A multi-disciplinary team headed by the Director General of the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has begun a comprehensive probe into the tragic crash of Air India Flight AI-171 in Ahmedabad, the Ministry of Civil Aviation said on Thursday.
The ministry said that the AAIB swiftly launched an investigation on June 13, constituting a multi-disciplinary team in accordance with international norms and protocols.
The team, led by the Director General of AAIB, comprises specialists in aviation medicine, air traffic control, and technical experts from the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), as mandated by international agreements given that the aircraft was manufactured in the United States.
On June 24, the AAIB team, along with technical members from the NTSB, commenced the data extraction process from the aircraft’s black boxes.
The Crash Protection Module (CPM) from the front black box was successfully retrieved, and on June 25, the memory module was accessed and data downloaded at the AAIB’s laboratory.
Analysis of the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR) is currently underway, officials said.
Both the CVR and the FDR were recovered—one from a rooftop of the building at the crash site on June 13 and the other from the debris on June 16.
Earlier, the black boxes of AI-171.were brought from Ahmedabad to Delhi on Wednesday (June 24) by IAF aircraft with full security. "The front black box arrived at AAIB Lab, Delhi with the Director General, AAIB at 2 pm on June 24. The rear black box was brought by a second AAIB team and reached AAIB Lab, Delhi at 5.15 pm on June 24," the release said.
These efforts aim to reconstruct the sequence of events leading to the accident and identify contributing factors to enhance aviation safety and prevent future occurrences, the statement said.
"The devices were kept under 24x7 police protection and CCTV surveillance in Ahmedabad, it added. Standard Operating Procedures were issued for their secure handling, storage, and transportation," it further said.