The Nigerian Air Force (NAF) has begun efforts to recover the flight data recorder (FDR) and cockpit voice recorder (CVR) of its ATR-42 aircraft that crashed in Igbokoda, Ondo State.
The recovery operation is expected to help investigators establish the circumstances surrounding the crash.
Speaking at the crash site in Igbokoda on Friday, Ebimobo Ebiowe, NAF’s superintendent of standards and evaluation, said investigators were searching for critical components of the wreckage that could provide vital clues about the incident.
He identified the flight data recorder, commonly known as the black box, and the cockpit voice recorder as key components the team was trying to recover.
“We hope to be able to find critical components of the aircraft that will speak to the investigators because the aircraft wreckage actually speaks to the investigators,” Ebiowe said.
“One of them is what the ordinary man (civilian) calls the black box. We call it the flight data recorder (FDR), and another component close to it, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR).”
Navy Deploys Sonar Equipment to Locate Wreckage
The Nigerian Navy deployed specialised sonar equipment on Wednesday to locate the submerged aircraft as recovery operations continued.
Idi Abbas, chief of the naval staff, directed the Navy’s hydrographic department to deploy personnel and advanced sonar-scanning equipment to the crash site to obtain an underwater picture of the location.
Abbas said the deployment was necessary because the swamp’s high turbidity had made underwater visibility extremely difficult.
The recovery of the aircraft’s recorders could provide investigators with important information to help determine what happened before the crash.
