Coast Guard widens search area for Flight 585’s black box

The Philippine Coast Guard widened yesterday the search area for the missing flight data recorder of the ill-fated Laoag International Airlines (LIA) Flight 585 which crashed in Manila Bay last Monday.

Coast Guard intelligence chief Commander Luis Tuason said the search area for the tail end of the Fokker 27 plane, where the so-called black box is located, has been widened to a one-kilometer radius.

Tuason explained the tail section of the plane broke off instantly at the moment of impact as the aircraft hit the water.

He said the main body of the plane continued to sink because of the momentum caused by the crash, away from the impact point where the tail end of the plane had separated.

Tuason said the plane’s fuselage might have traveled at least a kilometer underwater from the moment it hit the water. "So the search and retrieval operations should cover at least a radius of one kilometer from where the main body (of the plane) was found," he said.

Coast Guard divers are still searching for the plane’s black box, a bright orange-colored device which contains all the flight data and overall condition of the aircraft, as well as the last recorded conversations of the pilot to the control tower.

Aviation authorities stressed the importance of finding the flight data recorder to confirm suspicions that mechanical failure caused the aircraft to crash.

Coast Guard spokesman Lt. Arman Balilo said their divers had already combed about 1,600 meters of sea floor in search of the missing flight data recorder.

Balilo expressed optimism that the tail fin of the downed plane where the flight data recorder is said to be located, could be retrieved anytime this week.

Balilo explained their search for the missing part of the plane is being hampered by poor visibility and murky conditions underwater.– Nestor Etolle, Jose Aravilla, Sheila Crisostomo