Russian investigators have formally transferred to Polish representatives copies of the cockpit-voice and flight-data recordings from the presidential Tupolev Tu-154M which crashed at Smolensk last month.

The Interstate Aviation Committee (MAK) says that the handover, in the presence of senior officials from both sides, included authenticated CD copies of information from the audio MARS-BM recorder, the MSRP-64M-6 data recorder, and a KBN-1-1 tape storage device and cassette.

Transcripts from the cockpit-voice recorder were also passed to the Polish personnel, adds MAK.

Original records from the recorders were then replaced in safe deposit boxes, and the two sides signed a protocol ratifying the transfer.

Handover of the information in the politically-sensitive inquiry follows the completion of a preliminary investigation by MAK into the crash of the Tu-154 on 10 April as it attempted to land in poor visibility.

Source: Air Transport Intelligence news