SAR team retrieves Sriwijaya Air’s black box

Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – The joint SAR team on Tuesday, at around 4 p.m.  local time retrieved a black box belonging to Sriwijaya Air SJ 182 that crashed into waters off the coast of Indonesia’s capital city of Jakarta on Saturday (Jan. 9).

The black box which is the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) was found between Laki Island and Lancang Island in Seribu Islands district, and was carried by the Indonesian Navy’s special force ship.

The black box has been sent to JICT (Jakarta International Container Terminal) 2 in Tanjung Priok, North Jakarta for further investigation by the National Transportation Safety Committee (KNKT) team.

According to the committee’s chairman Soerjanto Tjahjono, data downloading process from the FDR is estimated to be completed between two days and five days.

He said FDR and the two pingers had been found, but both devices have to be released from the black box first.

Pinger is a tool that functions to make a sound in case of an accident that causes a plane to fall into waters. The pinger sound is detected by a sonar detector.

Meanwhile, Indonesian Armed Forces Commander Air Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said, the search for Sriwijaya Air’s black box has not been completed because the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), has not been found yet.

However, it is expected that the search would not take long because according to the commander, the underwater locator beacon has been found near the location where CVR is located.

Underwater locator beacon is a device that guide search and rescue teams to a sinking plane by emitting an electronic pulse repeatedly.

“I believe that with professional work and supported by adequate equipment, we can find the CVR whose underwater locator beacon has been found today,” Marshal Hadi said.

Sriwijaya Air SJ 182 series Boeing 737-500 crashed on Saturday (Jan. 9) four minutes after taking off from Soekarno Hatta Airport in Cengkareng, Banten province to Supadio Airport in West Kalimantan province’s capital city of Pontianak.

The plane carried 62 passengers including adults, children and infants as well as crew members.

Reporting by Indonesia Window