. what if it exploded and it was a small hole and caused massive failures of the electronics system? if a terrorist wanted to save on the size of the bomb, you could take a plane down and do a lot of harm with a lot smaller harm than...