PNS|Ahmedabad
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.
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.
