Included is data such as the position of the stabilizers and whether they were responding to pilot commands. The CVR confirms that the pilots struggled to regain control of the aircraft and that it turned upside down before plunging into the Pacific, investigators said Thursday. Authorities said Wednesday that all 83 passengers and five crew members aboard are now presumed dead. The plane was flying from the Mexican resort city of Puerto Vallarta to San Francisco and then Seattle when pilots reported trouble with the aircraft's horizontal stabilizer, which controls the plane's pitch up and down. They were attempting an emergency landing in Los Angeles when the plane nose dived into the Pacific Ocean.
Searchers carry ashore a cooler containing the aircraft's voice recorder.
A few minutes before the crash, the pilots had radioed that the stabilizer was jammed. The final moments of the flight were described by investigators as a terrifying plunge into the Pacific Ocean. They said witnesses saw no signs of fire or smoke when the jet hit the water in one piece, killing all 88 people aboard. The crew made references to being inverted, that are consistent with the witness statements to that effect. As the plane passed over Anacapa Island, just off the coast, a witness heard several popping sounds and watched the jet turn and hit the ocean, Hammerschmidt said.