AI plane crash: Black box in India, being examined by AAIB, says civil aviation minister

Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu made it clear on Tuesday that India is analysing the black box of the Air India aircraft that crashed in Ahmedabad and it has not been sent abroad as has been made out by some earlier reports.

Addressing an aviation summit, Naidu said, “It is all speculation. The black box is very much in India and is currently being investigated by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).”

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On being asked about the release of the content of the black box, the minister said it’s a technical process and will take some time. He went on to say, “Let the AAIB do its job and complete the full investigation.”

The fatal crash occurred on June 12, minutes after the London-bound Air India jet departed from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. The aircraft smashed into a hostel complex, killing 270 individuals, 241 of whom were aboard. A lone passenger survived.

The black box that holds vital flight data and cockpit voice recordings was recovered from the crash site on June 13.

It is actually two components packed into one casing with the first being Flight Data Recorder (FDR), which records the technical data of the aircraft like speed, altitude, engine performance, and navigation details. The second component is Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) which stores audio from the cockpit, including pilot conversations and other sounds from the flight deck.

Notably, the first meeting of the high-level committee set up by the government to investigate the Ahmedabad plane crash was held on June 16.

The committee was chaired by the Union Home Secretary Govind Mohan. The members of the high-level multi-disciplinary committee including Secretary Ministry of Civil Aviation, Senior Officials from Home Ministry, Officials of Home Department and State Disaster Response Authority of Gujarat, Police Commissioner of Ahmedabad, Director General of Inspection and Safety in the Indian Air Force and Director General of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security also attended the meeting.

The panel will submit its report in three months. It is expected to focus on formulating Standard Operating Procedures for preventing such occurrences in the future.

A separate investigation is also being carried out by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau, which is looking into the technical aspects of the crash.