Black Boxes to Explain AirBus Crash

Flight Data Recorders, better known as Black Boxes 

by Mary Foran

The “black boxes” from AirAsia Flight 8501 which crashed in the Java sea in Malaysia flying from Surabaya to Singapore on December 30th have been recovered as have some 48 bodies of the 162 people who were on board that ill-fated plane.

In spite of bad weather, searchers have found wreckage from the plane, and there are theories as to why the plane crashed, including some who think there was an explosion that brought the plane down.

Some officials say there is little evidence to support that theory, but they are hopeful the data recorders will shed light on the mystery. It will take approximately a month to analyze the data and for the investigation to come to a conclusion, officials say.

Victims’ families want the priority to be finding bodies, which authorities hope to recover from the fuselage section of the downed plane.

Malaysian, Australian and U.S. ships and helicopters aided in the search for the remains of the plane in rough weather conditions.

———

Featured image/ U.S. National Transportation Safety Board, 2013, PD