AirAsia Missing Plane Search Latest News: Black Box Found, Up to 2 Weeks to Analyze Data

Rio Rose Ribaya Monday, January 12, 2015

The tail of AirAsia QZ8501 passenger plane is seen on the deck of the Indonesian Search and Rescue (BASARNAS) ship Crest Onyx after it was lifted from the sea bed, south of Pangkalan Bun, Central Kalimantan on Jan. 10, 2015. | REUTERS / Suharso

Search and rescue teams have found crucial flight recorders a day after successfully lifting the mangled tail of an Air Asia plane that crashed off Java Sea two weeks ago, Indonesian authorities said on Sunday.

But Tonny Budiono, a senior Indonesian ministry official, said they have yet to actually retrieve the black box, which was stuck under debris from the main body of the ill-fated Airbus A320, which crashed last Dec. 28, 2014.

"The navy divers in Jadayat state boat have succeeded in finding a very important instrument, the black box of AirAsia QZ8501," Budiono said in a statement.

The Indonesia ministry official announced that the black box was found to be at a depth of 30 to 32 meters, disclosing plans of having the divers to shift the position of the wreckage to finally recover the black box.

The black box contains important flight data including flight data as well as the pilots' last words moments before the crash.

"If this effort fails, then the team will lift part of the main body using the same balloon technique used earlier to lift the tail," Budiono added.

The discovery came a day after S.B. Supriyadi, a director at Indonesia's National Search and Rescue Agency, explained that searchers failed to find the crucial flight recorder inside the mangled aircraft's tail, which was lifted last Saturday.

Supriyadi explained search and rescue teams attached inflatable bags to the rear of Air Asia's ill-fated Airbus A320 aircraft allowing it to hoist the wreckage of the tail up from a depth of 30 meters.

Officials raised hopes about the black box, reporting that strong ping signals had been detected by three vessels involved in the search operations, which have been going on for two weeks now since Air Asia Flight QZ8501 crashed, killing 162 people on board.

Those signals, Malaysian Navy chief Abdul Aziz Jaafar said, were coming from the seabed less than one kilometer from where the tail of the plane was found. Malaysia's Navy is helping in the search.