The flight data recorder was completely destroyed, so only the cockpit voice recorder was of use. Pradit Hoprasatsuk, the head of the Air Safety Division of the Thailand Department of Aviation, stated, "the attempt to determine why the reverser came on was hampered by the loss of the flight data recorder, which was destroyed in the crash".Archive. Associated Press. 31 August 1993. Retrieved on 16 March 2014. Upon hearing of the crash, Niki Lauda traveled to Thailand. He examined the wreckage and estimated that the largest fragment was about by , which was about half the size of the largest piece in the Lockerbie crash."Looting may have hidden clues to crash". The Advertiser. Thursday 30 May 1991. In Thailand, Lauda attended a funeral for 23 unidentified passengers, and then traveled to Seattle to meet with Boeing representatives.
