CRASHED ARMENIAN PLANE’S BLACK BOXES TO BE CHECKED IN PARIS

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 25 2006

YEREVAN, May 25 (RIA Novosti) – The flight recorders from an Armenian
Airbus that crashed into the Black Sea May 3 will be sent to Paris
for checking before being decoded in Moscow, an official said Thursday.

Gayane Davtyan, of the Armenian civil aviation authority’s press
service, said speculation that the flight recorders were too severely
damaged to be decoded was premature.

“The black boxes from the A-320 airliner will be decoded in Moscow.

However, they will first be sent to Paris, where Armenian, Russian,
and French experts will work to ascertain their technical condition.

The black boxes will then be opened, and the chips will be taken from
them and delivered to Moscow for decoding,” she said.

The recovery operation at the scene of the tragedy was officially
declared over on Wednesday.

Tatiana Anodina, head of the Interstate Aviation Committee, said
experts may face problems deciphering data from the wreck’s cockpit
flight recorder, because of damage to the recording medium.

The airliner, operated by Armenia’s Armavia, crashed while flying
from the Armenian capital, Yerevan, in stormy weather 6 kilometers
(3.7 miles) from Russia’s Adler airport, which services the popular
resort of Sochi. All 113 people on board died.