From AP, Agence France-Presse and Reuters reports: The flight data recorder of crashed EgyptAir flight MS804 has been successfully repaired, according to Egyptian authorities. Additionally, French investigators opened a manslaughter investigation into Egypt Air 804 on how the jet headed from Paris to Cairo crashed.
A spokeswoman for the French prosecutor’s office, Agnes Thibault-Lecuivre, said the manslaughter inquiry was launched on Monday as an accident investigation and not a terrorism case. She said authorities were not favoring the theory that the plane had been brought down deliberately.
This was the first major development in the accident investigation since both black boxes were recovered on 16-17 June. The plane crashed on 19 May with the deaths of all 66 people on board.
As per the requirements from the International Civil Aviation Organization, there were two “black boxes” onboard. One for flight data and one for cockpit voice transmissions. The doomed plane’s cockpit voice recorder was still being worked on. More will be known about the flight as data from the voice recorder can be analyzed.
There was no evidence so far to link it to terrorism, nor did any terror group claim responsibility. Additionally, there was no distress call made by the pilots. France’s aviation safety agency has said the aircraft transmitted automated messages indicating smoke in the cabin and a fault in the flight control unit minutes before it disappeared.