India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has not yet confirmed whether the black boxes recovered from last week’s tragic Air India crash will be sent abroad for analysis. The London-bound Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad on June 13, killing at least 270 people, making it one of the deadliest aviation disasters in the country’s history.
While some media outlets reported that the flight data and cockpit voice recorders—commonly referred to as “black boxes”—were en route to the United States, India’s civil aviation ministry clarified that no such decision has been made. The AAIB will assess technical, safety, and security factors before determining the location for decoding the Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorders (EAFRs), both of which have been recovered.
These black boxes store crucial flight metrics, including gear positions, engine performance, thrust levels, and cockpit audio. However, there are concerns the recorders may have suffered fire damage, raising questions about whether India’s newly established AAIB laboratory in Delhi is fully equipped to handle complex data recovery operations.
Captain Kishore Chinta, a former AAIB investigator, suggested that one set of recorders might be sent to the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) to validate any findings extracted in India. “This kind of cross-verification ensures transparency and accuracy in accident investigation,” he told the BBC.
Air India Chairman N Chandrasekaran also revealed that one of the engines on the ill-fated aircraft was recently installed, while the other was not due for maintenance until December. Both engines, he added, had “clean” operational histories.
In response to the crash, India’s aviation regulator mandated additional safety checks across Air India’s Boeing 787 fleet. Of the airline’s 33 Dreamliners, 26 have already passed inspection and been cleared for continued service. As a precautionary move, the airline is cutting flights on 16 international routes and suspending three destinations from June 21 to July 15. The reductions stem from both enhanced pre-flight checks and extended flight times due to airspace restrictions over the Middle East.
The AAIB’s final determination on how and where to analyze the flight recorders is expected to be a pivotal step in uncovering the cause of this catastrophic event.
