El Faro 'black box' beacon battery may have been expired ahead of sinking

The engineer who performed the most recent annual inspection on the El Faro’s Voyage Data Recorder, or black box, had his certification suspended because of that probe.

After the sinking of El Faro, Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine became aware the vessel had a Simplified VDR which the company marketed and serviced. They pulled the “Annual Performance Test”, which was done in December 2014. That showed the El Faro’s VDR beacon had a battery that was going to expire in May 2015.

“Do you know if the battery was replaced, prior to May 2015?” asked NTSB Investigator Douglas Mansell.

“No, I don’t know,” says Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine Global Service Manager John Fletcher.

Fletcher says, based on international regulations, the battery would only have to be valid at the time of the inspection. He says Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine requires the battery be valid through the year between inspections, however, meaning it should have been replaced in order for El Faro to complete her inspection.

“Unfortunately, in this instance, a mistake was made- and we took the necessary action,” Fletcher says.

He says he personally suspended the certification of the inspector who performed the El Faro’s 2014 inspection, pending that engineer getting new training.

Fletcher says the company became aware of the potentially expired battery after the accident, around mid-November. He did not personally notify anyone in the Coast Guard or NTSB about this development, and says the case was transferred to the company’s legal department, so he wasn’t sure who eventually notified investigators. The NTSB had- by this time- completed its initial search for the VDR without being able to locate the device.

GALLERY: NTSB underwater footage of El Faro wreckage

The NTSB is launching a new search for the El Faro's VDR in April. The NTSB tells WOKV they will also be documenting the ship and debris field during that mission, which is expected to last about two weeks.

The NTSB asked Fletcher to speak to the likelihood that, after all this time, there is still recoverable data on the VDR. He says the capsule is designed to withstand depths of up to 20,000 feet, but he couldn’t address how long it would last.

Moving forward, Fletcher says they’re already working to implement steps that would reduce the chance of human error

“We have got a very good safety net to ensure that, going forward, we are compliant,” Fletcher says.

The man who installed the VDR for El Faro, Northrop Grumman Sperry Marine Lead Marine Service Engineer Jerry Michel, says he’s comfortable with how the device was mounted on the ship. He says they account for the stability of the material they weld the VDR to, space around it so a remotely operated vehicle could access it, and more when determining where to place it. In his professional experience, Michel says the El Faro VDR placement shouldn’t have been any issue.

WOKV will continue to monitor the MBOI. You can get instant updates on Twitter.