Black Box Of Air India Crash Plane Under AAIB Scrutiny, Not Sent Abroad: Aviation Minister

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Last Updated:June 24, 2025, 15:07 IST

The London-bound Air India flight crashed into a hostel complex in Ahmedabad moments after it took off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on June 12 afternoon.

The black box of Air India's Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane was recovered from the site on June 13. (File)

Ahmedabad Plane Crash: Civil Aviation Minister K Rammohan Naidu on Tuesday said that the black box of the Air India flight AI-171, which crashed in Ahmedabad earlier this month was being examined by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), and dismissed speculation that it would be sent overseas for analysis.

The London-bound Air India flight crashed into a hostel complex in Ahmedabad moments after it took off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport on June 12 afternoon, killing 270 persons, including 241 on board.

The black box Air India’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner aircraft was recovered the following day, offering a crucial opportunity for investigators to uncover the events that led to the tragedy.

The black box is a small machine that records information about an aircraft during its flight. The box helps with aviation investigations in case of any incident. The black box also comprises two recorders, a cockpit voice recorder for pilot voices and cockpit sounds, and a separate flight data recorder.

Earlier, some reports suggested that the Centre was was going to send the black box abroad for analysis. Asked about the same, Naidu said, “…it is all speculation. The black box is very much in India and it it currently being investigated by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB)."

To a query on when is the black box data expected to be retrieved, the minister said it is a very technical matter.

“Let the AAIB conduct the probe and go through the entire process," he added.

A high-level panel has been set up to investigate the causes of the Ahmedabad plane crash and the investigation is progressing smoothly, the government said after the incident.

“Decoding the black box is going to give an in-depth insight into what happened moments before the plane crash," Naidu had earlier said.

Ahmedabad Plane Crash

India witnessed one of its worst aviation tragedies on Thursday after a London-bound Air India plane, carrying 242 passengers and crew, including former Gujarat chief minister Vijay Rupani, crashed into a medical college complex shortly after taking off from the Ahmedabad airport.

241 out of 242 passengers and crew members on board the Boeing 787-8 (AI 171) and another 29 persons, including five MBBS students, on the ground were killed in the crash.

The aircraft was under the command of Captain Sumeet Sabharwal with First Officer Clive Kunder. Two senior cabin crew members have been identified as Shradha Dhavan and Aparna Mahadik. The other cabin crew members were Saineeta Chakravarti, Nganthoi Kongbrailatpam Sharma, Deepak Pathak, Maithili Patil, Irfan Shaikh, Lamnunthem Singson, Roshni Songhare Rajendra, and Manisha Thapa.

One person survived the tragedy. The lone survivor was identified as Indian-origin British national Vishwash Kumar Ramesh who was returning to the UK with his brother Ajay Kumar Rakesh, 45, who was in a different row inside the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner.

The aircraft had 232 passengers and 10 crew members, including 169 Indians, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese and a Canadian, on board.

(With inputs from PTI)

Shobhit Gupta

Shobhit Gupta is a sub-editor at News18.com and covers India and International news. He is interested in day to day political affairs in India and geopolitics. He earned his BA Journalism (Hons) degree from Ben...Read More

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