MANGALORE, India, May 23 (UPI) -- Investigators say they found the flight recorder in wreckage of the Air India Express plane that skidded off a runway and crashed in a valley in Mangalore.
They hope the black box provides key clues in recordings of the last moments of the flight before the crash that killed 159 people, NDTV reported.
Air India Express Flight IX-812 went down Saturday after overshooting a runway at Bajpe airport, then crashing into the densely vegetated valley and burning.
Eight people survived, authorities said.
The airport is described as a "tabletop," set on a hill with steep cliffs near the runway.
The black box from the Boeing 737-800 will go to the accident lab of the director general of civil aviation in New Delhi, where investigators will open it as they search for possible causes of the crash.
Boeing experts also are to help decipher data from the flight recorder.
NDTV said investigators believe the pilot overshot the normal touchdown point by more than 2,000 feet.
The Indian network said interviews showed the pilot then tried to brake suddenly, the tires burst and the plane hit an antenna at the edge of the runway, where it split before crashing into the valley and catching fire.
