From
The Jakarta Post Sunday 8am - Sukhoi
An investigation team from the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) has retrieved the flight-data recorder of the Russian-made Sukhoi Superjet 100 that crashed on Mt. Salak in West Java earlier this week.
Although it will take some time before information from the flight data recorder, also known as “the black box”, can be accessed for the purpose of the investigation, the information will be crucial to ascertain what really happened to the Russian passenger plane on its fateful flight.
“Based on the latest information that we received, the investigation team has retrieved the black box,” National Search and Rescue Agency (Basarnas) spokesperson Gagah Prakoso told reporters on Saturday.
The Transportation Ministry’s air transportation director general Herry Bhakti Gumay, however, refused to confirm whether the KNKT already possessed the black box.
Herry, however, said once the KNKT had hold of the black box, the agency would analyze it in the country.
“The box will be analyzed here because it is we who are in charge of the rescue effort and also because it took place in Indonesia,” he told The Jakarta Post by phone on Saturday. “If we are able to analyze it by ourselves, then we will do it on our own.”
Herry said Indonesia had the technology to read data from the flight data recorders and equipment for undertaking the job, which is available at the KNKT’s office in Jakarta.
Earlier, Transportation Minister E.E. Mangindaan was quoted by Antara as saying the investigation of the crash would be led by an Indonesia team and the 78 Russian experts would provide assistance in the investigation.
Russian Ambassador to Indonesia, Alexander A. Ivanov, also confirmed the plane’s black box would be analyzed in Indonesia.
Information from the flight data recorder is expected to be checked against data from the Air Traffic Controller at the Soekarno-Hatta International Airport.
Members of the rescue team on Saturday transported 16 body bags with remains of the victims of the Sukhoi accident from the crash site to the Halim Perdanakusuma Airport in East Jakarta.
Helicopters from the Basarnas carried the body bags before they were transferred to the Raden Said Sukanto National Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, for identification.
The government has set up six teams to identify the victims, comprising 60 experts in forensic medicine, fingerprint identification and DNA analysis, among others.
Members of the teams also include experts from Gadjah Mada University (UGM) in Yogyakarta, Airlangga University in Surabaya, East Java and the University of Indonesia in Jakarta, who were brought in to help identify the victims, whose remains had begun to decompose after three days.
Personal items found at the crash site were also taken to the hospital to aid identification.
Rescue workers, who started their search early at 6:30 a.m., ended their efforts at 4:45 p.m. on Saturday due to bad weather conditions. Members of the rescue team plan to continue the search at 6 a.m. on Sunday at areas of much more difficult terrain around the wreckage site.
The regional jet with 45 people onboard disappeared from radar screens at 2:33 p.m. on Wednesday before debris was found at about 9:15 a.m. on Thursday at about 5,800 feet on Mt. Salak’s slopes.
The aircraft, which intended to enjoy an afternoon flight, took off at 2:12 p.m. from Halim Perdanakusuma Airport, planning to head south to Pelabuhan Ratu in Sukabumi, West Java, before returning to Halim.
Lawmaker from the United Development Party (PPP) on the House of Representatives Commission V overseeing transportation Arwani Thomafi said the House would summon the transportation minister for a response regarding the incident.
Arwani said the country’s national transportation system also needed a major overhaul following the crash.
Separately, aviation observers Samudra Sukardi said that airports in the country needed to update their equipment to be able to handle new types of aircrafts, such as the ill-fated Sukhoi Superjet 100. (asa)