OPERATION TO RECOVER A-320 BLACK BOXES TO START MAY 16
by Galina Solodovnikova
ITAR-TASS News Agency
May 13, 2006 Saturday
An operation to recover flight recorders from the Armenian Airbus-320
passenger plane that crashed in the Black Sea off Sochi on May 3 will
begin on Tuesday, May 16, Russian Transport Minister Igor Levitin
said on Saturday.
He said equipment for the operation was being loaded in the port of
Novorossiisk. The equipment will be ready for use by Monday. “We plan
to start the operation on Tuesday,” the minister said.
According to experts, the operation may take two to three days.
Beyond that everything will depend on the weather, Levitin said.
In his words, it will take about a month or two to “read” the data
from the flight recorders. “We hope that the operation to lift [the
flight recorders] will go well,” he added.
The flight recorders are lying on the seabed 496 metres from the
surface and about five metres apart. “The visibility is sufficient
for the work to be done,” the minister said.
Of 113 people who were abroad the plane, 51 bodies have been found
so far.
The Airbus A-320 of the Armenian airline Armavia plunged into the
Black Sea as it was making a landing manoeuvre in the early hours of
May 3. The accident claimed the lives of 113 people.