SEARCH FOCUSES ON DISCOVERING SUKHOI'S FLIGHT DATA RECORDER

By Andi Abdussalam

Jakarta, 19 (ANTARA) - As the search operation to evacuate the victims was officially terminated on Friday, a 16-member joint Indonesian-Russian team is now focusing its search on recovering the flight data recorder of the crashed Sukhoi in West Java.          The Russian-made SSJ-100 with 45 people on board - eight Russians, 35 Indonesians, one Frenchman, and one American - was on a demonstration flight when it crashed on Mount Salak in Bogor district, West Java, on Wednesday (May 9) afternoon.          The flight data recorder has not yet been found. Like the cockpit voice recorder which records the conversations of the crew in the cockpit, the flight data recorder records technical flight data and is also a part of the black box.          Officials note that the Sukhoi's flight data recorder is needed to reveal the cause of the crash. Therefore, the joint Indonesian-Russian team is now focusing its attention on finding it.          The cockpit voice recorder was found last Tuesday (May 15).          Members of a joint team from the army's Kopassus special force and the Indonesia Rock Climbing Federation discovered the cockpit voice recorder at the site of the crash.          "After checking it, the National Committee for Transportation Safety confirmed that the aircraft item carried by the Kopassus team is the part of the black box," the chief of the Suryakencana Military Command 061, Col. AM Putranto, said.          The cockpit voice recorder was later flown by helicopter to Halim from Bogor, West Java, after being officially handed over by Chairman of the National Search and Rescue Agency Vice Marshal Daryatmo to Head of the National Committee of Transportation Safety Tatang Kurniadi at Pasir Pogor Square, Bogor.           The cockpit voice recorder arrived at Halim Perdanakusuma air force base on Wednesday.          Now, the joint Indonesian-Russian team is focusing its efforts on searching for the flight data recorder. The team, composed of 10 Russian and 6 Indonesian volunteers, was flown to the crash site on Friday.          "The team will continue the search for the flight data recorder, which has not yet been found," On Search Commander Col. Inf. AM Putranto, who is also the chief of the Suryakancana Military Resort 061 of Bogor, said here on Saturday.          The joint team continued its search for the flight data recorder on Saturday, after it called off Friday¿s search due to poor weather conditions. Officials hope the flight data recorder will provide critical data from the plane during the moments before and after the crash.           The Russian team has been involved in the search for the flight data recorder for only three days. "We gave the Russian team three days to become involved in the operations, beginning on Friday when the evacuation of Sukhoi's victims was officially brought to a close," Putranto said.          Putranto explained that on Friday the 16 members of the Indonesian-Russian team were at the crash site of the ill-fated plane. But because of rain and bad weather conditions, they were ordered to stop their search expedition and rest at the helipad on the peak of Mt Salak.          Two helicopters, a Russian Bolco and a Superpuma, remain on alert at the helipad to pick up team members when they finish their mission.           The joint team for the evacuation of the victims was officially halted on Friday, yet operations are still to continue on a regional basis by Military Resort 061, assisted by the National Search and Rescue Agency, the National Transportation Safety Committee and local police.          The operation has no deadline and should not be affected by the termination of the operations for the evacuation of the victims. "The termination of the evacuation operations will not affect the search for the flight data recorder, which has yet to be found,"  Search Mission Coordinator Ketut Parwa said.          According to Ketut, the search for the flight data recorder has nothing to do with the termination of the victims evacuation operations, although he has also begun to withdraw his men from the crash site because, at present, the main focus of his team is to discover the flight data recorder.          Military Resort 061 Commander Col. AM Putranto said the team searching for the flight data recorder would be assisted by his military command which oversaw the region. The operation to recover the flight data recorder is now being carried out by regional authorities.         "We will continue to conduct searches for the flight data recorder and they will be carried out, in turn, with  teams assigned for the tasks," noted Putranto.          In the meantime, Indonesia has begun to analyze the discovered cockpit voice recorder.          "The investigation or downloading of the black box should be conducted in Indonesia in accordance with international regulations about flight safety," Tatang Kurniadi told the press conference.          In addition, the Indonesian government is coordinating with the Russian government regarding the downloading of the cockpit voice recorder, he said.***3*** (T.A014/a/INE/a014)(T.SYS/A/KR-BSR/A/A014) 19-05-2012 18:42