SECOND FLIGHT RECORDER RECOVERED FROM PLANE CRASH THAT KILLED 113

Pravda, Russia
May 24 2006

The flight data recorder was lifted by a diving apparatus from a depth
of about 1,640 feet (500 meters) after it was separated from a thick
layer of silt, Transport Ministry spokeswoman Svetlana Kryshtanovskaya
said, according to the RIA-Novosti news agency.

The so-called “black box” was discovered within 16 meters (50 feet)
from the spot where workers found the plane’s cockpit voice recorder
Monday.

Russian TV channels showed footage of a yellow, remote-controlled
apparatus lifting the red recorder from the sea surface, the AP
reports.

Investigators hope the two recorders will help answer why the Armavia
Airbus A-320 plane plunged into the sea on May 3 amid heavy rain and
poor visibility. The flight had been en route to the southern Russian
sea resort Sochi from the Armenian capital, Yerevan. All passengers
and crew members on board were killed.

Prosecutors almost immediately dismissed the possibility that
terrorists had brought the plane down, and officials point to rough
weather or pilot error as the likely cause. Armavia officials have
suggested, however, that air traffic controllers were at least partly
to blame.

Top Armenian aviation officials will travel to Moscow Thursday for the
deciphering of the black boxes, a process that could also take place
in Paris with the involvement of Airbus, Armenia’s civil aviation
authority spokesman Gayane Davtian said.

Meanwhile, the victims’ relatives will receive compensation of
US$20,000 (~@15,550) each, the insurance company liable for the
payouts said Wednesday.