AHMEDABAD, (India): A week after the deadly AI171 plane crash in Ahmedabad, India will send the black box of the Air India Boeing 787 aircraft to the United States for data recovery, as per sources.
They added that the crucial evidence in the investigation of the crash has suffered damage due to high temperatures following the plane crash, which is making data extraction unfeasible.
Notably, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the US federal air crash investigation team, which is already assisting their Indian counterparts in the investigation, will also help in extracting the data at its Washington, DC, office.
An Indian delegation will also accompany the black box to oversee the entire investigation process and ensure all protocols are followed.
A black box is basically a ‘recorder’ planted inside the flight for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents.
The electronic device, a bright orange-coloured box that is recovered after a plane accident, offers crucial information about the last moments before the mishap.
It is primarily made of titanium and enclosed in a titanium box that can survive a severe crash involving fire. Inside the box are two separate devices: the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), which means it not only offers the data of the technical functioning of the aircraft during the flight, it also registers the conversations that may have taken place between pilot and co-pilots, and their communication with the ATC.
Notably, a high level committee under the chairmanship of Union Home Secretary has been formed by the government which includes the Secretary, Ministry of Civil Aviation; Senior Officials from Home Ministry; Officials of Home Department and State Disaster Response Authority of Gujarat, the Police Commissioner of Ahmedabad, the Director General of Inspection and Safety in the Indian Air Force and the Director General of Bureau of Civil Aviation Security.
The committee will submit its report within three months.
The Committee is expected to focus on formulating Standard Operating Procedures for preventing such occurrences in the future.
A separate investigation is also being carried out by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB), which is looking into the technical aspects of the crash. - The Statesman/ANN
