Black Box of Russian Jet Downed Over Syria By Turkey Sustained Mechanical Damage, Say Russian Military

by AFP | War On Terror

* A specialist (L) carries the flight recorder from the Russian Sukhoi Su-24
bomber that was shot down by a Turkish jet on November 24
at a briefing in Moscow on December 18, 2015. (Credit: via AFP)

Russia has made known to the public, the result of findings from the black box recovered from the fighter plane shot down by Turkey over Syria a couple of weeks ago.

Turkey sources claim, the Russian jet, involved in bombing mission against Daesh terrorists across the mountains close to the Turkey border, violated its air space and was warned repeatedly for five minutes before being shot down.

Russia say it's pilot did not violate Turkey air-space and that even if it did at all, it was only for 17 seconds.  They tried to prove it with a map.

Later, the surviving of the two pilots that parachuted out of the Russian jet before it crashed said at no time, did they violate Turkey air-space and that they had no warning.

As the arguments raged, Russia sought to prove its case through the contents of the black box.

But the military said Friday, the black box had sustained damage, including multiple scratches and dents, but had not been exposed to the fire at the crash site, according to a report on AFP.

"Our specialists extracted the memory card, but unfortunately it sustained mechanical damage," said Sergei Bainetov, the deputy head of flight safety in the Russian armed forces, without elaborating on whether flight data could have been lost.

"The commission will discuss the situation calling upon international observers," he added.

President Putin of Russia had said an analysis of the black box would help determine the downed jet's flight path and position, which Ankara and Moscow had furiously disagreed upon.

Despite the outcome of the investigation from the recovered black-box, Sergei Dronov, deputy head commander of the Russian air force had said the device was being analysed "openly for the Russian and international public" and later maintained that despite the damage to the memory card, "We have sufficient evidence that proves that the Russian aircraft did not violate Turkish airspace."

Dronov, said that the downed plane had been flying in Syrian airspace 5.5 kilometres (around three miles) from the border with Turkey.

Britain and China were present during the investigation, the only two countries, out of the 14, that had been invited to monitor it.

* A Russian military official speaks about the flight recorder from the
Russian Sukhoi Su-24 bomber shot down by a Turkish jet on November 24,
as he addresses the media during a briefing on the black box's
decoding in Moscow on December 18, 2015. (Credit: AFP)