Egyptian investigators said on Wednesday that they were conducting thorough inspections and tests on the electronic boards of the EgyptAir flight MS 804 Cockpit voice recorder and the flight date recorder to start the process of uploading the data. A statement from the Egyptian investigators revealed that "approved representatives from France and the United States" are witnessing the inspection and testing processes. Both France and the US have sent investigators to Cairo to take part in the probe. The plane was manufactured in France, while the Airbus A320 engine was made in the United States. The inspection and removal of salt accumulations from more than 200 electrical circuits is currently underway, according to the investigators' statement. "The inspection is being carried out so that it can be determined if there are any electrical circuits that are not functioning properly, which could hinder the accurate reading of the memory units of the recorder," the statement added. The Airbus A320 passenger jet crashed into the Mediterranean on 19 May while en route from Paris to Cairo, killing all 66 people on board. Most of the passengers were French. The twin voice recorders were found last week, in a major step that is expected to greatly help investigators form a clear picture of what caused the crash of flight MS804. John Lethbrige, the vessel contracted by the Egyptian government to join the search for the plane wreckage, is continuing its task of drawing a map of the wreckage distribution at the bottom of the Mediterranean so that it can be retrieved at a later stage. source: Ahram online
