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RUSSIAN TV SHOWS "UNIQUE" ROBOT RAISING BLACK SEA CRASH FLIGHT RECORDERS
Channel One TV, Moscow
23 May 06
[Presenter] The search for the second black box of the [Armenian] A-320
aircraft which crashed over the Black Sea near Sochi at the start of
May is continuing. The work had to be suspended several times today
because of bad weather. The first flight recorder was raised on the
previous day. It looks like it is going to be deciphered by specialists
in France, the country where the aircraft was constructed. It remains
to be seen whether complete information about causes of the crash is
going to be obtained. The flight recorder was badly damaged. Today we
received footage of a unique operation to raise the black box. Aleksey
Sonin reports.
[Correspondent] This is how Russian specialists worked on the ship
deck to improve the (?RT-1000) deep-water equipment during breaks in
the submersion operations. At the beginning, a direction finder was
fixed onto the body of the apparatus in order to be as accurate as
possible when determining the section of the bottom of the sea where
the flight recorder was emitting radio signals. Then they had the idea
of fitting the robot with a special vacuum cleaner in order to suck
up silt. In the opinion of French specialists present on board the
search ship, each of the new technological solutions can be patented.
[Aleksandr Davydenko, captioned as head of the operation to raise the
flight recorders] They were really impressed by this. Our specialists,
just like [18-th century legendary Russian inventor Ivan] Kulibin, kept
coming up with innovative solutions according to the situation. This
was highly appreciated. They [the French experts] even confirmed that
they had not such robots yet.
[Correspondent] The screen of the monitor clearly shows large fragments
of the plane. Smaller fragments are hidden beneath the silt. It was
established during previous search operations that the robot passed
above the black box several times but failed to spot it.
The silt gets several metres deep at certain sections of the seabed.
The operators switch on the underwater vacuum cleaner. And now the
flight recorder becomes visible on the screen. However, locating the
flight recorder is only half of the problem. The most difficult part
is to bring it to the surface from a depth of 500 metres. It took
the specialists a long time to design a way for the manipulator to
grab the item.
[Davydenko] It turned out that it had a handle by which it could be
transported. We made the decision to get it out of the hole and place
it onto some even surface. We put a hook through the handle but there
was not anywhere even for us to put it on. It kept sinking into the
silt. A very risky decision was made to use the hook to raise it to
the surface. This was perhaps the most serious phase of the operation.
[Correspondent] When there were just 10 metres left to the surface,
a diver went underwater, as an insurance against risks. He tied the
flight recorder to the body of the robot, so that it did not become
detached during the lifting onto the ship. The first stage of the
operation is over. It was for the first time that our specialists
carried out an operation like this. The engineers are now preparing
the robot for another submersion operation. The second black box
remains to be retrieved.
[c/r 171350-171550, video shows the operation in progress]
Channel One TV, Moscow
23 May 06
[Presenter] The search for the second black box of the [Armenian] A-320
aircraft which crashed over the Black Sea near Sochi at the start of
May is continuing. The work had to be suspended several times today
because of bad weather. The first flight recorder was raised on the
previous day. It looks like it is going to be deciphered by specialists
in France, the country where the aircraft was constructed. It remains
to be seen whether complete information about causes of the crash is
going to be obtained. The flight recorder was badly damaged. Today we
received footage of a unique operation to raise the black box. Aleksey
Sonin reports.
[Correspondent] This is how Russian specialists worked on the ship
deck to improve the (?RT-1000) deep-water equipment during breaks in
the submersion operations. At the beginning, a direction finder was
fixed onto the body of the apparatus in order to be as accurate as
possible when determining the section of the bottom of the sea where
the flight recorder was emitting radio signals. Then they had the idea
of fitting the robot with a special vacuum cleaner in order to suck
up silt. In the opinion of French specialists present on board the
search ship, each of the new technological solutions can be patented.
[Aleksandr Davydenko, captioned as head of the operation to raise the
flight recorders] They were really impressed by this. Our specialists,
just like [18-th century legendary Russian inventor Ivan] Kulibin, kept
coming up with innovative solutions according to the situation. This
was highly appreciated. They [the French experts] even confirmed that
they had not such robots yet.
[Correspondent] The screen of the monitor clearly shows large fragments
of the plane. Smaller fragments are hidden beneath the silt. It was
established during previous search operations that the robot passed
above the black box several times but failed to spot it.
The silt gets several metres deep at certain sections of the seabed.
The operators switch on the underwater vacuum cleaner. And now the
flight recorder becomes visible on the screen. However, locating the
flight recorder is only half of the problem. The most difficult part
is to bring it to the surface from a depth of 500 metres. It took
the specialists a long time to design a way for the manipulator to
grab the item.
[Davydenko] It turned out that it had a handle by which it could be
transported. We made the decision to get it out of the hole and place
it onto some even surface. We put a hook through the handle but there
was not anywhere even for us to put it on. It kept sinking into the
silt. A very risky decision was made to use the hook to raise it to
the surface. This was perhaps the most serious phase of the operation.
[Correspondent] When there were just 10 metres left to the surface,
a diver went underwater, as an insurance against risks. He tied the
flight recorder to the body of the robot, so that it did not become
detached during the lifting onto the ship. The first stage of the
operation is over. It was for the first time that our specialists
carried out an operation like this. The engineers are now preparing
the robot for another submersion operation. The second black box
remains to be retrieved.
[c/r 171350-171550, video shows the operation in progress]