EgyptAir MS804 flight recorder signals to stop in 10 days

CAIRO, June 14 (UPI) -- Flight recorders from EgyptAir Flight 804, which crashed into the Mediterranean Sea on May 19, will stop emitting signals in 10 days, investigators said.

The plane was flying from Paris to Cairo when it deviated from its flight path and disappeared. The plane, an Airbus 320, has not been recovered, although some debris has been found and pinging sounds from its data recorders have been identified. All 66 aboard are believed to have died.

The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder, both battery-powered, likely have crucial information regarding the crash, and the official Egyptian Aircraft Investigation Committee said Monday they are expected to emit signals indicating their location for about 10 more days. Two French vessels are searching the Mediterranean Sea but have not yet located the plane's position, although they have narrowed the search to within one mile. The plane is believed to be on the seabed, 10,000 feet below the surface of the water.

"According to the information provided by the manufacturers of the plane recorders, it is expected the continuation of the signals emitted by the plane recorders [will last] until the 24th of this month," the committee said in a statement Monday, adding that radar images from the Egyptian military confirmed the plane turned 360 degrees, a full circle, before it disappeared, coinciding with British and Greek radar images.

The statement also said the committee accepted a request by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board to have an American on the investigation team; the engines of the missing plane were built by a consortium of companies including Pratt & Whitney, a subsidiary of Connecticut-based United Technologies Corp.