China Recovers Both Black Boxes Of Crashed Plane: Report

The China Eastern flight MU5735 was flying between Kunming and Guangzhou on Monday when it crashed into a mountainside with 132 people on board.

Beijing: Chinese authorities have recovered the second black box from a China Eastern Airlines jet that crashed into a mountainside last Monday with 132 people on board, state media reported on Sunday. “The second black box from China Eastern flight MU5735 was recovered on March 27,” Xinhua news agency reported. The jet was flying between Kunming and Guangzhou on Monday when it crashed into a mountainside with 132 people on board. The cause of the disaster is not yet known.

The plane was equipped with two flight recorders – the one found Sunday was a flight data recorder (FDR) that tracks flight data like speed, altitude and heading. The other, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR), was found on Wednesday and is already being analysed in Beijing.

Quoting the Chinese Civil Aviation Administration (CAAC) on Saturday evening, news agency AFP reported that all of the people on board the aircraft had died and that it had confirmed almost all of their identities through DNA testing. All 123 passengers and nine crew members onboard the crashed flight were Chinese nationals.

What is a Black Box? 

A ‘Black Box’ or the Flight Data Recorder is an electronic device that records some of the most crucial parameters of a flight including, cockpit conversations, air pressure, and altitude among others. The device is placed in aircraft to facilitate the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents.

Unlike what the name suggests, the modern device is neither black in colour, nor is a box of any kind. Black boxes are painted bright orange. This helps investigators to locate them easily in case of an accident. The devices are built to withstand any accident without sustaining damage to preserve the vital information of the last minutes before the crash. They are enclosed in a corrosion-resistant stainless steel container with high-temperature insulation.

There are two types of flight recorder devices—a flight data recorder (FDR) and a cockpit voice recorder (CVR). FDR records the history of dozens of parameters collected several times per second during the course of a flight, while the CVR records the sounds inside the cockpit, including conversations between the pilots.

The forensic examination of the black box can reveal the data about the plane’s final flight situation and other aspects.