Texas cargo plane's cockpit voice recorder recovered in fatal crash

[March 02, 2019]    By David Shepardson

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board said on Friday that investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder from a cargo plane that crashed on Feb. 23 in Texas, killing three.

An Amazon Prime Air cargo plane operated by Atlas Air Worldwide nosedived into a bay outside Houston as it approached Houston's George Bush Intercontinental Airport.

The Boeing 767 cargo jetliner crashed at the north end of Trinity Bay near the small city of Anahuac, about 20 miles (32 km) southeast of the airport, after taking off from Miami.

It is unclear what led to the crash. Investigators have spent days searching for the recorder in murky water.

NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said on Saturday the agency obtained about five seconds of security video from a local jail that showed the crash that happened minutes before the planned landing.

"The aircraft is in the video as it's descending in a steep descent, a steep nose down attitude," Sumwalt told a press briefing, adding that there was no distress call.

Local media in Texas on Friday posted the short video released by authorities which showed the plane descending.

Atlas Air Worldwide has been operating Boeing 767 freighters on behalf of Amazon following a 2016 deal.

Boeing Co sent a team to provide technical assistance to the NTSB as it conducted its investigation.

Earlier this week, the U.S. Attorney in Houston warned people in Texas not to pick up or remove pieces of airplane debris, noting they could face criminal charges and fines.

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Leslie Adler and Richard Chang)

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