Correspondent| The black box from the Ethiopian Airlines plane that crashed shortly after takeoff on Sunday has been found, the airline has confirmed.
The black box — or digital flight data recorder — will provide the first clues as to what caused the Ethiopian Airlines plane to crash just six minutes after takeoff.
“The Digital Flight Data Recorder(DFDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder(CVR) of ET302 have been Recovered,” said Ethiopian Airlines in a statement Monday afternoon.
The flight’s cockpit voice recorder has also been recovered, the airline said.
On Sunday, Ethiopian Airlines flight ET302 crashed shortly after takeoff, killing all 157 people on board. Investigators have started their search into what caused the deadly incident.
Experts have warned it is too early to say what caused the disaster.
A flight recorder is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents. Flight recorders are also known by the misnomer black box—they are in fact bright orange to aid in their recovery after accidents.
There are two different flight recorder devices: the flight data recorder (FDR) preserves the recent history of the flight through the recording of dozens of parameters collected several times per second; the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) preserves the recent history of the sounds in the cockpit, including the conversation of the pilots.
The two devices may be combined in a single unit. Together, the FDR and CVR give an accurate testimony, narrating the aircraft’s flight history, to assist in any later investigation.
The two flight recorders are required by international regulation to be capable of surviving the conditions likely to be encountered in a severe aircraft accident. Hence they are almost always recovered undamaged even after the most violent of plane crashes.