Genesee County, N.Y. (WBEN) The high performance plane that crash in a wooded area off Boyce Road in Corfu on Friday that claimed the lives of pilot and attorney Steve Barnes and his niece, Elizabeth, also an attorney, moved to a new phase Tuesday.
The wreckage and engine from the Socata TBM 700 were removed from the site on Monday. But a key clue into what caused the crash remains elusive.
"This plane did not have a black box. But it does have a recording device in the dashboard," said Howard Owens of The Batavian. "The only recoverable part is a small card about the size of a SIM card on a mobile phone." Crews are sifting through mud to find that data card.
"The critical thing is going to be retrieving as much of the wreckage as possible and making sure it is as in tact as possible," said pilot and aviation law expert Brian Alexander of Kreindler & Kreindler LLP. "With no black box, there will be other data on some of the avionics and on board systems that will provide some information. Those will be really important to find, protect and preserve," he said.
Crews are also continuing to search for more human remains. More personal items of the victims have been recovered. The ID of one victim has been recovered and other items have been recovered that were personal to the individuals.
The plane disintegrated on impact. Pieces of the wreckage are being shipped to Nashville for further investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board.
Human remains are being sent to the Monroe County Medical Examiners Office.
