The Air Force said Wednesday that it had discovered a flight audio and data recorder, commonly known as a black box, in a fatal CV-22B Osprey crash off the coast of Japan in November.
The piece of equipment is an important discovery for the Air Force and could help investigators learn what caused the crash that killed all eight airmen on board.
The black box will be “taken to a laboratory for data retrieval” and subsequent analysis of that data, a process that officials expect will take several weeks, Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) reports. Lt. Col. Rebecca Heise, the official, said in a statement. To The Hill.
The Air Force has recovered the bodies of seven of the eight airmen who died off the coast of Yakushima in southwest Japan during a routine training flight to Okinawa on Nov. 29.
The search for the only missing military member, Major Eric Spendlove, continues.
AFSOC said a preliminary investigation into the accident indicated “potential material failure,” meaning a mechanical defect in the aircraft likely caused the crash, but the cause remains unclear. It is unknown and the investigation is ongoing.
Heise said the majority of the aircraft was then recovered by the salvage ship USNS Salvor and transported to Marine Corps Air Station Iwakuni, where it will be “inspected as part of the ongoing investigation.”
All military Osprey aircraft have also been grounded since Dec. 6, pending an investigation into the safety of the aircraft, but there was no update on the grounding as of Wednesday.
Meanwhile, in late December, the House Oversight and Accountability Committee launched an investigation into the Osprey program, which has been responsible for four fatal crashes in the past two years alone.
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