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Search teams believe they have found the missing black boxes of AirAsia Flight 8501. Divers are expected to recover them on Monday. Officials are hopeful the boxes will provide answers as to why the plane crashed into the Java Sea in December. VPC
An aerial photo shows a tail section of the AirAsia flight QZ8501 on the deck of a Crest Onyx ship as the search for black boxes of the aircraft continues.(Photo: ZULKARNAIN, AFP/Getty Images)
Search teams believe they have located the black boxes from AirAsia Flight 8501, and divers will attempt to bring the boxes to the surface Monday, an Indonesian official said Sunday.
Indonesia's search team coordinator at the Directorate of Sea Transport said Indonesia navy divers from the ship KN Jadayat discovered pings from the black boxes about 100 feet below the surface of the choppy, cloudy waters of the Java Sea.
"The navy divers in Jadayat state boat have succeeded in finding a very important instrument, the black box of AirAsia QZ8501," Tonny Budiono said in a statement.
He said the boxes appear to be lodged beneath wreckage from the AirAsia jet and are about 60 feet apart. Crews will attempt to retrieve them Monday by moving pieces of the jet below the surface or by raising the wreckage to the surface using balloons, Budiono said. The balloon system was used to raise the tail of the jet Saturday.
We are led to believe Blackbox may ha e been found. Still not confirmed. But strong info coming. But my man thoughts is fuselage.
— Tony Fernandes (@tonyfernandes) January 11, 2015
Retrieval of the data and cockpit voice recording boxes would be key to determining why the plane, with 162 passengers and crew aboard, plunged into the sea Dec. 28. The flight from Surabaya, Indonesia, to Singapore disappeared from radar less than an hour into the scheduled two-hour flight. Indonesian weather service officials have tentatively blamed storms for the crash.
At least one Indonesian official counseled caution, saying it was too soon to say with certainty the pings were from the black boxes.
"There are signals, or pings, which are suspected to be of the black boxes," said Henry Bambang Soelistyo, chief of Indonesia's search and rescue agency.
AirAsia CEO Tony Fernandes earlier tweeted: "We are led to believe Blackbox may ha e been found. Still not confirmed. But strong info coming. But my man thoughts is fuselage."
USA TODAY
Crashed AirAsia's tail hoisted from sea; no black boxes
The Commission for Transportation Safety stopped a remote-operated vehicle from being deployed to probe the area where the pings were heard, fearing it might damage the boxes, said Muhammad Ilyas, head of oceanic surveys at Indonesia's technology agency. The sites will only be examined by divers, he said.
The search has been bogged down by days of heavy rains, high winds and perilous seas. Even in good weather, divers have had to deal with visibility of as little as three feet.
On Sunday, relatively clear skies and calm seas allowed more extensive search efforts. Sonar detected a large object near the pings, and officials initially were hopeful it was the main section of the Airbus A320's cabin. Soelistyo later said divers had confirmed it was a wing and debris from the engine.
USA TODAY
Reports: Pings detected in AirAsia search
On Saturday, the successfully lifted tail of the plane was taken to Pangkalan Bun, the nearest town, to be handed over to Indonesia's National Transportation Safety Committee for investigation, the airline said in a statement.
Authorities had hoped the black boxes would be attached to the tail, but apparently they became separated during the crash. Their beacons emit signals for about 30 days until the batteries die, meaning divers have about two weeks left before they go silent.
Some 48 bodies have been recovered so far, the National Search and Rescue Agency said in a statement Sunday. AirAsia said 32 of the remains have been identified.
Indonesian transport ministry has said AirAsia did not have a license to fly the route on the day of the crash, a claim AirAsia has vigorously disputed. The airline has been banned from flying the Surabaya-Singapore route. The transport ministry has suspended scores of routes from other domestic airlines for similar alleged violations.
Contributing: Jane Onyanga-Omara; Associated Press
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