Black box of crashed Ahmedabad plane being probed in India, says Aviation minister

way2barak June 25: Union civil aviation minister Kinjarapu Rammohan Naidu said on Tuesday that the black box of the Air India AI 171 plane, which crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12 was in India only and being examined by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau.

Rammohan Naidu’s statement comes days after the government offered a formal clarification after media reports hinted that New Delhi planned to send the black box recorders to the US for analysis as the fire that followed the crash had damaged them to an extent it would be impossible to extract data in India.

Planes’ black boxes have two components – the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder – and provide crucial insights for crash investigators, including altitude and airspeed data and pilot conversation records that help determine probable causes of crashes.

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner with 242 people on board, bound for London’s Gatwick Airport, lost height seconds after taking off from Ahmedabad on June 12 and erupted in a fireball as it hit a medical college hostel.

Of the 242 persons onboard the plane, only one individual survived. In addition, 29 people on the ground were also killed by the terrifying plane crash. A total of 270 persons lost their lives to the tragedy. Officials recovered the black box of the Air India plane was recovered from the site on June 13.