A flight recorder and body fragments have been discovered at the central Russian crash site of an Antonov An-22 Cock heavy transport aircraft, investigators said Wednesday.
Air Force spokesman Col. Vladimir Drik said however it was too early to speak of finding a black box. "We can't yet identify the discovered pieces as the black boxes," he said.
The An-22, carrying a crew of 12, departed from central Russia's Voronezh on Tuesday evening for the Tver Region, but disappeared from radar screens a few minutes after takeoff. The remains of the aircraft were found near the village of Krasny Oktyabr in the Tula Region.
The Russian Air Force said it grounded the entire fleet of its An-22 transports and Tupolev Tu-95MS bombers after the crash. The decision suggests that engine failure is strongly suspected as the cause - both aircraft types share the Kuznetsov NK-12 turboprop, the largest engine of its kind in the world.
The An-22 remains the largest turboprop powered aircraft in the world. Around 45 remain in service with the Russian Air Force and most are over 40 years old.
MOSCOW, December 29 (RIA Novosti)
