Air Asia Crash: Cockpit Voice Recorder Found Under Wreckage Of Doomed Jet

Rio Rose Ribaya Thursday, January 15, 2015

The flight data recorder of AirAsia QZ8501 is transferred to another container at the airbase in Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan, Indonesia, on Jan. 12, 2015. | REUTERS/Darren Whiteside

Indonesian search and rescue teams finally retrieved on Tuesday the cockpit voice recorder (C.V.R.) of the Air Asia passenger jet that crashed of Java Sea more than two weeks ago.

Santoso Sayogo, an investigator from Indonesia's National Transport Safety Committee, said divers lifted the second black box from under the wreckage of the ill-fated Airbus A320-200 at the bottom of sea. "The CVR has been lifted from the water and is in the ship," he said, noting the device will be sent to Jakarta for immediate analysis.

Sayogo said Indonesian divers found the crucial recorder about 32 meters under water, trapped under the heavy wreckage of Indonesia Air Asia Flight QZ-8501.

Last Dec. 28, the Indonesia Air Asia flight lost contact with air traffic control in bad weather less than halfway into a two-hour flight from Surabaya to Singapore.

The retrieval of the C.V.R., which was found not far from the first black box lifted last Monday, brought Indonesian authorities a step closer towards finding out the cause of the crash that killed all 162 people aboard.

The cockpit voice recorder retains the last two hours of conversation between the pilots and air traffic controllers. It also monitors crucial information such as airspeed, radio transmissions and sounds in the cockpit.

Designed to survive underwater, both recorders are located near the rear of the plane. They contain a wealth of data that will be crucial for probers of the deadly Air Asia crash.

Investigators may need up to a month to get a complete reading of the data, Reuters reported.

Rear Admiral Widodo, the commander of Indonesian Navy's Western Fleet, said after almost three weeks they have completed searching for the main things they have been looking for.

"But the team will still try to find the body of the plane in case there are still bodies inside," Widodo clarified.

The accident, which killed 162 people on board including cabin crew and passengers, was the first major setback for Malaysia-based Air Asia after a 13-year run of success.