The flight recorder was retrieved with the help of a special robot with a direction-finder, Timur Khikmatov, spokesperson for the transportation ministry, reported.
Photo: Valery Melnikov
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Airbus A320 Flight Recorder Retrieved
A flight recorder of the Armavia A320 jet that crashed on May 3 outside Sochi was found in the Black Sea yesterday, Igor Levitin, transportation minister and chairperson of the committee investigating the crash, said. The operation to retrieve the black box lasted nine hours.
“The search of the flight recorder started on May 16 but bad weather conditions hindered it. Our specialists managed to fully examine the supposed location of the two black boxes only on May 19 but found nothing,” the Russian Transportation Ministry said. Monday night, the recorder was finally located, lying under the 50cm layer of sediments.
The flight recorder was retrieved with the help of a special robot with a direction-finder, Timur Khikmatov, spokesperson for the transportation ministry, reported. A guided mini-submarine brought the 12kg recorder to the Navigator vessel at 3 pm yesterday.
The black box that was retrieved yesterday is an audio recorder. It contains talks of the crew in the cabin. The second black box, which records technical parameters of the flight, has not been found yet but has been located, according to members of the retrieval operation. It may be situated within the radius of five meters from the site where the first black box was found. The transportation ministry would not say yesterday what state the audio recorder is in and whether it will be possible to decipher the data. The Inter-State Aviation Committee in Moscow will try to decipher the recorder.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 23, 2006
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