A search team has retrieved the cockpit voice recorder of the Swedish-made Gripen JAS 39C that crashed and exploded during a Children's Day air show in Songkhla's Hat Yai district.
Royal Thai Air Force (RTAF) spokesman AVM Pongsak Semachai said the device, officially known as a Crash Survivable Memory Unit, is instrumental to the crash investigation as authorities are working to determine the cause of the crash.
The accident took place last Saturday when one of the air force's nine jet fighters taking part in the air show as part of Children's Day activities at Wing 56 in Hat Yai in Songkhla province went down.
Sqn Ldr Dilokrit Pattavee, 34, a pilot from Surat Thani-based Wing 7, was killed in the crash.
AVM Pongsak said the cockpit voice recorder will be analysed as investigators piece together evidence from the crash site. The investigation is expected to be wrapped up in two months.
He said the search for the device, carried out by the RTAF's Safety Centre, the Directorate of Aeronautical Engineering, and Directorate of Armament, was hampered by rain, but the team persisted.
The RTAF spokesman also criticised certain media outlets for publishing false information about the air force's procurement of the Gripen jets, insisting it had been done by the book.