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Transair 737 Crash Recovered From Ocean

The wreckage from Transair Flight 810, which crashed in July of 2021, was recently recovered from the Pacific Ocean after a month-long process. The salvaged parts will later be used as important parts for a further investigation into the crash.

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Crash Recap

On July 2nd of 2021, Transair Flight 810, operated by a 45-year-old Boeing 737-200 aircraft was scheduled to deliver cargo between the Hawaiian islands of Honolulu to Kahului, when the pilots reported engine failures on both of the aircraft’s engines just 11 minutes after takeoff. The pilots attempted to return to Honolulu but fell short 2 miles off the coast of the island. Although injured, both pilots, fortunately, managed to survive and were brought back to the mainland by the coast guard. There were no deaths in the accident.

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Recovery Process

A few days after Transair Flight 810 crashed off the coast of Hawaii on the early morning of July 2nd, 2021, an underwater survey of the crash site was conducted. The search for the Boeing 737 aircraft revealed that the plane was split into two large pieces: the front fuselage including the cockpit and the back fuselage including the wings and tail. Other, smaller parts such as the landing gear and engines were separated from the fuselage from the impact, but they laid not far from the main wreckage. The aircraft laid at a depth of 106-137 meters (350-450 feet) down on the ocean surface.

Transair Flight 810 - Wikipedia
Credit: Wikipedia
Transair wreckage to be recovered; depth and size of debris poses challenges
Credit: Khon2
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In the months following the initial underwater survey of the crash, Transair’s insurance company searched for companies that could lift and retrieve the aircraft from its resting place in the Pacific Ocean. They eventually settled with a company called Eclipse Group and a barge-operating company in California. Eclipse Group owned a research vessel called “Bold Horizon” that contained underwater retrieval equipment, and the Californian barge company would use a vessel named the “Salta Verde.” Transair’s insurance company paid for the entire operation.

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In months after the crash, the recovery ships sailed from California to Hawaii. The ships would then spend 3 trips, each lasting several days throughout October, out to the crash site to pull wreckage parts and bring them back to shore. The ships first recovered the smaller, individual parts of the aircraft, such as the engines and landing gear, and brought them to the backshore. The ships would return a few days later for the front fuselage and make another trip out for the back fuselage after bringing the first part back to shore. The last recoveries proved difficult, as the pieces of the aircraft weighed thousands of pounds and could be broken easily.

In Photos: Wreckage Of TransAir 737 Recovered From Ocean Floor - Simple  Flying
Credit: NTSB
Flight recorders, wreckage of TransAir flight 810 recovered from waters off  Oahu | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Credit: NTSB
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Where The Parts Will End Up

The salvaged parts of the Transair crash will be brought back to California, where investigators from the NTSB (National Transportation Safety Board) will perform a teardown on the engines to understand the cause of the crash better. The Black Boxes from the flight will also be removed from the fuselage and used for further investigation into the crash. Four out of the six containers of cargo from the flight were also recovered from the wreckage.

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Flight recorders, wreckage of TransAir flight 810 recovered from waters off  Oahu | Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Credit: Honolulu Star Advertiser

In the end, the recovery of these parts will be a critical component in discovering the reason behind the failure of both engines on Transair Flight 810. It will be a great contribution to the prevention of similar events from happening in the future.

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Sources

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