Cockpit voice recorder found

Flights resume at Mangalore Airport.

Investigators today retrieved the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) from the wreckage of the ill-fated Air India Express aircraft, as they continued searching for the crucial Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) to ascertain what went wrong in Saturday’s crash that left 158 people dead.

The CVR and the Digital Flight Data Acquisition Unit, which record cockpit conversation and technical details, have been traced from the debris of the Boeing 737-800 aircraft. CVR and DFDR are both known as the ‘Black Box’.

Airline officials had earlier claimed the DFDR, too, had been mistakenly recovered.

Earlier in the day, a flight from Dubai landed at the airport here, a day after the Air India Express aircraft from Dubai crashed on the runway here, leaving 158 dead and eight injured.

Relatives of passengers coming by subsequent flights did have moments of anxiousness. But, on the whole, flights started operating normally. “The flight schedules are normal and there was no indication of cancellation by passengers in Mangalore-bound routes,” Shankar Mohan, air traffic manager, Mangalore airport, told Business Standard.

When asked about the effect on the business at the airport, a highly placed Air India official said it was not the right time to discuss the issue. “We are right now occupied in documenting the accident,” he said.

According to the officials, Mangalore Airport was preferred by those who wanted to take flights to West Asia destinations. The airport would, however, not see a major hit in traffic despite the accident, the official added.

However, sources say the airport’s international status may come under scanner after the accident. Aviation experts have been vocal in their criticism about its ‘table-top’ runway, which gives a pilot very little room for error. Earlier today, a forensic team from Hyderabad arrived to help investigate the cause of the air crash and conduct DNA tests on victims of the accident whose bodies were charred beyond recognition.

On ground zero, the sea of people thronging to catch a glimpse of the remains of the ill-fated Boeing 737-800 swelled. The police and workers had a tough time keeping away onlookers. Frantic work continued on the site to recover the remains of the plane. Aviation sources have listed human error by the experienced Serbian-origin pilot as the top possibility behind the accident.

However, the exact cause of the crash can only be ascertained after the investigations are completed. “There was no distress call from the pilot to the ATC. The visibility was sound, along with good weather. So, possibly there was some human error at the time of landing,” Mohan added. Sources in Air India also pointed towards the same theory.