Netherlands Publish Report on MH17 Flight Data Recordings

MOSCOW, September 9 (RIA Novosti) – The Dutch Safety Board issued a preliminary report on the investigation into the crash of the MH17 plane on Tuesday, saying that the analysis of flight data recordings did not reveal any new information on the cause of the accident.

“The cockpit voice recorder, the flight data recorder and data from air traffic control all suggest that flight MH17 proceeded as normal until 13:20:03 (UTC) [13:20:03 GMT], after which it ended abruptly. A full listening of the communications among the crew members in the cockpit recorded on the cockpit voice recorder revealed no signs of any technical faults or an emergency situation,” the report says.

“The flight data recorder registered no aircraft system warnings, and aircraft engine parameters were consistent with normal operation during the flight. The radio communications with Ukrainian air traffic control confirm that no emergency call was made by the cockpit crew,” the report adds.

According to the Dutch Safety Board, no warning tones were heard in the cockpit of the plane that might have pointed to technical problems. The board’s preliminary report notes that the final calls of the Ukrainian air traffic control to MH17 crew remained unanswered.

Flight MH17, operated by Malaysia Airlines, was heading from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur when it crashed on July 17 in the Donetsk region of Ukraine, killing all 298 people on board.

The cause of the crash is still unclear. The Ukrainian government claims that independence supporters in the country’s eastern regions shot the plane down but it has not provided any evidence to support those claims. Local militia leaders insist that they do not have weapons that could’ve been capable of shooting the MH17 aircraft down.

Source: RIA Novosti 09-09-2014