Incomprehensible. That they were not recovered when we all know there was little or no technical difficulty and relatively low cost.
CAO 20.18 Sect 6 Is very specific about carriage of recorders including maintenance and so on. I have written the cheques and even cancelled flights to remain compliant,
So if it is a legal REQUIREMENT, and in this particular case there is no relief for unserviceability on dispatch, neither were they recorded as an MEL item, what possible justification can there be for their not being recovered.
It is a significant cost of operation for the operator, for the ATSB or CASA to suggest they don't have the budget nor justification for their recovery is not just incomprehensible its just plain old fashioned bull****.
And it smells even worse. To high heaven in fact.
In the scheme of things I might have even been moved to fund the recovery if I had been made aware.
I am remain open to be educated on this matter.