INFORMATION ABOUT BLACK BOXES PROVIDED BY U.S. OFFICERS - RADIC

ZAGREB, April 4 (Hina) - Croatian Civil Aviation inspector Miljenko Radic said on Thursday he had been informed by US officers that two black boxes of a US aircraft, which had crashed near Dubrovnik on Wednesday afternoon, had been found at the crash site. "The information about the finding of the black boxes has been provided by US officers and it has yet to be confirmed by the Croatian Ministry of Maritime Affairs, Transport and Communications," Radic told Hina. US military sources reiterated on Thursday that the plane had not been equipped with black boxes. The black boxes were usually in the tail part of the plane, and all passenger aircraft were obliged to have them in accordance with the International Civil Aviation Convention, Radic said. "The information I have at the moment is that the tail part of the aircraft, which had an accident near Dubrovnik, was compact when found," he said. The two boxes included a cockpit voice recorder and a flight data recorder, Radic said, adding that their retrieval would make the investigation much easier. "A Transport Ministry commission and a US commission will analyze all data from the two boxes. The process can take a very long time, even a few months," he said. The two commissions would have a radar picture of the flight through Croatian airspace and a recording of the conversation between Dubrovnik flight control and the pilot, he added. "War damage that Dubrovnik airport had suffered was repaired and the airport was completely suitable for landings by day and night, and all flight control instruments were in working order," Radic said. He recalled that only half an hour before the accident several aircraft had landed in Dubrovnik, including a small, two-engine plane. (hina) vm jn 041827 MET apr 96