In this Jan 21, 2021 photo, investigators inspect pieces debris of the Sriwijaya Air flight SJ-182 retrieved from the Java Sea where the passenger jet crashed on Jan 9. At Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Indonesia. (DITA ALANGKARA / AP)
JAKARTA – Indonesia has recovered the cockpit voice recorder from a Sriwijaya Air jet that crashed into the Java Sea in January, and the air accident investigator said on Wednesday it could take up to a week to be able to listen to the recording.
The CVR could help investigators understand the actions taken by the pilots of the doomed jet, which crashed shortly after take-off on Jan 9, killing all 62 people on board.
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The cockpit voice recorder was located late on Tuesday, Indonesia's transport minister said, nearly three months after the crash
According to a preliminary report by investigators released in February, the plane had an imbalance in engine thrust that eventually led it into a sharp roll and then a final dive into the sea. The report included information from the flight data recorder (FDR).
Divers found the casing and beacon of the CVR from the 26-year-old Boeing Co 737-500 within days of the crash but had been searching for the memory unit in relatively shallow but muddy waters, where currents are sometimes strong.
The CVR of Srwijiaya flight 182 was located late on Tuesday, Indonesia’s transport minister said at a media conference. A navy official said it had been found under a meter of mud.
“We will take CVR to lab for reading, about three days to one week,” Indonesia National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) head Soerjanto Tjahjono said. “After that we’ll transcribe and match it to FDR. Without a CVR, in the Sriwijaya 182 case it would be very difficult to determine the cause.”
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