The black box is essential for determining the cause of aviation accidents
Black Box of Crashed Air India Boeing 787 Recovered from Rooftop, Confirms AAIB
The black box of the ill-fated Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner (VT-ANB), which crashed yesterday, has been recovered. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) confirmed that the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) — commonly referred to as the black box — was found on a rooftop at the crash site.
“Contrary to some reports, the video recorder being circulated is not the DFDR. The black box was found on the rooftop. AAIB began work with full force immediately. Over 40 staff from the State Government joined efforts to augment Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) teams on site. The DFDR has been recovered from the rooftop,” read a statement from the Civil Aviation Ministry.
On Thursday, Air India flight AI-171, a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner bound for London Gatwick, crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad International Airport. Out of the 242 people on board, only one person survived.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) issued fresh directives to Air India, mandating immediate additional maintenance checks on all B787-8/9 aircraft equipped with GenX engines.
What is a Black Box?
In aviation, the term black box refers to two crucial devices used in crash investigations:
1. Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR): Captures conversations between pilots, radio transmissions, and ambient cockpit sounds like alarms and engine noises.
2. Flight Data Recorder (FDR or DFDR): Records key flight parameters — such as altitude, airspeed, engine performance, and control inputs — logging thousands of data points per second.
These devices are crash-resistant, designed to withstand high-impact forces, fires, and deep-sea pressures. Most black boxes are equipped with an Underwater Locator Beacon (ULB) and are typically installed in the tail section of the aircraft, which is statistically more likely to remain intact in a crash.
The black box is essential for determining the cause of aviation accidents and plays a vital role in enhancing future flight safety by helping investigators learn from past incidents.
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