Silkair flight recorder said to frustrate probe<\/p>\n
WASHINGTON (Reuters): Investigators probing the SilkAir crash
\nin Indonesia last month have been frustrated by difficulties
\nreading the flight data recorder, Aviation Week reported on
\nMonday.<\/p>\n
U.S. and Indonesian investigators working in Washington
\ndiscovered they were unable to retrieve any data for the last
\nmoments of the flight, the magazine said in its latest issue.<\/p>\n
SilkAir flight MI-185 crashed on Dec. 19 in southern Sumatra
\non its way from Jakarta to Singapore. All 104 people on board the
\nBoeing 737-300 were killed.<\/p>\n
Aviation Week said investigators were now working with the
\nmaker of the data recorder and other experts to see if there was
\na way of restoring the tape.<\/p>\n
A flight data recorder in good condition can be read out
\nquickly, as shown by the recent 24-hour analysis of a recorder
\nfrom a United Airlines jumbo jet that hit severe turbulence last
\nmonth, killing one person.<\/p>\n
The National Transportation Safety Board has had the flight
\ndata recorder almost two weeks. An NTSB spokesman declined to
\ncomment except to say work on both the data recorder and the
\ncockpit voice recorder continued.<\/p>\n
The Federal Aviation Administration said on Monday that the 68
\nU.S.-registered 737's it had ordered inspected for a possible
\ntail problem had passed those checks.<\/p>\n
The FAA ordered the review of bolts and screws on horizontal
\nstabilizers after indications that 26 of these fasteners may have
\nbeen missing from the accident plane before it crashed.<\/p>\n
Affected worldwide were 211 Boeing 737-300, 400 and 500 series
\naircraft delivered after Sept. 20, 1995.<\/p>\n
Aircraft under construction in Boeing plants have also passed
\nthe inspection but attention would still seem to be focused on
\nthe tail of the SilkAir plane.<\/p>\n
The Straits Times newspaper of Singapore reported over the
\nweekend that six pieces of tail wreckage had been found nearly
\n4.4 miles (seven km) away from the main wreckage area in the Musi
\nriver. These pieces included the horizontal stabilizers.<\/p>\n
Neither the FAA, NTSB or Boeing Co. would comment on the
\nreport.<\/p>\n
The SilkAir crash has attracted extra attention because it
\noccurred while the plane was at cruising altitude --
\nstatistically the safest portion of a flight.<\/p>\n
The plane was only 10 months old and crewed by experienced
\npilots who sent no distress call.<\/p>\n
Aviation Week cast doubt on previous reports that the plane
\nwas in clear weather, however. It said a Qantas Boeing 747 flying
\na little higher and about five minutes behind the SilkAir plane
\nhad to make a deviation around a severe thunderstorm at the crash
\nlocation.<\/p>\n
SilkAir is a regional unit of Singapore Airlines.<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/silkair-flight-recorder-said-to-frustrate-probe-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }