Aircraft

Investigators have succeeded in retrieving data from the flight recorders of the Airbus A320 which crashed into the Mediterranean Sea in November.

After the cockpit-voice and flight-data recorders were recovered from the wreckage, off the French coast near Perpignan, the French Bureau d'Enquetes et d'Analyses found that it was unable to access data from either device's electronic memory.

Recorder manufacturer Honeywell's facility in Seattle has been assisting with the problem and the BEA says that this effort "did, in fact, make it possible" to recover data from both recorders.

"The BEA will now begin analysing this data," it states. The BEA points out that its work is being conducted in parallel with a French judicial inquiry.

None of the seven occupants of the A320 survived the crash which occurred as the jet was on approach to Perpignan on 27 November. The jet was on a preparatory flight ahead of a delivery off-lease from XL Airways to Air New Zealand.