Flight recorders badly damaged in Russia plane crash

MOSCOW - The flight recorders from a passenger jet which crashed in southern Russia killing all 62 people on board are badly damaged and could take up to a month to decode, Russia's airline regulator said on Sunday. The Boeing 737-800 aircraft, operated by Dubai-based budget carrier Flydubai, crashed on its second attempt to land at Russia's Rostov-on-Don airport in the early hours of Saturday morning. Most of those on board were Russian. "The received recorders are badly damaged mechanically," Russia's Interstate Aviation Committee said in a statement on its website, alongside a photo of a crumpled recorder. "Specialists ... have started the inspection, opening and removing the memory modules from their protective coverings for further work to restore the cable connections and prepare to copy the data," the IAC said. RIA news agency cited an IAC official as saying it could take one month to decode information from the recorders. Under international aviation rules, the investigation will be led by Russia's air safety investigation agency with representatives from the United States, where the jet was made, and the United Arab Emirates, where the airline is based. -Reuters