Air India 'Black Box' Damaged, May Have To Be Sent Abroad: Sources
The 'black box' of Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane that crashed on June 12 in Ahmedabad has sustained damage and may have to be sent to the United States to continue the data extraction process, sources have said, adding that the government will take the final call.
The 'black box' is in fact two devices in itself - the Cockpit Voice Recorder, or CVR, and the Flight Data Recorder, or FDR. The 'black box' recovered from the crashed Air India flight could be sent to the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington DC for inspection. According to sources, in the event that the 'black box' is sent to the US, a contingent of Indian officials will accompany the black box to ensure all protocols have been followed.
The Air India Flight AI171 crashed moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport en route to London's Gatwick Airport. The aircraft plunged into a medical college hostel complex in the Meghani Nagar area at 1:40 pm, sparking a massive blaze. Out of 242 on board, only one survived.
The 'black box' from the doomed Air India flight was recovered Monday, 28 hours after the crash. The 'black boxes' are actually bright orange in colour to help locate them from debris and wreckage.
The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) captures up to 25 hours of cockpit conversations, noise, radio calls with air traffic control, and audible alerts in newer aircraft models. However, AI-171 was operating a Boeing 787 delivered in 2014, prior to the 2021 mandate for 25-hour CVR storage. Therefore, the recorder likely had a two-hour recording capacity.
The Flight Data Recorder (FDR), on the other hand, collects parameters such as altitude, airspeed, heading, vertical acceleration, and control surface movements, among others. In modern jets like the 787-8, FDRs can record thousands of parameters simultaneously and loop for over 25 hours.
A Timeline
According to the Aviation Ministry, the aircraft took off at 1:39 PM local time on June 12. It reached a height of less than 600 feet before its climb stalled.
Thirty-six seconds into the flight, a distress call was received from the cockpit.
The transmission was reportedly received by Ahmedabad ATC but was followed by complete radio silence.
Seconds later, the aircraft crashed into residential structures bordering the airport's northeastern perimeter. Ground fatalities included 33 civilians in the BJ Medical College hostel. Only one passenger, a British-Indian man in seat 11A, survived the crash.
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