ACT Airlines 747F recorders significantly damaged

The flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR)—which were retrieved last week from the ACT Airlines Boeing 747 freighter crash site and sent to Moscow for analysis—have significant mechanical damage and high temperature traces, according to Russia’s Interstate Aviation Committee (IAC).

The IAC said in a statement it is not possible to read the information in traditional way.

The memory modules have been removed from the protected cases. Preliminary analysis on the FDR has shown it contains information about the accident. Investigators continue to restore the interface of CVR.

The analysis work is being performed with experts from the Aircraft accident Investigation Board of Turkey (KAIK), US FAA, US National Transportation Safety Board, Boeing, Kyrgyzstan authorities and ACT Airlines representatives.

The ACT Airlines Boeing 747-400 freighter—which was en route from Hong Kong to Bishkek and then on to Istanbul—crashed into a village near Manas airport in Kyrgyzstan in the early morning of Jan. 16 local time. All four crew were killed, as well as 34 people on the ground—half of them children.

(Polina Montag-Girmes - ATWOnline News)