NEW YORK — Investigators trying to figure out why AirAsia Flight 8501 crashed into the Java Sea on Dec. 28 might now have the tools they need to provide answers.
On Monday the flight’s data recorder was pulled up from the bottom of the shallow sea. The cockpit voice recorder was also located but not yet surfaced. It could take up to two weeks to analyze all the data on the so-called black boxes. Based on past crashes, the information retrieved could be vital.
The two separate devices — actually orange boxes designed to survive extreme heat and pressure — should provide investigators with a second-by-second timeline of the plane’s flight.
The voice recorder takes audio feeds from four microphones within the cockpit and records all the conversations between the pilots, air traffic controllers as well as any noises heard in the cockpit. That could be alarms going off or loud explosions. It records on a two-hour loop, so investigators here won’t just capture the plane’s final minutes but the entire 42-minute trip.
The flight data recorder captures 25 hours’ worth of information on the position and condition of almost every major part in a plane.
Some of the major items recorded include: altitude, airspeed, what rate the plane is climbing or descending, what direction of the compass it was flying toward, what angle up or down it was pointed, if the plane was leaning to the left or the right, the thrust of the engines, rate at which fuel was flowing to them, pressure in the hydraulic lines and the position of the flaps, rudder and landing gear.
While it could take up to two weeks to analyze all the data, investigators shouldn’t have any problems reading it. The boxes are designed to withstand a 2,012-degree fire lasting 30 minutes, then a 500-degree fire lasting 10 hours as well as pressure from sea depths of up to 20,000 feet.
Talk to us
> Give us your news tips.
> Send us a letter to the editor.
> More Herald contact information.
