Black box recovered at Amazon plane crash site in Anahuac

Family members of the three men killed in the Amazon plane crash laid wreaths in memory of their loved ones in Trinity Bay. Family members of the three men killed in the Amazon plane crash laid wreaths in memory of their loved ones in Trinity Bay. Photo: Chambers County Sheriff's Office Photo: Chambers County Sheriff's Office Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Black box recovered at Amazon plane crash site in Anahuac 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

ANAHUAC—Authorities searching the site of a deadly cargo jet crash in Trinity Bay have recovered a voice recorder that federal officials say could shed light on what caused the plane to crash nose-first into the water as it approached Houston.

The National Transportation Safety Board announced Friday afternoon that divers had recovered the cockpit recording device that contains communications between the pilots and ground control. The device was being transported to Washington, D.C., for evaluation, the agency said.

Meanwhile, search crews were continuing to comb the waters for a second recorder that registers flight data, another key element of the federal investigation. Also unrecovered are the identifiable remains of one of the crew.

Since recovery efforts began, authorities have identified the remains of Capt. Sean Archuleta and First Officer Conrad Jules Aska, who were aboard the Atlas jet carrying cargo for Amazon and the U.S. Postal Service.

Dive teams have recovered other body parts in recent days, Chambers County Sheriff Brian Hawthorne said, but have been unable to make a DNA match with Capt. Ricky Blakely, who is believed dead.

Shortly before the recorder discovery came to light, Hawthorne told reporters that search crews had retrieved one of the plane's engines but otherwise recovered little of the aircraft, which left behind a field of debris after slamming into the shallow bay.

In the middle of Trinity Bay, barges were set up periodically around the scattered crash zone to help teams load debris, including the uncovered plane engine, for later review. Some officers waded through the knee-deep water, feeling around in the silt for items.

Hawthorne said dive teams from three different agencies were pulling 12-hour shifts rummaging through brackish water with zero visibility.

"The storms we had on Tuesday didn't help," the sheriff said.

Most of the debris field was concentrated around a muddy bar pocked with trails from airboats, though a piece of landing gear and one of the Boeing 767's engines sat yards away near an abandoned duck blind. A piece of the plane's exterior was lodged in the mud, displaying a portion of Amazon's logo to the foggy bay.

The plane crashed into Trinity Bay shortly before 12:45 p.m. Saturday after plummeting 11,750 feet in about 30 seconds, data from FlightAware.com show. The Federal Aviation Administration lost radar and radio contact with the plane as it flew about 30 miles southeast of Bush airport, the agency said.

A brief video of the crash released by Anahuac ISD Friday shows the jet making an apparent nose dive into the water.

NTSB requires most aircraft to have two devices, also referred to as black boxes, to help reconstruct accidents. The still-missing flight data recorder from the crash would give investigators data on the plane's functions, altitude and other measures, allowing them to digitally reenact the crash.

At least one of the families of the victims remained on the scene Friday, waiting for more information. Hawthorne said he had taken two families to the site of the crash via airboat to help give them a sense of closure.

"I've never really had to do something like that before, but I'm glad I did," Hawthorne said. "Once you get out there and see it, you get the idea of how it happened. You realize there was no way someone could survive that."

While the federal investigation into why the jet crashed could go on for more than a year, Hawthorne said his office expects to be here for at least another month. The presence of sheriff's deputies could be pulled back depending on how long it takes to find the other black box and Blakely's remains, Hawthorne said.

"I feel very good about where we are headed, and I think we could make some more progress soon," he added Friday afternoon.

Though black boxes emit ultrasonic pings to make them easier to find after a crash, the muddy water may have

prevented divers from hearing the noise.

At the time of the crash, a storm band was moving through the Houston area, though air traffic controllers warned the pilots of the rain.

In some of the last known communication between the plane and the ground, one of the pilots can be heard saying he would aim west of the heaviest rain. Controllers warned him of departing planes headed that way.

"Oh, OK, then we'll go on the east side, just go ahead and direct us," one of the pilots said.

After some dialogue between the controllers, one last transmission can be heard from the plane, with one of pilot saying "OK."

Afterwards air traffic controllers continued to hail the plane but received no communication back.

Archuleta, one of the pilots, had been living in The Woodlands for a few years while working as a pilot for Mesa Airlines.

Archuleta, 36, had just had a baby with his wife and recently landed a dream job at United Airlines, his friend Don Dalton said.

Blakely, the captain, was from Indiana. Aska, the first officer, hailed from Antigua.

Reporters Jacob Dick and Rebecca Schuetz contributed to this report.

jasper.scherer@chron.com

twitter.com/jaspscherer

