NTSB Begins Recovering Wreckage of Planes From Dallas Crash, Including On-Board Devices
Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board have begun recovering evidence from the crash of two vintage warplanes that killed six crew members Saturday in Dallas.
At a news conference on Monday afternoon, NTSB board member Michael Graham said investigators recovered an electronic flight display from the B-17 bomber and a GPS unit from the P-63 Kingcobra. Both of those on-board devices were damaged and will be analyzed in Washington, D.C., to determine if data can be recovered.
As the NTSB works to determine the cause of the crash, information from the on-board devices could help fill in gaps in air traffic control data, such as the planes’ speed and location at any given moment, Graham said.
“Data that these types of units may have ... would be things like GPS location, possible altitudes of the aircraft and the air speeds of the aircraft,” he said.
Investigators also have received a recording of radio traffic from the Wings Over Dallas air show at Dallas Executive Airport, where the two planes collided and crashed.
All of the wreckage of the P-63 fighter plane has been recovered and will be transported for analysis. Rain delayed further work to recover the remains of the B-17, which will continue Tuesday if weather permits, Graham said.
Neither plane was equipped with a flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder, which aren’t required on the World War II-era planes.
Photographs and video of the collision and air traffic control recordings are expected to be critical to the investigation. Graham said Monday that the NTSB has already received many responses to its request for images. Members of the public who have video and photos can email them to [email protected].
A preliminary report is expected to be released in four to six weeks, and the full investigation will take a year or more to complete.
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