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UPI
14 hours ago
- Business
- UPI
'Black boxes' from jet crash in India found; sole survivor doing well
1 of 10 | India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi visits the site of an Air India plane crash near the airport in Ahmedabad, India, on Friday. Photo by Indian Press Information Bureau | License Photo June 13 (UPI) -- Both of the "black boxes" were recovered from the wreckage of the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner in India after after all but one of the 242 people onboard died. The voice and data recorders may help investigators learn what caused the passenger jet to crash just minutes after it took off from Ahmedabad for London's Gatwick Airport on Thursday. "The Flight Data Recorder (Black Box) has been recovered within 28 hours from the accident site in Ahmedabad," Ram Mohan Naidu Kinjarapu, the Indian Union Minister of Civil Aviation, said in a social media post. "This marks an important step forward in the investigation. This will significantly aid the enquiry into the incident." Hours later on Saturday morning local time, the voice recorder was found. The captain of the flight sent a distress call to air traffic control less a minute after take off, India's aviation authorities confirmed Saturday. The plane crashed just 33 minutes after takeoff. The recorders were recovered from on top of the medical college hostel where the jet crashed. Members of the U.S. Transportation Safety Board and British authorities are assisting with the investigation. More 50 of those killed from the plane are British nationals. The aircraft was made in the United States. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said Thursday they haven't found any safety data that the plane model itself is unsafe. "They have to get on the ground and take a look. But again, right now it'd be way too premature," Duffy said at a news conference. "People are looking at videos and trying to assess what happened, which is never a strong, smart way to make decisions on what took place." It was the first fatal flight involving the 787-8. Boeing has manufactured 1,188 of the planes since they went into service in 2009. India's government is inspecting all Boeing 787s , the aviation minister just told reporters in a press briefing. Air India operates 33 Boeing 787s and rival airline IndiGo has one, according to data from Flightradar24. Rescue workers scoured the site for survivors and, miraculously, one man, British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, who had been in seat 11A on the Air India flight, right next to his brother. He walked away from the crash site with only minor injuries. The sole survivor is doing well in hospital but is "psychologically disturbed," according to the Civil Hospital medical director. The jet struck a hostel for B.J. Medical College and Civil Hospital students and relatives, a medical school. The total death toll is at least 290. The British national of Indian origin told the Hindustan Times it happened very fast. "Thirty seconds after takeoff, there was a loud noise and then the plane crashed," Ramesh said. "I don't know how I'm alive, how I exited the plane." Ramesh added, "I don't know how I survived. I saw people dying in front of my eyes -- the air hostesses, and two people I saw near me. ... I walked out of the rubble." He was seated near a left-side window emergency exit in the economy section of the aircraft. He said he saw the exit, tried to get out through it and succeeded. Ramesh said he still can't believe he made it out alive. Prime Minister Narenda Modi visited him in the hospital. Modi said on X, "Met those injured in the aftermath of the tragic plane crash in Ahmedabad, including the lone survivor and assured them that we are with them and their families in this tough time. The entire nation is praying for their speedy recovery. A student said it was a "miracle" she missed the flight. Bhoomi Chauhan, 28, said she was angry after a traffic jam on the way to the airport meant she missed boarding the flight by just 10 minutes. Now she said is "numb" after learning a about the crash. In a statement on X Air India offered its deepest condolences to families of those killed and added, "The passengers comprised 169 Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, 7 Portuguese nationals and 1 Canadian national. The FAIMA Doctors Association said on X that "The wife of one super-specialist doctor was found dead." Fifty MBBS students were hospitalized in stable condition while two or three were in critical condition and four or five students were missing. Three to four relatives of resident doctors also are missing, according to FAIMA.
Mint
a day ago
- General
- Mint
Explained: What black box holds inside and what can it reveal about Air India plane crash?
The flight data recorder from the crashed Air India flight was recovered on Friday, which is expected to provide a critical understanding of the cause of the plane crash that claimed the lives of 241 passengers and several people on the ground. The London-bound Boeing 787 crashed into a medical college hostel in a residential area of Gujarat's Ahmedabad shortly after takeoff on Thursday, June 12. The plane's digital flight data recorder or black box was recovered from a rooftop near the crash site, and the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said that it had begun its work with 'full force.' Meanwhile, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said in a post on X that the black box recovery marks an 'important step forward in the investigation'. The Flight Data Recorder (Black Box) has been recovered within 28 hours from the accident site in Ahmedabad by AAIB. This marks an important step forward in the investigation. This will significantly aid the enquiry into the incident, Naidu added. A black box in aviation refers to two critical flight recording devices on an aircraft: Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR). Flight Data Recorder – This device records important flight parameters like speed, altitude, engine performance, heading, and flight control movements. Cockpit Voice Recorder – This records audio from the cockpit, including conversations between pilots, alarms, and ambient sounds. In the investigation of the Ahmedabad crash, the black box will play a key role in identifying whether the disaster resulted from a mechanical malfunction, engine failure, bird strike, onboard fire, or human error. The black box will offer comprehensive information about the crew's MAYDAY transmission, any system-generated alerts, and their efforts to regain control in the critical seconds following takeoff. Furthermore, the device will reveal information about the engine and control settings, in addition to what the voice recorder will show about the cockpit conversations, Paul Fromme, a mechanical engineer with the UK-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers said in a statement, as reported by the Associated Press. The DGCA said its enhanced inspection will include checks of various systems and a review of take-off parameters of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft of Air India owned by the Tata Group. Both FDR and CVR devices always collect and save data during a flight. The FDR logs technical and performance metrics, while the CVR records sound inside the cockpit, according to reports. In the event of an accident, this stored data is retrieved and analysed to understand what was happening mechanically and among the crew in the moments leading up to the crash. Aviation safety consultant Jeff Guzzetti, a former crash investigator for both the US National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration, said investigators should be able to answer some important questions about what caused the crash as soon as next week as long as the flight data recorder is in good shape. Investigators likely are looking at whether wing flaps were set correctly, whether the engine lost power, whether alarms were going off inside the cockpit and whether the plane's crew correctly inputted information about the hot temperature outside and the weight of the fuel and passengers, Guzzetti said, as reported by AP. Mistakes in the data could result in the wing flaps being set incorrectly, he said. (With inputs from agencies)
Yahoo
30-01-2025
- General
- Yahoo
What is a black box on a plane? What to know after AA Flight 5342 crash with helicopter
As the recovery operation continued Thursday after a commercial airliner collided with an Army helicopter near the nation's capital, federal aviation officials said they had not yet recovered the black boxes from the aircrafts. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the lead agency handling the deadly crash, held a briefing Thursday afternoon. NTSB member Todd Inman said "We feel comfortable and confident" that the boxes would be recovered. The fatal crash took place just before 9 p.m. Wednesday when American Airlines Flight 5342 attempted to land and collided in midair with a Black Hawk trying to land at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA) in Arlington, Virginia. Flight 5342 took off from Wichita, Kansas, at 5:18 p.m. CST and was set to land at DCA at 9:03 p.m. ET, but dropped out of the air on approach at about 8:48 p.m., according to aircraft tracking site FlightAware. Live updates: 'We will find out what happened,' NTSB vows after tragic midair collision The passenger plane with 64 people aboard then fell into the icy waters of the Potomac River. The Black Hawk helicopter carried three people. All aboard both aircraft are feared dead, officials said during Thursday morning news conferences. Here's what to know: A black box is a flight data recorder that collects information on communications involving pilots in cockpits and how the aircraft systems perform in-flight. It is designed to be practically indestructible. Large commercial aircraft and some smaller commercial, corporate, and private aircrafts are required by the Federal Aviation Administration to be equipped with two black boxes, according to the NTSB. The first, called the Cockpit Voice Recorder, records radio transmissions and sounds in the cockpit including pilots' voices and engine noise, according to the federal agency. The second is called a Flight Data Recorder, which monitors parameters such as altitude, airspeed, and heading. The recorders are installed to help reconstruct precisely what happened leading up to a crash. A black box is typically found in the aircraft's rear. Each box is equipped with an Underwater Locator Beacon in the event of an overwater crash, according to NTSB. Dubbed a "pinger", the device is activated when the recorder is submerged in water, according to a NTSB online fact sheet. " "It transmits an acoustical signal on 37.5 KHz that can be detected with a special receiver," the sheet reads. "The beacon can transmit from depths down to 14,000 feet." If a black box is recovered from the water, it is immersed in fresh, clean water to prevent deposits such as salt or minerals from drying out within the device, said John Cox, a retired airline captain with former US Airways. "When the technicians at the laboratory are ready to download the data, they take the recorder out of the freshwater bath, carefully open it and dry any sections that have been exposed to water," according to Cox, who owns the aviation safety consulting company, Safety Operating Systems. "They then download the data into special computers that can read the information." It was not immediately known whether divers had located the black boxes for either AA Flight 5342 or the military's Black Hawk that both crashed. Once rescue efforts are concluded, the NTSB told USA TODAY that locating the black box will be one of federal officials' main priorities. Contributing: Reuters, Kinsey Crowley; USA TODAY Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@ and follow her on X @nataliealund. This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Has AA Flight 5342's black box been found? What to know after crash
USA Today
30-01-2025
- General
- USA Today
AA Flight 5342: What is a black box on a plane? What to know after crash with helicopter
As the recovery operation continued Thursday morning after a commercial airliner collided with an Army helicopter near the nation's capital, federal aviation officials had not yet made a formal announcement about the black boxes on board both aircrafts. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the lead agency handling the deadly crash, is expected to hold a briefing today, a spokesperson for the federal agency told USA TODAY. The fatal crash took place just before 9 p.m. Wednesday when American Airlines Flight 5342 attempted to land and collided in midair with a Blackhawk trying to land at the Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport (DCA)in Arlington, Virginia. Flight 5342 took off from Wichita, Kansas, at 5:18 p.m., CST and was set to land at DCA at 9:03 p.m. ET, but dropped out of the air on approach at about 8:48 p.m., according to aircraft tracking site FlightAware. The passenger plane with 64 people aboard then fell into icy waters of the Potomac River. The Blackhawk helicopter carried three people. All aboard both aircrafts are feared, dead, officials said during Thursday morning news conferences. What is the the black box, what can it tell us, and how do they work? Here's what to know: Watch live:News conference for American Airline deadly plane crash What is a black box? A black box is a flight-data recorders that collect information on communications involving pilots in cockpits and how the aircraft systems perform in-flight. It is designed to be practically indestructible. Large commercial aircraft and some smaller commercial, corporate, and private aircrafts are required by the Federal Aviation Administration to be equipped with two black boxes, according to the NTSB. The first, called the Cockpit Voice Recorder, records radio transmissions and sounds in the cockpit including pilot's voices and engine noise, according to the Federal agency. The second, called a Flight Data Recorder, monitors parameters such as altitude, airspeed and heading. The recorders are installed to help reconstruct exactly what happened leading up to a crash. Where is a black box found on a plane? A black box is typically found in the aircraft's rear. Each box, is equipped with an Underwater Locator Beacon in the event of an overwater crash, according to NTSB. Dubbed a "pinger", the device is activated when the recorder is submerged in water, according to a NTSB online fact sheet. " "It transmits an acoustical signal on 37.5 KHz that can be detected with a special receiver," the sheet reads . "The beacon can transmit from depths down to 14,000 feet." What happens when a black box is recovered from water? If a black box is recovered from water, it is immersed in fresh, clean water to prevent deposits such as salt or minerals from drying out within the device, said John Cox, a retired airline captain with former US Airways. "When the technicians at the laboratory are ready to download the data, they take the recorder out of the freshwater bath, carefully open it and dry any sections that have been exposed to water," according to Cox, who owns aviation safety consulting company, Safety Operating Systems. "They then download the data into special computers that can read the information." Has the black box on American Airlines Flight 5342 been located It was not immediately known whether divers had located the black boxes for either AA Flight 5342 or the military's Blackhawk that both crashed. Once rescue efforts are concluded, the NTSB told USA TODAY, locating the black box will be one of federal officials main priorities. Contributing: Reuters Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at nalund@ and follow her on X @nataliealund.
