Crashed Chinook’s engine, flight data recorder found

ZAMBOANGA CITY — A deep-sea salvage crew has recovered the flight voice and data recorder, or blackbox, and the engine of the ill-fated MH-47E "Chinook" helicopter that crashed off Negros Oriental last Feb. 22, a US military spokeswoman said yesterday.

US Army Maj. Cynthia Teramae, spokeswoman for US forces participating in the joint RP-US military exercises, said the blackbox was recovered on Saturday, only minutes after the recovery of the bodies of five US servicemen who were on board the helicopter.

Aside from the blackbox, the salvage crew also recovered the helicopter’s engine and transmission system from 1,200-foot deep waters off Zamboanguita town near Apo Island.

"We retrieved the flight voice and data recorder. That’s an important piece of recovery that would provide information that could determine the cause of the crash," Teramae said.

She said the blackbox, which can digitally record approximately 30 minutes of voice and 20 hours of flight data, was apparently not damaged during the Feb. 22 crash.

Teramae said the blackbox will be flown to the US where the retrieved information will be used by the US military to prevent future mishaps.

She said a separate investigation will also be conducted on the Gnat unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), or drone, that made an emergency landing in waters off Barangay Recodo, some 15 kilometers west of Zamboanga City.

The drone crashed after an unspecified "routine" surveillance mission on Sunday morning.

While the cause of the crash was still unknown as of press time, US military officials said the drone was recovered "almost fully intact" and would allow US technicians to determine what happened.

Aside from the Chinook and the drone, a C-130 cargo plane sustained small arms fire on Jan. 31 while flying over northern Luzon but US military officials said no one was injured and the damage to the aircraft was minimal.

At least two drones were brought to Western Mindanao to support some 160 US Special Forces who are training and assisting local troops in pursuit of Abu Sayyaf terrorists holding hostage Filipina nurse Deborah Yap and American missionary couple Martin and Gracia Burnham on Basilan island.

Local military officials have cited the role of the drones and P-3 Orion spy planes in locating the terrorists and their hostages who were in the vicinity of Lantawan, Basilan last week, resulting in the death of at least a dozen bandits.