Black Box of Crashed Air India Plane Under Examination in India

New Delhi: Putting rest to speculations that the Black Box of AI 171 that crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12 is being sent abroad for decoding, Union minister for Civil Aviation Mr K. Rammohan Naidu on Tuesday said the Black Box of the Air India plane was being examined by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), and dismissed speculation that it would be sent abroad for an inquiry.

Dismissing news reports about the Black Box being sent outside India as speculation, the minister said, “The Black Box is very much in India and it is currently being investigated by the AAIB.”

When asked about the timeframe to retrieve the data, Mr Naidu said it is a very technical matter. "Let the AAIB conduct the probe and go through the entire process," he added. The minister has earlier said decoding the Black Box is going to give an in-depth insight into what happened moments before the plane crash.

Mr Naidu had in April inaugurated a state-of-the-art Digital Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder (DFDR and CVR) Laboratory at the AAIB in New Delhi. Widely referred to as the “Black Box Lab,” this facility, set up with the help of Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), is equipped to analyze retrieved flight data from aircraft. It is believed the Black Box, Cockpit Voice Recorder and DFDR is being analysed in this lab.

The London-bound Air India flight crashed into a hostel complex in Ahmedabad moments after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport there on June 12 afternoon, killing 270 persons, including 241 on board. One passenger survived. The Black Box of Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane was recovered from the site on June 13.

Mr Naidu was speaking in Pune on the sidelines of the Helicopters and Small Aircraft Summit 2025, organised by FICCI jointly with the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

Speaking on the aviation security measures for the Char Dham Yatra, Mr Naidu said safety remained top most priority for the government. “For Char Dham operations, we want to enhance the safety even more. We are looking into enhanced safety, surveillance and creating more systems. Because there are a lot of hilly areas, air traffic management is a bit challenging when there is no signal. We are looking at innovative solutions so that we can have more air traffic control and better processing of weather data. We have observed in some incidents that the weather changes suddenly, and it's difficult for the pilots to land or take off. For that, we are bringing better technology and air traffic control... We will use the next two to three months to enhance the safety aspect in those areas. By September, we will develop some new things so that the safety becomes much better,” the minister said.

In view of multiple occurrences involving helicopter operations during the Char Dham Yatra, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) has initiated a safety investigation for each of the incidents to identify contributing factors, including mechanical failures, operational errors, and weather-related challenges.

The Kedarnath helicopter service has witnessed several crashes in the last one month raising questions on the safety of these operations. While emphasising that safety should take precedence over schedule adherence, the DGCA has encouraged pilots to divert flights in unpredictable conditions, as it revised operational guidelines for operators during adverse weather conditions. In an updated operations circular to scheduled and non-scheduled operators, the regulator also said pilots should cross-check visual cues with instruments to ensure accurate approach and landing assessments to deal with visual illusions that may occur during night operations in rain or on wet runways. DGCA has advised flight crew to maintain heightened vigilance, "with an emphasis on safety taking precedence over schedule adherence".