ELT yet to be traced, probe team starts decoding CVR

Hyderabad, Sept 5 (PTI) Authorities are yet to trace a
key emergency alarm instrument of the helicopter which crashed
killing former Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister Y S Rajasekhara
Reddy even as a team of Directorate General of Civil Aviation
(DGCA) probing the incident Saturday began decoding the
Cockpit Voice Recorder of the chopper.

The four-member DGCA team has taken the Cockpit Voice
Recorder to Delhi where it began examining it to decode the
data and retrieve other information which would be crucial in
the investigation into the crash, Kurnool District Collector
Mukul Kumar Meena told PTI over phone.

The DGCA team of Capt Irshad Ahmed and Sanjay B and two
others, which went to Kurnool on September 3 as part of the
investigations to find out the cause of the crash, was handed
over the Cockpit Voice Recorder of the Bell-430 helicopter and
other documents Friday, Meena said.

However, the copter's Emergency Location Transmitter
(ELT), which sends signals in the event of crash landing, is
yet to be found, he said.

Another official said the ELT did not emit signals as it
might have been damaged in the crash.

The helicopter carrying Reddy and four others had
remained without radio contact with the Air Traffic Control at
Begumpeth airport in Hyderabad for more than 24 hours after
disappearing on the morning of Wednesday. (more) PTI