The black boxes found inside a cargo aircraft operated by global courier DHL that crashed in Vilnius will be sent to another EU country for further analysis, the National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC) of Lithuania confirmed.
On the morning of November 27, 2024, Vilmantas Vitkauskas, Vice-Chancellor and the Head of National Crisis Management Centre (NCMC), said that Lithuania lacks the facilities to analyze data from aircraft black boxes, meaning that they will be transferred to a laboratory in another EU country.
“The first job is to retrieve them from the scene of the accident, then to protect them from any external damage so that they can be safely transported to the laboratories,” Vitkauskas told Lithuanian National Broadcaster LRT radio.
On November 26, 2024, the Justice Ministry of Lithuania confirmed that the black boxes were located inside the aircraft around 11:30 local time and were extracted from the wreckage.
Based on information from the Justice Ministry of Lithuania, LRT reported that the safety investigation team has begun the process of decrypting data from the black boxes.
Flight recorders, colloquially known as “black boxes” despite their bright orange shell, comprise two individual devices: the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR). It helps investigators piece together the events leading up to an accident.
During flights, the FDR captures data about the aircraft, including its speed and direction, and the CVR records conversations among the crew, radio communications, and other ambient sounds such as engine noises, and warning alerts.
On November 26, 2024, Laurynas Naujokaitis, the Head of Aircraft Accident and Incident Investigation at Lithuania’s Ministry of Justice, announced that German representatives have joined the investigation team. Additionally, investigators from Spain and the United States are also expected to participate.
While the exact cause of the crash remains under investigation, possibilities such as technical issues, pilot error, or sabotage are all being considered. However, as of November 27, 2024, Lithuanian investigators have not found any evidence to support the theory of tampering, according to Naujokaitis.
On the morning of November 25, 2024, a DHL Boeing 737-400 freighter crashed near Vilnius Airport (VNO), close to a residential area. The Fire and Rescue Department reported that the aircraft was completely destroyed. The crash ignited nearby storage rooms and a vehicle.
Lithuanian authorities confirmed that the pilot, a Spanish citizen, was killed in the crash. Three other people on the aircraft, who were Lithuanian, German and Spanish, were injured. Valdas Benkunskas, the Mayor of Vilnius, stated that 13 people were evacuated from nearby buildings following the accident.