The ‘black box’ of Air India’s Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane that crashed on June 12 in Ahmedabad has sustained damage and may have to be sent to the United States to continue the data extraction process, sources have said, adding that the government will take the final call.
The ‘black box’ is in fact two devices in itself – the Cockpit Voice Recorder, or CVR, and the Flight Data Recorder, or FDR. The ‘black box’ recovered from the crashed Air India flight could be sent to the National Transportation Safety Board in Washington DC for inspection. According to sources, in the event that the ‘black box’ is sent to the US, a contingent of Indian officials will accompany the black box to ensure all protocols have been followed.
The Air India Flight AI171 crashed moments after takeoff from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport en route to London’s Gatwick Airport. The aircraft plunged into a medical college hostel complex in the Meghani Nagar area at 1:40 pm, sparking a massive blaze. Out of 242 on board, only one survived.