KUMASI, Jan 1 (Futball Surgery)- South Korea plane crash investigators have extracted first line of data from one of two “black boxes” retrieved from a Jeju Air plane that its crash at the Muan international airport killed all but two of the 181 people onboard Sunday.
According to South Korea civil aviation deputy minister , Joo Jong-wan, initial data had been retrieved from the Boeing 737-800’s cockpit voice recorder, which contents are being converted into audio format.
An “initial extraction (of the cockpit voice recorder) has already been completed,” Joo said. “Based on this preliminary data, we plan to start converting it into audio format,” he added, which will enable investigators to hear the pilots’ final communications.
Authorities are hoping the voice recorder, along with a second black box containing the flight data recorder, will provide crucial clues about events leading up to the pilot’s attempt to land after the aircraft’s landing gear apparently failed to deploy.
The flight data recorder, however, “was found with a missing connector,” Joo added. “Experts are currently conducting a final review to determine how to extract data from it.”
The plane in question was returning on a flight from Thailand with 175 passengers and six crew members, whom majority South Korean nationals were onboard.
It was unclear how long it would take officials to convert the data from the voice recorder, while damage to the flight data recorder could prolong efforts to get to the bottom of the worst aviation disaster on South Korean soil.
South Korea plans, reveals the country’s transport ministry on Wednesday, to send the plane’s flight data recorder to the United States for analysis.
All 179 victims, whose bodies were badly damaged, have been identified and given to the families for funeral arrangements.
Experts from the US National Transportation Safety Board and officials from Boeing have joined South Korea investigators to dig deep into the cause of South Korea’ worst aviation disaster.
“A comprehensive analysis and review of the aircraft’s structure and the black box data will reveal the cause of the accident,” acting president, Choi Sang-mokChoi said at a disaster response meeting on Wednesday.
