As part of the investigation into the circumstances leading to the crash of the military aircraft belonging to the Nigerian Air Force (NAF), investigators have begun efforts to recover the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder of the ATR-42 aircraft that crashed in Igbokoda, headquarters of Ilaje Local Government Area of Ondo State.
The aircraft, which was on a routine mission from Benin City, Edo State, to Lagos, crashed into a swamp and claimed the lives of 20 passengers and five crew members, while the aircraft became submerged in the swamp, complicating recovery operations.
The development came a few days after the Nigerian Navy deployed specialised ‘sonar equipment’ to locate the submerged aircraft as recovery operations continue.
The Chief of the Naval Staff, Vice Admiral Idi Abbas, had directed the Nigerian Navy Hydrographic Department to deploy personnel and advanced sonar-scanning equipment to the site to obtain an underwater picture of the crash location.
Abbas said the deployment became necessary because of the swamp’s high turbidity, which has made underwater visibility extremely difficult.
The NAF Superintendent of Standards and Evaluation, Air Vice Marshal Ebimobo Ebiowe, said investigators were searching for critical components of the wreckage that could help establish the circumstances surrounding the tragedy.
He identified the flight data recorder (FDR), commonly known as the “black box,” and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) as key components investigators hoped to recover.
Ebiowe said: “We hope to be able to find critical components of the aircraft that will speak to the investigators because the aircraft wreckage actually speaks to the investigators.
“One of them is what the ordinary man (civilian) calls the black box. We call it the flight data recorder (FDR), and another component close to it, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR).”
It was learnt that the recorders are expected to provide crucial evidence for investigators seeking to reconstruct the aircraft’s final moments and determine the factors that led to the crash.
Aviation experts had told reporters that recovering and analysing the devices could provide important clues to the cause of the accident, although their findings would have to be assessed alongside other evidence from the wreckage and crash site.
One of the experts, Mr Olugbenga Afolabi, said the recorders were among the critical components investigators would be looking for.
Their recovery, he added, could help investigators establish what happened during the flight’s final moments.
His words: “The flight data recorder captures information about an aircraft’s performance and flight parameters, while the cockpit voice recorder preserves cockpit conversations, alarms, and other sounds that could help investigators understand the crew’s actions before the crash.”