Ahmedabad plane crash investigation: Black box of Air India flight 171 recovered

Investigators on Friday recovered a Black box of the London-bound Air India plane from the rooftop of a medical college hostel here a day after it crashed and rammed into the building, as they scoured through the debris for clues to the cause of the worst air tragedy in the country in three decades.

In a major breakthrough, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), without giving details, said the Digital Flight Data Recorder(DFDR), commonly known as the Black box, was recovered from the “rooftop” at the crash site. The DFDR will help reconstruct the ill-fated flight’s final moments and is crucial to determining how the disaster occurred.

All but one of the 242 passengers and crew on board the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner(AI171) and another 24 persons including five MBBS students on the ground were killed when the aircraft came down seconds after take-off before falling inside the campus of the state-run BJ Medical College campus in Meghaninagar area and going up in flames.

PM Modi visits scene of the crash, meets injured in hospital

Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the scene of the crash and met the injured at the Ahmedabad civil hospital. He spent around 20 minutes at the crash site.

As aviation experts discussed the possible causes of the crash, including loss of thrust in both engines of the 11-year-old aircraft, multiple bird strikes, or a potential flap issue, Aviation watchdog DGCA ordered enhanced safety inspection of Air India’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet powered by GEnx engines. There are 26 Boeing 787-8s and 7 Boeing 787-9s in the Air India fleet.

“The DFDR (Black box) has been recovered from the rooftop,” an AAIB statement said, without giving details.

An official said the recovery was made from the rooftop of the medical college hostel building which is part of the residential quarters of BJ Medical College. The tail cone of the aircraft was lodged near the top of the building.

The DFDR typically located in the tail section of an aircraft is painted bright orange to make them easier to locate in wreckage.

Civil Aviation Minister K Ram Mohan Naidu said the DFDR has been recovered within 28 hours from the accident site by the AAIB. “This marks an important step forward in the investigation. This will significantly aid the enquiry into the incident,” he said on X.

There was no word yet on recovery of the Cockpit Voice Recorder(CVR), which is also known as a Black box. CVR records radio transmissions and other sounds in the cockpit, such as conversations between the pilots and engine noises.

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.

As grieving families of the victims try to come to terms with the catastrophe and desperately wait to collect the bodies, police said bodies of six victims were handed over to their families after identification.

6 bodies handed over to kin

Of the 265 bodies brought to the Ahmedabad Civil Hospital for post-mortem on Thursday, six victims were identified so far as their faces were intact, police inspector Chirag Gosai said.

He said DNA profiling is under way to ascertain the identities of others as their bodies are charred beyond recognition.

“We have handed over the six bodies to the relatives. We have started the process of collecting DNA samples of relatives for profiling to identify bodies that are charred beyond recognition,” Gosai said.

“Relatives of 215 deceased persons have approached us to give their samples,” he added.

“It will take nearly 72 hours to complete the exercise of matching the DNA samples. Once there is a match, bodies will be handed over to relatives from the post-mortem room.”

At the city civil hospital, Prime Minister Modi spoke to Vishwas Kumar Ramesh, the lone on board survivor, and also met other injured persons.

Ramesh, a 40-year-old British businessman from Leicester, said his astonishing escape was a combination of fortune and quick decision in identifying a crucial space amidst the wreckage and acting fast.

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) on Thursday said in a post on X that it will be “leading a team of US investigators travelling to India to assist the AAIB with its investigation into the Ahmedabad crash. NTSB is a US government agency that investigates civil aviation accidents.

Aviation experts said only a full investigation into the crash would determine the cause and that people should wait for the proper investigation to conclude.

“There are a lot of things which could have gone wrong in terms of technicalities or in terms of flap or engine controls is concerned. So, we have to await the investigation report on the Black box, and whatever we get out of the Black box recording, the data will tell us what actually transpired and what was the actual cause of the crash,” said Sarosh Damania of Sarosh Damania and Co. — with PTI