Analysis of flight recorder data from Air India crash gets underway

UPI

6 hours ago

Air accident investigators in Delhi have begun studying data downloaded from two black boxes from the crash site of Air India flight 171 in Ahmedabad after they were recovered two days apart by State Disaster Response Force search teams earlier this month. File Photo by Hanif Sindh/UPI | License Photo
June 27 (UPI) -- Indian air accident investigators have begun analysis of flight recorder data from the deadly Air India crash earlier in June after successfully recovering the information from the two black boxes on board.
Investigators in Delhi began sifting through the data after an Air Accident Investigation Bureau team, assisted by U.S. National Transportation Safety Board specialists, downloaded it from the memory of the Crash Protection Module after safely extracting it from the front black box, the Indian Civil Aviation Ministry said Thursday in an update.
"The analysis of Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder data is underway. These efforts aim to reconstruct the sequence of events leading to the accident and identify contributing factors to enhance aviation safety and prevent future occurrences," said the ministry.
However, it could be weeks before the conclusions drawn from the recorder data, which captures key information on the position of flap and throttle levers and engine and fuel parameters as well as conversation and sounds in the cockpit, are made public.
London-bound Air India flight 171 crashed into a heavily populated area June 12 shortly after taking off from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, killing all but one of the 242 passengers and crew and killing and injuring dozens more on the ground.
The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, with two very senior, experienced pilots at the controls, was seen to lift off and climb normally before apparently stalling at around 600 feet and plummeting to the ground with its landing gear still down.
The captain issued a mayday call, but air traffic control received no reply when it responded seconds later, creating the scene for one of civil aviation's most mysterious disasters involving an aircraft that is among the safest ever made.
Experts said it was unusual for there to be such a long gap between finding the boxes at the crash site and downloading what was on them. Search teams discovered the CVR and FDR, known as Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorders on the 787, on June 13 and June 16, respectively, according to the aviation ministry.
The news came after Indian authorities postponed sending the boxes to the United States for analysis as had been expected, with Indian Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Nadu confirming the data would initially be examined by India's AAIB experts.
A decision on whether either of the flight recorders should be shipped overseas for further analysis would be taken once a comprehensive evaluation of technical, safety and security factors had been carried out by the AAIB, the government said Thursday.
Indian authorities' approach has raised eyebrows amid intense focus on the safety record of the country's civil aviation sector in the wake of the disaster with the aviation watchdog issuing warnings over repeated aircraft maintenance and inspection failings at Delhi and Mumbai airports.
The Civil Aviation Directorate General, which is carrying an appraisal of the industry separate to the Air India investigation in an effort to provide public reassurance, said the fact the issues were far from isolated incidents was indicative of "ineffective monitoring and inadequate rectification action."
It also found that safety protocols and certain faults were ignored by some maintenance engineers when aircraft were in for servicing, and that they didn't always adhere to scheduled maintenance tasks and checks.
Aircraft maintenance is highly regulated under standards set by the International Civil Aviation Organization, but relies on domestic authorities for compliance and oversight.