Cockpit voice and flight data recorders offer the best clues as to why Flight 804 crashed
By DAHLIA KHOLAIF and ROBERT WALL
Sunday, June 19, 2016
Work on the cockpit voice and flight data recorders of EgyptAir Flight 804, which were recovered late last week, began at a specialized facility in Cairo on Saturday PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
Investigators probing the crash of EgyptAir Flight 804 said Sunday they were performing tests on the plane’s two “black boxes” before trying to extract data as they attempt to unravel why the Airbus Group SE A320 plunged into the Mediterranean Sea last month.
Work on the cockpit voice and flight data recorders, which were recovered late last week, began at a specialized facility in Cairo on Saturday, the Egyptian-led investigation team said. Initial preparations to read the digital memory units took about 8 hours, they said.
The black boxes offer the best clues to determining why Flight 804 crashed May 19, killing all 66 people onboard. The plane was bound for Cairo from Paris when it deviated from its course while cruising at 37,000 feet, first turning left before rolling to the right and completing a full circle, investigators have said. They have not ruled out any cause for the crash.
The Egyptian team is being assisted by crash investigators from France and the U.S. Black box-maker Honeywell International Inc. also is providing assistance.
A flight data recorder is designed to store technical parameters for the last 25 hours of a plane’s operations. It monitors basic information such as aircraft speed and altitude, but also smoke alarms, autopilot mode and control inputs made by the crew. The cockpit voice recorder retains the last two hours of conversation between the crew.
Egyptian officials said Friday that the data analysis “may take several weeks,” though safety experts have suggested early conclusions can be drawn more quickly.
Flight 804 broadcast a number of fault messages before all contact was lost indicating possible smoke in the nose of the plane, including a critical electronic-equipment hub beneath the cockpit. The messages alone haven’t proved sufficient to determine a likely cause for the crash, investigators have said.
Radar data also indicated there wasn’t a sudden explosion that tore the plane apart midair. The flight’s black box data should allow investigators to determine the sequence of events on board and what actions the crew may have taken to deal with them.
Egypt has built up its technical expertise to extract and analyze information from black boxes. Authorities have said that minor damage to the devices, which can occur even though black boxes are designed to withstand severe impact, could be repaired locally, though the devices might have to be sent abroad if major repairs are needed.
Investigators also said that a specialized vessel, the John Lethbridge, belonging to Deep Ocean SearchLtd., was continuing to map the debris field of the plane’s wreckage. The ship was used to recover the black boxes from a depth of depth of around 3,000 meters (9,843 feet).
Write to Robert Wall at [email protected]