AVIATION/ AVIENT BLACK BOXES RECOVERED

Investigators have recovered the cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder from the AVIENT AVIATION MD11 freighter that crashed on takeoff from Shanghai on Saturday. The crash of the airliner, on Cargo Service to Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, killed 3 of the 7 crew members onboard. The 4 survivors suffered serious to critical injuries. "Both recorders have reached Beijing, and they are being analysed," said an official in the Civil Aviation Administration of China (CAAC). The official added that the exterior of the recorders suffered some damage, but it was too soon to tell if that would affect the quality of data recovered. It is still not clear if the airliner, local registration Z-BAV, was airborne before it crashed. The CAAC had previously only said it skidded off the runway. "Investigations are still going on in Shanghai and the circumstances are still unclear," says the CAAC official. Other witnesses said that the MD11 suffered a tail strike on takeoff. The aircraft that crashed had been leased by Avient, and had just entered service just over a week ago. It had been parked in Miami over the last year. The MD11 had been leased by many Airlines over the years, among them KOREAN AIRLINES. Reports surfaced yesterday that when the aircraft was part of KAL's fleet, it suffered a tail strike in 2002.