Jakarta, January 13 (RHC)-- Indonesian divers have reportedly retrieved the black box cockpit voice recorder from the wreck of the ill-fated AirAisa flight that went down into the Java Sea earlier this month. According to Indonesian media reports, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) was found on Tuesday near the spot where the flight data recorder (FDR) was recovered a day earlier.
The black box, which is on board an Indonesian navy ship, would be sent to the capital Jakarta for analysis, the reports added. On Monday, Indonesia said a team of divers managed to recover a flight data recorder of the crashed AirAsia Flight QZ8501, adding that search operations were underway to find the second black box.
The FDR contains data on the aircraft's movements such as air speed and engine pressure, while the CVR records the sounds in the cockpit, including conversations between pilots.
The new breakthrough paves the way for Indonesian investigators to start finding the cause the passenger plane's crash as they now possess both black boxes. Reports say, however, that the investigations could take up to a month.
The Airbus A320-200, belonging to Malaysia's airlines lost contact with air traffic control on December 28th, with 162 passengers on board en route from Surabaya in Indonesia's East Java Province to Singapore.
The Indonesian Agency for Meteorology, Climatology and Geophysics (BMKG) has said bad weather was the key factor behind the fatal incident.