CHOPPER TRAGEDY: Mechanical failure can be ruled out as the cause of the crash only once a flight recorder card is decoded by the Black Hawk’s US manufacturer

Taipei Times
Date: Jan 05, 2020
By: Huang Hsin-po, Chen Yu-fu and Jake Chung  /  Staff reporters, with staff writer and CNA

A UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter that crashed on Thursday, killing eight military officers including the

chief of the general staff, is unlikely to have gone down due to mechanical failure or weather, a Taiwan Transportation Safety Board official said yesterday.

Based on a preliminary investigation of the helicopter’s two flight data recorders, mechanical failure could be 80 percent ruled out as the cause, while weather, including elements such as turbulence and wind shear, could be 80 to 90 percent excluded, the official said.

However, the flight recorders contain a memory card that can only be decoded by the aircraft’s US-based manufacturer, they said.

The card is to be sent to Sikorsky Aircraft Corp, as it contains important data about the helicopter’s mechanical systems and its operational handling, the bureau said.    [FULL  STORY]