Eastern Airline Crash 32 years ago - Investigation resumes - AVweb

NTSB To Resume Probe Into Eastern Air Lines Crash

By Elaine Kauh

The cause of the deadly crash of an Eastern Air Lines Boeing 727 into one of Bolivia’s highest mountains nearly 32 years ago remains a mystery. But the investigation appears to have been revived with the recent retrieval of flight data recorders from the wreckage. ABC News reported Wednesday that the National Transportation Safety Board and the Bolivian government have arranged to examine pieces of a recorder found earlier this year by two American mountain climbers. 
The two men from Boston, who have been interested in exploring the fate of missing aircraft, climbed Mount Illimani, Bolivia’s second highest, in the spring and found what turned out to be pieces of voice and flight data recorders. The devices had remained missing, along with other evidence, amid the sprawling wreckage of the jet due to the elevation of the terrain, which peaks at more than 21,000 feet. Eastern Air Lines Flight 980, flying a multi-leg route from Paraguay to Miami with a stop in Bolivia, crashed into Mount Illimani at about 19,600 feet on New Year’s Day 1985. All 29 people on board were killed. The aircraft had been on an initial descent into La Paz but left its route and flew into the mountain. The NTSB and other investigators were at the site following the crash but were unable to retrieve human remains or much by way of evidence due to the harsh conditions and deep snow.