Black box findings may not be revealed

Black box findings may not be revealed

JAKARTA (JP): Minister of Transportation Haryanto Dhanutirto
hinted yesterday that the results of the examination of the
flight data and voice cockpit recorder, referred to as the
blackbox, of the Garuda Indonesia Airbus which crashed last
month, may not be made known to the public.

Haryanto told journalists that once the investigation team had
finalized its findings the government would reveal them to the
House of Representatives commission responsible for
transportation.

"Then we'll discuss with the commission whether or not to
publicize the findings," the minister was quoted by Antara as
saying in Semarang, Central Java.

The Garuda Indonesia Airbus 300-B4 crashed on Sept. 26 killing
all 234 aboard.

Despite an intensive search, the blackbox was only found
Tuesday. The blackbox was found buried 20 centimeters deep.

Haryanto said that although the blackbox had been found, it
could take eight months to determine the cause of the accident.

"The blackbox will be taken to Australia and investigated by a
team led by Professor Diran. From there, the results will be
discussed," the minister said.

"It's a long process and could take three months, five months,
six months or even eight months," he added.

The government has so far been tight-lipped about what might
have caused the accident. President Soeharto has called on the
people to be patient and not speculate on the matter. (mds)