The Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) expects to recover the Flight Data Recorder (black box) from the ditched Pel-Air Westwind in November.
The ATSB came under significant criticism for releasing their final investigation report in the November 2009 ditching off Norfolk Island without retrieving the data recorder from the wreckage. Under pressure from Minister Warren Truss and an independent audit carried out by the Canadian TSB, ATSB commissioner Martin Dolan agreed to re-open the investigation and retrieve the black box.
"I signed a contract on Thursday last week, I think it was, for the recovery services," Dolan told the Senate Estimates Committee last week. "Our current expectation is that the vessel with recovery equipment will be out there by the first week in November and we expect to complete the recovery within a week of their being at Norfolk."
Although the ATSB announced they would go after the black box in February, the actual recovery was delayed because the contract to do so had to go to tender.
Asked about the status of the re-opened investigation, Dolan provided this update.
"The information-gathering stage of the reopened investigation is essentially complete, and so the work is now going through to assess all the additional information that has been acquired to draw conclusions so that a draft report can be prepared before Christmas."