CRASHED A-320 DATA COULD BE DECODED IN TWO MONTHS – MINISTER

RIA Novosti, Russia
May 31 2006

MOSCOW, May 31 (RIA Novosti) – The decoding of the flight data from
an Armenian Airbus that crashed into the Black Sea May 3 could take
up to two months, the Russian transportation minister said Wednesday.

Igor Levitin said experts would have to check about 300 technical
parameters from the flight data recorder to establish the cause of
the tragedy, and that Armenian technicians would have to be involved
because the plane’s pilots spoke Armenian during the tragedy.

The recovery operation at the scene of the disaster was officially
declared over on May 24.

Tatiana Anodina, head of the Interstate Aviation Committee, said
earlier that experts might face problems deciphering data from the
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.