Investigators have successfully downloaded data from the black boxes of the Air India plane that crashed near Ahmedabad on June 12, promising new clues about the tragedy.
The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) began extracting data from the flight’s black boxes on June 24, nearly two weeks after the crash that killed 241 people on board and 19 on the ground. The black boxes include the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR), both recovered from the crash site and transported securely to the AAIB lab in Delhi.
Despite damage to the devices, the AAIB managed to retrieve the Crash Protection Module and memory module, successfully downloading the data. Analysis of the recordings is ongoing to reconstruct the events leading to the crash of Air India Flight AI171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London Gatwick.
Early investigations suggest the pilots activated the emergency Ram Air Turbine (RAT) system shortly before the crash, indicating possible engine or electrical failure during takeoff. Experts say dual engine failure is rare but remains a focus of the probe.
The crash occurred shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad Airport, with surveillance footage showing the plane abruptly descending and hitting a medical college hostel. The tragedy is one of the deadliest in India’s aviation history.
Relatives of victims are demanding answers. Imtiyaz Ali, whose brother was on the flight, said, “For now, all we know is the plane took off and then fell. How? Why? Nobody knows. And we want to know. We deserve to know”.
With black box data now in hand, investigators hope to pinpoint the cause of the deadly plane crash soon.
