CVR and FDR of Flight ED-202 Recovered From Crash Site
Both Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR) have been recovered and shown to media at crash site on July 31, 2010. The team had to use cutting tools to recover CVR and FDR from tail section of crashed aircraft.
Here are video stills of recovery team members showing CVR and FDR to media people. The CVR and FDR will be sent to Germany or France for decoding according to CAA.
'Black box' found in Pakistan plane crash wreckage
By ASIF SHAHZAD
ISLAMABAD – Recovery workers found the "black box" flight data recorder Saturday in the wreckage of Pakistan's worst-ever plane crash, and it appeared to be in good condition, officials said.
An analysis of the data on the recorder could provide clues as to why the Airblue flight crashed Wednesday into the hills overlooking the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, killing all 152 people onboard, including two Americans. The recorder's decoding may take weeks, however.
The black box was found during a difficult recovery effort hampered by rain, mud and a lack of proper roads in the heavily forested Margalla Hills. It has been handed to aviation officials, said Ramzan Sajid, a spokesman for the Capital Development Authority, a government agency. He said the box was found in wreckage of the plane's tail section.
Pakistan does not have the proper expertise to decode information stored on the recorder, so it plans to send it to another country that does, according to the Civil Aviation Authority.
The authority's spokesman, Pervez George, said Friday the decoding process could take a month.
The plane  an Airbus A321 model  was ordered to take an alternative approach to the runway at Islamabad airport but apparently veered off course, the Civil Aviation Authority said earlier this week.
Officials said the plane, which was flying to Islamabad from the southern Pakistani city of Karachi, lost contact with the control tower before the crash, which occurred during stormy weather.
The impact of the crash was devastating, scorching a wide swath of the hillside and scattering wreckage over a half-mile (1-kilometer) stretch. Most bodies were so badly damaged that identification will require DNA testing, officials said.
Airblue is a Pakistan-based carrier that has flown since 2004. The airline has said the plane that crashed had no known technical problems.
Source: Yahoo! News
Here's an older news report about location of aircraft's tail section where CVR and FDR are placed.
Tail recovery raises hopes for black box
By Syed Irfan Raza and Muhammad Asghar
ISLAMABAD, July 30: The mystery of missing ‘black box’ is almost over as the tail of the plane that crashed into the Margalla Hills was found on Friday.
“We have found the plane’s tail which caries the black box,†Airblue’s chief executive Shahid Khakan Abbasi said at a press conference on Friday.
He said the tail of the airliner lay buried under mud and burnt trees. The tail carries the flight data recorder, or black box.
At another press conference, Civil Aviation Authority director general Junaid Amin claimed that conversation between the pilot of Airblue flight ED-202 and air traffic control staff was normal and there was no panic and distress during the landing.
However, he said, the investigation team would look into all aspects, including sabotage, ground fire and material failure.
The Capital Development Authority provided cutters and other tools to the staff of CAA and Airblue to cut the tail and recover the black box.
“I am hopeful that it will be taken out of the tail soon,†Mr Abbasi said, adding that details of the investigation would be made public.
In his first public appearance after the crash, the owner of Airblue put the entire responsibility of the disaster on the pilot and claimed that he was not stopped by the control tower of Benazir Bhutto Airport from landing the plane. He said there was no technical fault in the airliner.
“The landing decision is solely taken by the pilot and, therefore, no other person or authority can be blamed for the plane’s being taken to the Margalla Hills instead of landing at the airport,†he said.
Brushing aside rumours that the pilot, Captain Pervez Iqbal Chaudhry, was suffering from fatigue, he said the pilot had rested for 36 hours before the flight.
When asked about reports that the airline had not followed international safety rules, Mr Abbasi said Airblue had never violated any international rules.
He said the pilot was 61 years old while the standard age at the international level was 65 years.
Thirty-four-year-old co-pilot Mujttahid Chughtai had served in the Pakistan Air Force as F-16 jet fighter pilot.
Mr Abbasi said the bodies of 102 passengers had been handed over to their relatives. Samples for DNA tests of 62 individuals have been sent to the laboratory.
“The airline will pay insurance money to heirs of the plane crash victims,†he said.
BLACK AREAS: A pilot of PIA revealed that there were some ‘black spots’ within a radius of 17km around Benazir International Airport where Global Positioning System (GPS) of planes stopped working.
A seven-member team, headed by Air Commodore Khawaja Abdul Majid and comprising Capt Sardar M. Ilyas, group captain Mujahid Islam, engineer Tahir Abbas, ATS Amanullah Alvi, Capt Sohail Sarwer and doctor Afzal Bhogio, has been formed to investigate the crash.
The team visited the crash site on Friday and took photographs of the wreckage and drew sketches.
“Their first priority is to preserve the wreckage of the plane which was scattered on a 400-foot radius on the Margalla Hills. Engines, tail, cockpit and other major parts of the plane are lying there and everything is important for the investigation,†CAA director general Amin said. “The bulk-head which contains the black box has been found.†The DG said that a five-member team from France had arrived and engine experts from the United States and Germany will come soon.
Source: DAWN
