IAF mountaineers recover black box of crashed AN-32 plane

New Delhi, June 29 (ANI): A team of the Indian Air Force Adventure Cell has recovered the black box of the AN-32 aircraft that crashed on June 9.

The aircraft was heading towards the Indian Army's advance base camp near Menchuka in Arunachal Pradesh when it crashed in the Tato Hills, killing 13 defence personnel.

The Indian Air Force used its mountaineering team comprising of Squadron Leader Namit Rawat, Warrant Officer Nizamuddin, Junior warrant officer Narendr Kumar and N R Choudhary to recover the cockpit voice recorder and the flight date box.

"It just proves that adventure is not only fun but can also be used in other productive fields, especially when life of IAF personnel and assets are involved that will help to find facts and help to reduce future accidents," Squadron Leader Rawat said.

Rawat said the team reached the base camp, which was nearly 500meters above the debris site at a height of 7,900 feet, on June 16 and immediately started searching for the black box. The team was joined by two technical officers, a court of inquiry pilot member and an instrument fitter technician of the IAF.

The team located the tail section of the aircraft amongst the scattered debris hanging precariously over few trees and inverted in an awkward 75-degree angle. The CVR and FDR are normally housed in the tail section of the aircraft. These were retrieved successfully by the team after an hour-and-half operation, Rawat said.

According to a communiqui issued by the IAF, the team also looked for more panels that could help the accident investigation team.

The recorders have since been sent to Jorhat in Arunachal Pradesh for further information (ANI)