Mangalore:
After three days of intense search, the missing part of the Black Box of the ill-fated Air India Express flight has been found at the crash site. (Watch: How the Black box was located)
A seven-member team from an American safety board has been inspecting the crash site. They are likely to help the DGCA decode the Black Box. It may even be sent to the US to be decoded.
"The moment they found it they shouted as if they won the World Cup! I felt the same way," said Mehboob Ali, a crane operator.
The Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR), mounted in the aircraft's tail, will give details such as the plane's acceleration, engine thrust, airspeed, altitude and rudder position - vital factors for the crash investigators.(Watch: What will the Black box reveal ?)
The instrument 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 part which was charred in some places aloft and showed it to the media at the site of the wreckage.
"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.
In one of the country's worst aviation disaster, 158 people were killed and eight others miraculously survived after the plane overshot the runway by 2,000 feet, going off the edge of Mangalore's table-top airport on Saturday. (Read: 158 killed in crash, eight survivors | Heroes of crash | The miracle of life)
Investigators had on Sunday retrieved the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Digital Flight Data Acquisition Unit (DFDAU), but the crucial DFDR could not be traced.
The CVR and the DFDR are known as the 'Black Box'. While the CVR captures radio transmissions and sounds in the cockpit such as the pilot's conversation with the Air Traffic Controller and engine noises, the DFDR logs actual flight conditions, including altitude, airspeed, heading, vertical acceleration and aircraft pitch.
The Black Box will now be brought to New Delhi for a preliminary analysis. 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. (With PTI inputs)
A seven-member team from an American safety board has been inspecting the crash site. They are likely to help the DGCA decode the Black Box. It may even be sent to the US to be decoded.
"The moment they found it they shouted as if they won the World Cup! I felt the same way," said Mehboob Ali, a crane operator.
The Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR), mounted in the aircraft's tail, will give details such as the plane's acceleration, engine thrust, airspeed, altitude and rudder position - vital factors for the crash investigators.(Watch: What will the Black box reveal ?)
The instrument 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 part which was charred in some places aloft and showed it to the media at the site of the wreckage.
"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.
In one of the country's worst aviation disaster, 158 people were killed and eight others miraculously survived after the plane overshot the runway by 2,000 feet, going off the edge of Mangalore's table-top airport on Saturday. (Read: 158 killed in crash, eight survivors | Heroes of crash | The miracle of life)
Investigators had on Sunday retrieved the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Digital Flight Data Acquisition Unit (DFDAU), but the crucial DFDR could not be traced.
The CVR and the DFDR are known as the 'Black Box'. While the CVR captures radio transmissions and sounds in the cockpit such as the pilot's conversation with the Air Traffic Controller and engine noises, the DFDR logs actual flight conditions, including altitude, airspeed, heading, vertical acceleration and aircraft pitch.
The Black Box will now be brought to New Delhi for a preliminary analysis. 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. (With PTI inputs)
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