Indonesian officers with the flight data recorder at Iskandar Military Airport in Pangkalan Bun, Indonesia. - EPA
PANGKALAN BUN: The flight data recorder from the downed Indonesia AirAsia Flight QZ8501 has been found in good condition, Indonesian authorities said on Monday.
The black box will be sent to Jakarta for analysis.
"The flight data recorder has been recovered," Bambang Soelistyo, chief of Indonesia National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas), told a press conference on Monday.
He added that the black box was discovered under the wing of the ill-fated Airbus 320-200 that went down on Dec 28 in the Java Sea.
The other black box – the cockpit voice recorder – was also located on Monday afternoon, but had yet to be retrieved, he noted.
"We have made a breakthrough, and the flight data recorder will be flown straightaway to Jakarta on an TNI (armed forces) plane," according to National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) chief Tatang Kurniadi. The device will be transported and guarded by TNI from the Halim airport to the KNKT office.
"According to our experience, this flight data recorder can be opened and it can be read in a good condition, but this is my experience. Let's see if (we can read it) today (Monday), or tonight or tomorrow," he added.
Personnel from France, Singapore and other countries linked to the search for the plane wreckage will be invited to witness the handover of the flight data recorder from the armed forces to KNKT's lab in Jakarta, said Tatang. - The Straits Times/ANN
