In the muddy shallows of the Java Sea, divers have recovered the memory unit that may hold the last spoken moments of a flight that ended within minutes of leaving the runway. Two months after Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 fell from the sky with sixty-two people aboard, the search for the one fragment that might explain the crew's final choices has finally met with success. What the voices in that cabin say, and how they match the aircraft's own record of its fall, is now a question that will be answered slowly, in laboratory rooms, by people trying to give the lost some account of what happened.
Divers Recover Cockpit Voice Recorder From Sriwijaya Air Jet That Crashed in Java Sea
All 62 people on board were killed when the aircraft crashed shortly after take-off.
The data recorder shows what the aircraft did. The voice recorder may show the crew.
Mark
Why does a voice recorder matter when the flight data recorder already gave investigators a preliminary picture?
Mimi
The data recorder shows the aircraft's behavior: the thrust imbalance, the roll, the dive. The voice recorder is expected to show how the pilots responded. Tjahjono said that without it, finding the cause would be very difficult.
Luke
Worth being careful there. "Expected to help" is not the same as "will explain." Nobody has heard the audio yet.
Mark
Right. Why did it take so long to find, given the casing and beacon turned up within days?
Mimi
The memory unit is a separate piece. Divers were searching shallow water, but it was muddy with sometimes strong currents. It was found under about a metre of mud, according to a navy official.
Luke
That mud detail is one navy official's account. The reporting doesn't say how the unit came to be separated from its casing.
Mark
What happens next?
Mimi
A lab reading of three days to a week, then transcription and matching against the flight data.
Luke
And that timeline is Tjahjono's estimate. It could shift, and the recording's condition after weeks underwater isn't described.
Mark
So what do we actually know about the cause?
Mimi
Only the preliminary finding: thrust imbalance, sharp roll, final dive. Why the thrust became unbalanced is still open.
El Pulso
- Divers forced their way through murky, current-swept seabed to recover the cockpit voice recorder buried under a metre of mud.
- The February preliminary report points to an engine thrust imbalance that sent the 26-year-old Boeing 737-500 into a sharp roll and dive.
- Investigators are racing to read the memory unit in a laboratory, with the analysis expected to take three days to a week.
- Without the audio, the National Transportation Safety Committee says determining the cause will be very difficult, so every hour of lab work carries weight.
- The recording will be transcribed and matched against flight data, and the answer to why the thrust went unbalanced still lies ahead.
In the muddy shallows of the Java Sea, divers have recovered the memory unit that may hold the last spoken moments of a flight that ended within minutes of leaving the runway. Two months after Sriwijaya Air Flight 182 fell from the sky with sixty-two people aboard, the search for the one fragment that might explain the crew's final choices has finally met with success. What the voices in that cabin say, and how they match the aircraft's own record of its fall, is now a question that will be answered slowly, in laboratory rooms, by people trying to give the lost some account of what happened.
Late on a Tuesday in March, divers working in the shallow, muddy waters of the Java Sea brought up the piece investigators had been seeking since January: the memory unit of the cockpit voice recorder from Sriwijaya Air Flight 182. A navy official said it had been lying under a metre of mud.
The jet, a 26-year-old Boeing 737-500, went down shortly after take-off on January 9, and all 62 people on board were killed. Divers had found the recorder's casing and locator beacon within days, but the memory unit, which holds the audio, had stayed hidden. For weeks they worked a seabed that is shallow but murky, with currents that can run strong.
The recording may reveal what the pilots did. A February preliminary report, drawing on the flight data recorder, described an imbalance in engine thrust that drove the aircraft into a sharp roll and a final dive. The data shows what the aircraft did; the voices may show how the crew responded.
Soerjanto Tjahjono, head of the National Transportation Safety Committee, said the unit will go to a laboratory, a process he estimated at three days to a week. Investigators will then transcribe the audio and match it with the flight data. Without the recording, he said, determining the cause would be very difficult.
For now the findings remain preliminary, and the recovery does not yet explain why the thrust became unbalanced. That answer waits in the laboratory work ahead.
Late on a Tuesday in March, divers working in the shallow, muddy waters of the Java Sea brought up the piece investigators had been hunting for since January: the memory unit of the cockpit voice recorder from Sriwijaya Air Flight 182. A navy official said it was found under a metre of mud.
Indonesia's transport minister announced the recovery at a media conference on Wednesday. The jet, a 26-year-old Boeing 737-500, went down shortly after take-off on January 9. All 62 people on board were killed.
The search had been slower than the early progress suggested. Divers located the recorder's casing and its locator beacon within days of the crash, but the memory unit, the part that actually holds the audio, was not with them. They spent the following weeks working a stretch of seabed that is relatively shallow but murky, and where currents can run strong.
What the recording may add is an account of what the pilots did. A preliminary report released by investigators in February, drawing on the flight data recorder, had already described part of the sequence: an imbalance in engine thrust, which eventually sent the aircraft into a sharp roll and then a final dive into the sea. The data recorder shows what the aircraft did. The voice recorder is expected to help show what the crew did in response.
Soerjanto Tjahjono, head of Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee, said the unit will go to a laboratory to be read, a process he put at about three days to one week. After that, investigators will transcribe the audio and match it against the flight data recorder. He was direct about how much depends on it: without the cockpit voice recorder, he said, determining the cause in the Sriwijaya 182 case would be very difficult.
For now, the February findings remain preliminary, and the recovery does not itself explain why the thrust became unbalanced. That question sits with the laboratory work ahead. Within about a week, investigators expect to be able to listen to the recording, and then begin the longer task of lining it up with the flight data.
Citas Notables
Without a CVR, in the Sriwijaya 182 case it would be very difficult to determine the cause.— Soerjanto Tjahjono, head of Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee
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