Political Diary

The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) in the ill-fated Bell-430 helicopter of Andhra Pradesh government, which crashed in Nallamala forest on September 2 killing chief minister Y S Rajasekhara Reddy and four others, was found to be in a "partly damaged" condition. Indian representatives of the Bell helicopter company were asked to decode the CVR, but since it was in a "partly damaged" condition, decoding proved difficult, the state government’s Crisis Management Committee informed home minister P Sabita Indra Reddy late tonight. An official press communique later said the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has informed that the CVR would be sent to the US for decoding in case the exercise became difficult here. The CVR-38 solid state model was manufactured by Universal Avionics Systems Corporation, TucSon-AZ, USA. The committee is chaired by the Chief Secretary with Director General of Police, Principal Secretary (Home) and other top officials as members. The CMC held a meeting with the home minister late in the night to discuss the issue. The condition and other details of the Emergency Locator Transmitter would come to light in the inquiries by DGCA, state Crime Investigation Department, CBI and the two-member expert committee, the CMC said.