Air India crash: Data from recovered AI-171 Black Box downloaded, analysis underway
Both the front and rear black boxes reached the AAIB lab in Delhi on 24 June, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said in a statement Thursday.
New Delhi: The data from the black box of the Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad was successfully retrieved by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
The 12 June crash has claimed as many as 275 people lives, including the 241 out of the 242 onboard the Boeing 787-8.
Following the crash, both the Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVR) and Flight Data Recorders (FDR) were recovered. While the FDR was recovered from the rooftop of the building at the crash site on 13 June, the CVR was found in the debris on 16 June.
'Standard Operating Procedures were issued for their secure handling, storage, and transportation. The devices were kept under 24×7 police protection and CCTV surveillance in Ahmedabad,' the statement added.
The AAIB, meanwhile, initiated an investigation and formed a multidisciplinary team on 13 June, in line with prescribed norms. Led by the AAIB Director General, the team includes an aviation medicine specialist, an Air Traffic Controller officer, and representatives from National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) which is a government investigative agency from the state of manufacture and design (i.e., the US), as required for such probes.
'On the evening of 24 June 2025, the team led by DG AAIB with technical members from AAIB and NTSB began the data extraction process. The Crash Protection Module (CPM) from the front black box was safely retrieved, and on 25 June, 2025, the memory module was successfully accessed and its data downloaded at the AAIB Lab,' the statement said.
The analysis of CVR and FDR data, officials said, is underway aiming to reconstruct the 'sequence of events leading to the accident and identify contributing factors to enhance aviation safety and prevent future occurrences'.
India is a signatory to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), Chicago Convention (1944) and investigates aircraft accidents in accordance with ICAO Annex 13 (sets international standards for investigating aircraft accidents) and the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2017. The AAIB is the designated authority for such investigations. As per ICAO Annex 13, the preliminary report must be issued within 30 days of the incident.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
Also Read: Recurring aircraft defects to faded runway lines, DGCA check reveals safety lapses at key airports
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