The Indonesian National Transport Safety Committee (KNKT) has said it would purchase devices able to read data from airplane cabin voice and flight data recorders, local press reported on Nov. 13.

"We have been a member of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) for 57 years but we still could not read a black box by ourselves," KNKT Chairman Tatang Kurniaid was quoted by English-language newspaper The Jakarta Post as saying.

"We should feel ashamed about that."

Tatang has asked the House of Representatives to approve a budget of 8 billion rupiah (US$872,000) to purchase the reader.

In recent air accidents, Indonesian authorities sent the black boxes to the United States for investigation.