FDR Black Box Found, Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 CVR Still Searched

FDR black box Sriwijaya air aircraft. (Fauzi Lamboka / Antara)

JAKARTA - The black box Flight Data Recorder (FDR) section of the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 aircraft has been found. Now the search operation team is continuing with the search for the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 cockpit voice recorder (CVR).

TNI Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said the discovery of part of the FDR was reported by the KSAL at around 16:40 WIB, Tuesday, January 12. At 14.00 WIB, according to the TNI Commander, the KSAL reported a fraction of the FDR black box Sriwijaya Air SJ-182.

"16.40 KSAL reports again that FDR has been found and it is also reported that two underwater beacons were found. This means that CVR still needs to be searched without the help of these beacons. However, we believe that all the beacons in the cockpit voice are found in the vicinity with high confidence so the cockpit voice will be found, "said Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto at the main post for the search for Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 aircraft at JICT2, Tanjung Priok, Tanjung Priok.

The black box was put into a box filled with brownish water, then taken by Sea Rider by several divers, including Kopaska and Dislambair.

The black box was carried by the Special Task Force for SAR Operations on Sriwijaya Air, First Admiral Yayan Sofyan and the Operations Director of Puskopaska Colonel Laut (P) Johan Wahyudi.

The black box is an important tool to identify the causes of a crash. The Black Box installed on the aircraft is divided into two parts, namely the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and the Cockpit Voice Recorder (VCR).

FDR is responsible for storing flight parameters for 25 hours before being overwritten with a new record. This information includes speed, altitude, time, and direction of the aircraft.

A VCR keeps a conversation between the pilot and his crew or the control tower. The recording period is two hours, after which it will continue to re-record itself and overwrite the previous data.

Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 aircraft took off from Soekarno-Hatta Airport, at 14:36 WIB, Saturday, January 9. One minute later the plane to Pontianak was at an altitude of 1,700 feet and was allowed to rise to an altitude of 29 thousand feet by following instrument standards.

"At 14:40 Sriwijaya did not go to 075 degrees but to the northwest, therefore ATC was asked to report the direction of the plane. Not long after, in a matter of seconds, SJY 182 disappeared from radar, "said Minister of Transportation Budi Karya Sumadi, Saturday, January 9.

There were 62 passengers including the crew of the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 aircraft. Of the total passengers, there are 7 children and 3 babies.

The Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 aircraft had its departure delayed for 30 minutes. The reason was the heavy rain.