Air India crash: Indian investigators download black box data
Investigators have downloaded flight recorder data from an Air India crash this month that killed 260 people, India's civil aviation ministry said on Thursday, a long-awaited step towards understanding the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade.
The London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed moments after takeoff from India's Ahmedabad city on June 12, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and the rest on the ground.
The black boxes of the plane — the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) — were recovered in the days that followed, one from the rooftop of a building at the crash site on June 13, and the other from the debris on June 16.
The ministry said data from the front recorder was accessed on Wednesday by a team led by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), with the US National Transportation Safety Board.
"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," the ministry said in a statement.
US National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy told Reuters on Thursday she hopes the Indian government will be able to share details from the investigation into the crash in short order.
"For aviation safety and for public safety and public awareness we hope that they will make their findings public swiftly," Homendy said on the sidelines of an aviation event.
She said the NTSB team has been working diligently to provide assistance to India and "we have had excellent cooperation from the Indian government and the AAIB."
The probe into the crash of the Air India plane, which started losing height after reaching an altitude of 650 feet, includes a focus on engine thrust, according to a source with knowledge of the matter.
The Wall Street Journal has reported that investigators believe the Dreamliner had its emergency-power generator operating when it crashed.
Most air crashes are caused by multiple factors, with a preliminary report expected about 30 days after the accident.
Two GE recorders, one in the jet's front and another at the rear, are installed on Boeing's 787 jets and record the same set of flight data. GE, which sent experts to India, manufactured the engines on the Air India 787 and also produced the combined flight data and cockpit voice recorder, called an "enhanced airborne flight recorder".
The forward recorder is equipped with an independent power supply that provides backup power to the device for about 10 minutes if the plane's power source is lost, the NTSB said in a 2014 report.
The decision to begin downloading recorder data around two weeks after the crash was unusually late, three experts told Reuters, and followed speculation that the so-called black boxes could be sent to the United States for analysis.
US aviation safety expert Anthony Brickhouse said accident investigators would typically have already given some update on the recorders' status, and have begun downloading data in such a high profile crash.
"Normally countries know that the world is watching," he said.
India said last week that it was yet to decide where the black boxes would be analyzed. The data retrieved from them could provide critical clues into the aircraft's performance and any conversations between the pilots preceding the crash.
India has said its actions have been taken in full compliance with domestic laws and international obligations in a time bound manner.
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6 hours ago
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Air India crash: Indian investigators download black box data
Investigators have downloaded flight recorder data from an Air India crash this month that killed 260 people, India's civil aviation ministry said on Thursday, a long-awaited step towards understanding the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. The London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed moments after takeoff from India's Ahmedabad city on June 12, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and the rest on the ground. The black boxes of the plane — the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) — were recovered in the days that followed, one from the rooftop of a building at the crash site on June 13, and the other from the debris on June 16. The ministry said data from the front recorder was accessed on Wednesday by a team led by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), with the US National Transportation Safety Board. "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," the ministry said in a statement. US National Transportation Safety Board chair Jennifer Homendy told Reuters on Thursday she hopes the Indian government will be able to share details from the investigation into the crash in short order. "For aviation safety and for public safety and public awareness we hope that they will make their findings public swiftly," Homendy said on the sidelines of an aviation event. She said the NTSB team has been working diligently to provide assistance to India and "we have had excellent cooperation from the Indian government and the AAIB." The probe into the crash of the Air India plane, which started losing height after reaching an altitude of 650 feet, includes a focus on engine thrust, according to a source with knowledge of the matter. The Wall Street Journal has reported that investigators believe the Dreamliner had its emergency-power generator operating when it crashed. Most air crashes are caused by multiple factors, with a preliminary report expected about 30 days after the accident. Two GE recorders, one in the jet's front and another at the rear, are installed on Boeing's 787 jets and record the same set of flight data. GE, which sent experts to India, manufactured the engines on the Air India 787 and also produced the combined flight data and cockpit voice recorder, called an "enhanced airborne flight recorder". The forward recorder is equipped with an independent power supply that provides backup power to the device for about 10 minutes if the plane's power source is lost, the NTSB said in a 2014 report. The decision to begin downloading recorder data around two weeks after the crash was unusually late, three experts told Reuters, and followed speculation that the so-called black boxes could be sent to the United States for analysis. US aviation safety expert Anthony Brickhouse said accident investigators would typically have already given some update on the recorders' status, and have begun downloading data in such a high profile crash. "Normally countries know that the world is watching," he said. India said last week that it was yet to decide where the black boxes would be analyzed. The data retrieved from them could provide critical clues into the aircraft's performance and any conversations between the pilots preceding the crash. India has said its actions have been taken in full compliance with domestic laws and international obligations in a time bound manner.
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India says efforts are on to reconstruct events that caused Air India crash
Efforts are underway to reconstruct the sequence of events leading to the Air India plane crash this month that killed 260 people, and identify contributing factors, India's civil aviation ministry said on Thursday. The London-bound Boeing 787 Dreamliner crashed moments after takeoff from India's Ahmedabad city on June 12, killing 241 of the 242 people on board and the rest on ground in the world's worst aviation disaster in a decade. The black boxes of the plane - the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and flight data recorder (FDR) - were recovered in the days that followed, one from the rooftop of a building at the crash site on June 13, and the other from the debris on June 16. They were transported to national capital Delhi on Tuesday, where a team led by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau began extracting their data, the ministry said in a statement. "The Crash Protection Module (CPM) from the front black box was safely retrieved, memory module was successfully accessed and its data analysis of CVR and FDR data is underway," it said. The CPM is the core part of a black box that houses and protects data recorded during a crash. India said last week that it was yet to decide where the black boxes would be analysed. The data retrieved from them could provide critical clues into the aircraft's performance and any conversations between the pilots preceding the crash. The air disaster has also brought renewed attention to violations of norms by airlines in the country. India's aviation regulator said on Tuesday that multiple instances of aircraft defects reappearing were found at the Mumbai and Delhi airports - two of India's busiest. Reuters has reported that warnings were given by India's aviation regulator to Air India, which has come under increased scrutiny since the crash, including for permitting some aircraft to fly despite emergency equipment checks being overdue. The airline has also been warned for violations related to pilot duty scheduling and oversight. Air India has said it had implemented the authority's directions and was committed to ensuring adherence to safety protocols. It also said it was accelerating verification of maintenance records and would complete the process in the coming days.
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India recovers data from black boxes after deadly crash
26 June 2025 14:30 AHMEDABAD, INDIA (AFP)Indian investigators have successfully retrieved data from the black boxes of a Boeing plane, after it crashed in one of the deadliest air disasters in decades, the government said but one of the 242 people on board the Air India flight were killed on June 12 when the jet crashed in the western city of Ahmedabad, where at least 19 others were left weeks after the disaster, the civil aviation ministry said investigators have started "the data extraction process" from the plane's cockpit voice and flight data recorders."The analysis... 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," a ministry statement two black boxes were found within days of the crash, but were only flown to the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau in New Delhi on of the victims' relatives said they were waiting for answers."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," said Imtiyaz Ali, whose brother was on the plane with his wife and two children."I refuse to believe that our aviation sector is this bad that we still don't have even a slight indication about what went wrong," he told AFP on India said last week that the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner was "well-maintained" and that the pilots were accomplished have recovered more than 100 mobile phones with the aim of retrieving any recordings that "may provide clues about the final moments of the flight", Ahmedabad police commissioner GS Malik said last plane was being reconstructed at an undisclosed location "to detect any signs of mechanical failure, structural faults, or explosions", he told journalists. 'We are moving forward' Forensic scientists have meanwhile been analysing hundreds of DNA samples in order to identify the the jet bursting into a fireball when it smashed down moments after takeoff, a forensic dentist told AFP the team has been able to find matches through teeth."A protected molar tooth can withstand a temperature of over 1,800 degrees Fahrenheit," or 980 degrees Celsius, Jayasankar P Pillai painstaking forensic process has enabled the majority of victims to be identified."So far 260 deaths have been confirmed through DNA and police identification," Gujarat health minister Rushikesh Patel victim remains unidentified, a member of the forensic team told AFP on condition of anonymity as they were not authorised to speak to the media.A police source told AFP two days after the disaster that 279 bodies had been recovered from the crash plane slammed into accommodation for medics, killing four doctors and injuring at least 24 as it hit the Patel, a medical intern, joined a gathering this week to open a makeshift kitchen. "For us, reopening the mess is symbolic... despite everything, we are moving forward," he said.
