By Christopher Bjork
MADRID--Investigators have recovered the two black boxes from
the Airbus Group NV military transport plane that crashed near the
southern Spanish city of Seville on Saturday, the government
said.
In a statement Sunday, Spain's public-works ministry said the
black boxes of the Airbus A400M military airlifter were located
Sunday morning and have been handed over to the judge in charge of
the investigation.
Like commercial airlines, the A400M is equipped with black boxes
that record conversations between pilots and the functioning of the
aircraft's systems. Those two recording devices, which are designed
to withstand crashes and fires, will prove crucial in determining
the cause of the crash.
The aircraft had begun a descent shortly after taking off from
the Seville airport Saturday and came down in a field about a mile
north of Seville's airport. Four of six Airbus workers that were on
board died in the accident, while the remaining two were sent to
the hospital with serious injuries.
The crash happened during the plane's first flight, Airbus said.
The aircraft, which was due for delivery to the Turkish air force
in June, took off at 12:45 p.m. local time and crashed about 15
minutes later, according to Airbus.
The crash is the first of this A400M model, which Airbus
assembles at a plant in Seville.
Spain's air-accident authority CIAIAC, which is overseen by the
public-works ministry, is leading the probe into the cause of the
crash. Airbus has dispatched technical experts to the scene to
support the investigation, and the Spanish defense ministry is also
helping out in the investigation, the public works ministry said
Sunday.
Write to Christopher Bjork at christopher.bjork@wsj.com
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