Multi-National Team in AirAsia Black Box Search
A multi-national team of experts has been assembled to search for the black box flight recorders of the AirAsia plane that crashed off Borneo in the North Java Sea last Sunday.
Indonesian officials have confirmed that two ships with hydrophones left the port of Pangkalan Bun on Friday. On board are experts from France’s BEA accident investigation agency.
The precise location of the plane remains a mystery although unconfirmed images have been reported and wreckage has been recovered.
The head of Indonesia’s search and rescue agency, Bambang Soelistyo, has estimated that the plane’s fuselage is in waters 25-30m (80-100ft) deep. This means that the black boxes should be relatively easy to find if their beacons are working as they have a range of 2,000 to 3,000m.
ABC Australia reports that the head of Indonesia's national committee for transportation safety, Tatang Kurniadim, said rescuers would use five ping locators, two from Indonesia, two from Singapore and one from Britain, once the weather settled in about five days’ time.
It is believed that the plane may have stalled after undertaking a steep climb to avoid a storm. The pilots requested an ascent from 32,000 feet to 38,000 feet, but air traffic controllers granted permission for a rise to only 34,000 feet. They received no further response from the plane which may have been pushed beyond its performance envelope by the steep climb taken at a relatively slow speed.
Approximately 30 bodies have been recovered so far, but bad weather, including monsoon rains and strong currents, has slowed recovery operations, leaving around 130 of the 162 people on board the plane still missing.
There were 155 Indonesians, three South Koreans, and one from each of Singapore, Malaysia and Britain on board. Four victims have been identified so far. The first victim, Hayati Luthfiah Hamid, 49, from Surabaya, was buried on Thursday.
Some of the bodies found have been fully clothed and still strapped to their seats, according to media reports.
The accident is AirAsia’s first since it began operations in 2001.