Black Box From Flight 3591 Recovered In Trinity Bay

ANAHUAC, TX — Officials with the National Transportation Safety Board have recovered the black box from Atlas Air Flight 3591. Dive teams who scoured the muddy bottom of Trinity Bay for nearly a week, discovered the cockpit voice recorder Friday morning.

NTSB officials announced the discovery in a tweet shortly after noon on Friday. Capt. Ricky Blakely, First Officer Conrad Jules Aska, and pilot Sean Archuleta, who were members of Teamsters Local 1224, were all killed when their aircraft en route to Bush Intercontinental Airport crashed Feb. 23, and shattered on impact.

The crash occurred in water about 5-feet deep, and scattered debris hundreds of yards, Recovery and dive teams, wore waders and stooped to recover any key pieces of evidence during the search.

NTSB has recovered the cockpit voice recorder from the cargo jet that crashed in
Trinity Bay in Anahuac, TX. CVR being transported to NTSB labs in DC and will
be evaluated when it arrives.#Anahuac
— NTSB_Newsroom (@NTSB_Newsroom) March 1, 2019

Upon learning that the black box had been recovered, Teamsters Local 1224 president and Atlas Air Captain Daniel C. Wells released Atlas Air Flight 3591.

“Our union family is devastated and mourns the loss of our colleagues and crew members, Capt. Ricky Blakely and First Officer Conrad Jules Aska, and a fellow aviator from Mesa Airlines, pilot Sean Archuleta. Our thoughts and condolences go out to the families and friends of the three crew members involved. At this time we’re focused on doing everything we can to support them and to provide counseling to any pilots and their family members who are feeling the pain of this tremendous loss.”

Wells, Executive Council Chairman Robert Kirchner and other officials, safety experts and volunteers from the union have been on the ground working with the NTSB, FAA, and local law enforcement supporting them in their investigation.

Officials said in a statement that the union mobilized its peer-to-peer Critical Incident Response Program immediately following the accident to support the pilots’ families and the broader union family with counseling and a 24-hour hot line.

Pilots have also established GoFundMe pages for the families impacted by this tragedy. Please find both here.

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