
31 years later, we found the flight recorders - bond
https://operationthonapa.com/31-years-later-we-found-the-flight-recorders-786d0f9fde61#.57zr9mex2
======
trhway
what seems to be the main cargo of the plane - illegally trafficked (by the
airline itself) caiman skins:

[https://operationthonapa.com/an-international-smuggling-
ring...](https://operationthonapa.com/an-international-smuggling-ring-driven-
by-gross-80s-fashion-55ac5d3136e0#.y81syko2o)

"Pieces of snake/alligator/crocodile skins are scattered all over the
mountain. In picking up a plane part for a closer look, often there would be
crocodile hide on or near the part. They are in such abundance that we
actually became quite sick of them as we combed the field for the black box.

...

While we don’t think this is the sole reason for the bungling of the
investigation immediately following the crash (10 months before an expedition
was mounted!), these illegal animal skins are part of a larger pattern of
smuggling illegal goods on Eastern Airlines commercial flights. Someone in the
organization was making money on these sketchy practices. If some of this
money found its way to the right pockets, it would been easy to delay the
appropriate investigational response until many feet of snow/ice covered the
crash site."

~~~
13of40
I read the Wikipedia article, and it seemed strange they were flying with only
19 passengers. Maybe the smuggling is what made it profitable?

~~~
pseingatl
I worked in cargo for a Latin American airline in the 1970's. Our fleet
consisted solely of 727's. Back then, cargo prices were regulated. Our cargo
operations paid for the airline's costs; passengers were profit. Even without
passengers we paid the bills. Also, keep in mind that the aircraft would pick
up passengers in Bolivia who were going to Miami. If you were in Paraguay
flying to Bolivia there were a lot of better local choices than waiting for
the flight from Miami.

------
vermontdevil
[https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_980](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_980)

The crash.

~~~
wrigby
Non-mobile:
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_980](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_Air_Lines_Flight_980)

~~~
brillenfux
Thanks. Or use this[1] with this[2].

[1]
[http://einaregilsson.com/redirector/](http://einaregilsson.com/redirector/)

[2] [http://sprunge.us/hMAE?json](http://sprunge.us/hMAE?json)

------
anonova
For those interested, Bill Hammack (Engineer Guy) pulled apart a 1970s-era
flight recorder in an old video.[1] The one in video, though, gets etched to a
roll of tin rather than recorded to a magnetic tape.

[1]:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlY5W7be5jU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xlY5W7be5jU)

------
raverbashing
What's on the last picture is mostly casing. They seem to have found a
magnetic roll that hopefully contains data, but there's some risk they found
nothing

~~~
puddintane
I am excited to see what the tape holds, hopefully it will give a bit of
closure to the families of those lost.

~~~
fergbrain
It looks to be from a VHS tape. Also, a Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR)/Flight
Data Recorder (FDR) would likely be setup to record in a loop. You can do that
with magnetic tape, but not in the configure it appears to be in.

I'll try to remember to look up what CVR would have been used for that plane
when I get back to work in a week.

------
WalterBright
> Boeing green

That's BMS 10-11 Type 2 primer. It's a very good corrosion resistant zinc
chromate paint.

------
derFunk
If I entered the coordinates correctly, this is the location on Google Maps:
16°40'08.5"S 67°46'26.8"W

[https://goo.gl/maps/cYD3aXH5PuN2](https://goo.gl/maps/cYD3aXH5PuN2)

------
jessaustin
Will Wikipedia ever get responsive?

[EDIT:] In other words, Wikipedia seems to be the last vestige of the dumb old
"separate web for mobile" mindset of ideas like WML. Media queries are just
better, and would prevent this inane "that link sucks for half of us; here's
one that sucks for the other half" crap.

~~~
_RPM
The reason for a separate mobile site is that we can transfer less data over
the wire. mobile sites typically aren't as feature filled as the desktop
sites.

~~~
ant6n
Bandwidth isn't the issue as much as latency. Those collapsible sections where
the content isn't loaded just mean I have to wait 10 times for 20s while
trying to read an article, rather than once for 25s upfront.

~~~
jacalata
Wikipedia has a large audience in areas where bandwidth is very much an issue.

~~~
robocat
Looking at a probably large page (Intel), html content for everything before
references is about 250k, which becomes say 50k compressed.

Maybe for first world connections, that could be speculatively preloaded. IP
address to lookup country is enough to guess?

