The black box of the Air India Flight 171 crash wreckage has been recovered from the site in Ahmedabad, but it got damaged during the crash and is in poor condition. It might be extremely difficult to retrieve vital information in India, and authorities indicate it might have to be shipped off to the US—or even France—for sophisticated analysis.
Indian aviation authorities are collaborating with agencies such as the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) and Boeing (the manufacturer of the plane) as per the reports. The US possesses some of the most sophisticated labs in the world to recover black box data, particularly in cases where devices are badly damaged.
Why is this information so valuable
The CVR captures all that has been heard in the cockpit—conversations between the pilots, alarms, and engine noise. The FDR tracks the plane’s motion—speed, altitude, engine performance, and so on. Combined, they can assist investigators in determining what actually occurred in those final moments leading to the crash.
Indian officials are taking initial attempts to retrieve the data here, but if that does not happen, the black box will probably be sent abroad. This information is essential to determine whether the accident occurred due to a technical fault, human mistake, or a different reason.
