Search teams have retrieved one of two black box flight recorders of an Air France plane that crashed into the Atlantic while on a Rio-Paris flight in 2009.
The investigation team located and identified the memory unit from the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) this morning (Sunday), said France's Bureau of Investigation and Analysis (BEA), which has been
tasked with probing the disaster which killed 228 people.
In a statement, the agency added that the device was "in good physical condition" after it was raised and lifted by the Remora 6000 ROV (robot submarine) on board the ship Ile de Sein.
"At this stage, the box seems to be in good physical condition. Our experts will tell us if there's hope to read the data," said BEA director Jean-Paul Troadec.
"If the data can be used it will allow the inquiry to make headway because the FDR (flight data recorder) records the altitude, speed, and the various positions of the rudder," Troadec
added.
The device was expected to arrive at BEA offices within eight to 10 days, to allow for the search of the flight deck voice recorder, so the two can be taken back to France.
BEA said the chassis that held one of the recorders was found a day after a salvage ship began working to retrieve bodies and recently discovered wreckage using the Remora submarines.
The Airbus A330 plunged into the Atlantic en route from Rio de Janeiro to Paris on June 1, 2009. Investigators announced they had found the main wreckage in early April on the fourth and final
attempt.
The official cause of the disaster remains uncertain, but the crash has been partly blamed on malfunctioning speed sensors used by Airbus, with Air France accused of not responding quickly enough
to reports that they might be faulty.
But investigators and Airbus remain cautious, stressing that without the black boxes the riddle of the plane's last moments may never be solved.
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