On a grey Wednesday in the Java Sea, the search for the voice recorder of a Sriwijaya Air jet that plunged into these waters days earlier was halted by rising swells. The sea has returned part of the story, a flight data recorder hauled from the seabed, but the most human fragment, the cockpit's spoken final minutes, remains hidden in the dark water. Sixty-two lives were lost in a few minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, and what is still unknown is whether the machine or the people in it can tell us why.
Indonesia Suspends Dive Search for Sriwijaya Air Cockpit Voice Recorder as Weather Halts Java Sea Operations
All 62 people on board the Sriwijaya Air flight were aboard when the jet crashed into the Java Sea shortly after takeoff.
The beacon is found, but the recorder it belonged to is not.
Mark
The flight data recorder is recovered. Why does the missing voice recorder still matter so much?
Mimi
Because they capture different things. The data recorder holds about 25 hours of flight parameters, while the voice recorder has 30 minutes of cockpit conversation. Investigators want both to build the full picture.
Mark
And they found the beacon but not the recorder?
Mimi
Yes. The beacon detached, so there are no pings to guide divers. That's why the ROV is being sent to confirm the location again.
Luke
Worth noting the military chief's "high confidence" is an expression of optimism, not a finding. Nothing confirms where the recorder is yet.
Mark
What do we know about the cause?
Mimi
Very little. The plane crashed four minutes after takeoff, and early KNKT findings say the engine was running on impact, based on damage to retrieved parts.
Luke
Right, and that's an initial reading from debris damage. It doesn't explain why the plane went down. The airworthiness inspection on December 14 is also a ministry statement, not a conclusion about the cause.
Mark
What comes next?
Mimi
KNKT expects to download the flight data in two to five days, and a U.S. NTSB team is heading to Jakarta.
Luke
That two-to-five-day window is an expectation. And the weather decides whether divers get back in the water at all.
El Pulso
- Divers halted the hunt for the cockpit voice recorder as waves of up to 2.5 metres made the water too dangerous to work.
- The voice recorder's beacon has detached from the device, so no pings are being emitted and searchers have no signal to follow.
- Investigators have the flight data recorder in hand, and KNKT expects to download its data within two to five days.
- An underwater vehicle is being sent to rescan the seabed while a U.S. NTSB team travels to Jakarta to help with the investigation.
On a grey Wednesday in the Java Sea, the search for the voice recorder of a Sriwijaya Air jet that plunged into these waters days earlier was halted by rising swells. The sea has returned part of the story, a flight data recorder hauled from the seabed, but the most human fragment, the cockpit's spoken final minutes, remains hidden in the dark water. Sixty-two lives were lost in a few minutes after takeoff from Jakarta, and what is still unknown is whether the machine or the people in it can tell us why.
On Wednesday, Indonesian divers paused their search for the cockpit voice recorder of the Sriwijaya Air jet that went down in the Java Sea. Waves of up to 2.5 metres made the work unsafe, and the dive was suspended for the time being. The pause followed a significant find: on Tuesday, divers had brought up the flight data recorder from the seabed, and officials had located the beacon once attached to the voice recorder. But a beacon is not the recorder itself, and the separation now leaves searchers without any signal to follow.
The Boeing 737-500 crashed on Saturday, four minutes after leaving Jakarta's main airport, with 62 people aboard. Earlier on Wednesday, before the weather turned, divers had recovered more debris and a damaged identity card belonging to one of the victims, a small and painful reminder of the people behind the wreckage. Navy official Abdul Rasyid said a remotely operated vehicle would rescan the seabed and divers would return the next day.
Attention now turns to the flight data recorder, which investigators expect to yield answers first. KNKT anticipates downloading it within two to five days, and early damage assessments suggest the engine was running when the jet struck the water. A U.S. NTSB team is due in Jakarta to help. The open questions are whether the weather clears enough for the search to resume, and what the recovered data will reveal.
On Wednesday, Indonesian divers stopped looking for the cockpit voice recorder of the Sriwijaya Air jet that went down in the Java Sea. The reason was the weather. Waves of up to 2.5 metres, about 8.2 feet, made the work unsafe, officials said, and the dive search was suspended temporarily.
The pause came a day after a significant recovery. On Tuesday, divers brought up the plane's flight data recorder from the seabed. Officials also said they had found the beacon that had been attached to the cockpit voice recorder, the second of the aircraft's two black boxes. The beacon, however, is not the recorder itself.
That distinction complicates the search. Navy official Abdul Rasyid, speaking to reporters aboard the Indonesian navy ship Rigel, said the beacon had detached from the voice recorder, so no pings were being emitted. Divers no longer have a signal to follow. Earlier on Wednesday, before conditions worsened, they had retrieved more debris and a damaged identity card belonging to one of the victims.
Abdul said a remotely operated underwater vehicle would be sent to scour the seabed to confirm the location again, and that divers would comb the area once more the next day. On Tuesday, military chief Hadi Tjahjanto had said he had high confidence the recorder would be found soon.
The aircraft, a Boeing 737-500, crashed into the Java Sea on Saturday, four minutes after taking off from Jakarta's main airport. There were 62 people on board. Investigators will rely heavily on the two black boxes to establish what went wrong.
The recovered flight data recorder is expected to yield answers first. Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee, known as KNKT, expects to download its data within two to five days. According to the final report on the 2008 crash of a similar Boeing 737 model, the FDR holds about 25 hours of data across eight tracks, while the voice recorder holds 30 minutes of conversation.
Some early findings are already in. KNKT's initial assessment, based on damage to jet parts pulled from the sea, indicates the plane's engine was running when it hit the water. A team from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board is due to travel to Jakarta in the coming days to help with the investigation.
Indonesia's transport ministry said on Tuesday that the plane had been grounded during the early months of the coronavirus pandemic. It passed an airworthiness inspection on December 14 and returned to service shortly afterward. What to watch now is whether the weather clears enough for divers to resume, and what the flight data shows once it is downloaded.
Citas Notables
We have the ROV that will confirm the location again and tomorrow we will dive and comb that location again.— Abdul Rasyid, Indonesian Navy official
He had high confidence of finding the recorder soon.— Hadi Tjahjanto, Indonesian military chief
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Lee el original en The Indian Express ↗
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