An Indonesian search
team has found the black box of a Russian Sukhoi Superjet plane that crashed
into Mount Salak, killing all 45 people on board. The plane vanished 50 minutes after taking off
from Jakarta for a brief demonstration flight on 9 May. Data from the black
box, found about 100m from the tail of the plane, could help explain the cause
of the crash. The voice and data recorder was badly burned and had lost its
distinctive orange colour. Tatang Kurniadi, who heads the National
Transportation Safety Commission, said the data from the black box would be
analysed in Indonesia with help from Russian experts. It will take between two
to three weeks for any details to be revealed, says the BBC's Karishma Vaswani
in Jakarta.
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Eight Russian pilots
and technicians, Indonesian airline representatives and journalists were among
those said to be on board the plane. The plane took off from east
Jakarta's Halim Perdanakusuma airport at 14:00 (07:00 GMT) on 9 May, on its
second flight of the day. At 14:50, it was recorded as dropping from 10,000ft
(3,000m) to 6,000ft near Salak, a peak measuring 7,200ft (2,200m). Villagers
living in the area reported seeing a plane flying low into the mountain area. The
crash came with Sukhoi officials on an Asia-wide tour to show off their
aircraft to airline firms. The Superjet, a mid-range airliner that can carry up
to 100 people, is military plane-maker Sukhoi's first commercial aviation
plane. It was created by a joint venture, majority-owned by Sukhoi, with
Italy's Finmeccanica and a number of other foreign and Russian firms also
involved.
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