After 3 days, Black Box of crashed AI plane recovered

Ramnath Shenoy
Mangalore, May25 (PTI) Investigators Tuesday recovered
the crucial 'Black Box'--the Digital Flight Data
Recorder(DFDR)- from the wreckage of the Boeing plane of Air
India's budget carrier, three days after it crashed here while
landing killing 158 persons.
The data recorder, mounted in the aircraft's tail and
which stores key information, could give vital clues on what
caused the country's worst air crash in a decade last
Saturday.
The instrument, which will have data on a range of
parameters and information on pilot's response, was damaged on
one side but Directorate General of Civil Aviation(DGCA)
officials said it was intact with the "main memory."
"Nothing has happened to the main portion where the main
memory is located. It is intact," DGCA officials said shortly
after they made the breakthrough around 10 AM.
A relieved Air India's General Manager(Flight and
Safety) G M Mathew held the black box which was charred in
some places aloft and showed it to the media at the site of
the wreckage which was thoroughly combed after investigators
widened the search area.
"What was recovered today is the main part(of the black
box)," Mathew said. The DFDR logs actual flight conditions,
including altitude, airspeed, heading and vertical
acceleration.
Investigators had on May 23 recovered the Cockpit Voice
Recorder (CVR) and Digital Flight Data Acquisition Unit
(DFDAU) from the wreckage of the ill-fated flight of Air India
Express from Dubai(IX 812). They were brought to New Delhi
Monday night.
The Boeing 737-800 crashed at around 6.30 am last
Saturday after the pilot overshot the runway in Mangalore in
south Indian state of Karnataka. Eight persons miraculously
survived the crash.
The Black Box will be brought to New Delhi for a
preliminary analysis amid reports that it may be later sent to
the US for a detailed examination. Results from the analysis
are likely to available in a few weeks.
DGCA officials said the search operations had been called
off following recovery of the DFDR which would help in
reconstructing the events leading to the crash. (MORE) PTI