Cairo
The official didn’t elaborate on how long the repairs would take but said if this cannot be done in Egypt, the so-called “black boxes” would be sent abroad. The official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he wasn’t authorized to speak to the media.
With the flight’s wreckage 3,000 meters under water, the cockpit voice and flight data recorders are vital for piecing together the last moments of the flight, which plunged into the sea between the Greek island of Crete and the Egyptian port city of Alexandria on May 19, killing all 66 on board.
Earlier in the day, Egypt’s investigation commission said the flight data recorder had been pulled out of the sea, a day after the cockpit voice recorder also was recovered.
The memory units inside the recorders can provide key data, including the last conversations inside the cockpit, information about auto-pilot mode or even smoke alarms. They might also give answers to why the pilot made no distress call.
Experts say the data, combined with previously obtained satellite and radar images, debris analysis, the plane history and the pilots’ records, can shed light on the most possible scenarios.
The cause of the crash of the Airbus A320 has not been determined and no militant group has claimed bringing down the aircraft.
“We will be having a wealth of information that helps the investigators eliminate some possibilities while giving priority to others,” said Hani Galal, an Egyptian aviation expert.