Air India Plane Crash Update
In the latest development, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has submitted its preliminary report on the plane crash. The investigators, who have worked extensively on the case since the incident, have not disclosed the conclusions reached so far. The fatal crash, which occurred on June 12, claimed 260 lives and involved a London-bound Air India flight that crashed shortly after takeoff, raising urgent safety concerns and triggering a high-level multi-agency investigation.
On June 12, a London-bound Air India aircraft took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad and crashed into a hostel complex in Meghaninagar moments later. The crash resulted in the deaths of all 241 passengers and crew members on board, along with several casualties on the ground. One passenger survived the tragedy. Emergency teams reached the site swiftly and conducted extensive recovery operations in coordination with national and local authorities. The crash marked one of India’s deadliest aviation disasters in recent years.
Authorities recovered the front Crash Protection Module (CPM) from the black box and accessed its memory on June 25, 2025, at the AAIB Lab in Delhi. The data was successfully downloaded using a duplicate black box setup, also known as the “golden chassis.” Officials found one black box on June 13 on a rooftop near the crash site and retrieved the second from the wreckage on June 16. This effort marked the first time India conducted a complete black box data download domestically, showcasing new aviation forensic capabilities.
The AAIB is leading the investigation with oversight from its Director General and the Ministry of Civil Aviation. The team includes technical experts from the Indian Air Force, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), and the US-based National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which is involved as the aircraft’s country of manufacture. An aviation medicine expert and an Air Traffic Control officer have also joined the team. NTSB officials are currently stationed in Delhi, along with representatives from Boeing and General Electric, who are supporting the technical review.
Before establishing the AAIB Lab in Delhi, Indian authorities routinely sent black boxes abroad for data decoding. Investigators previously relied on foreign labs in the UK, US, France, Canada, Russia, and Italy. With the creation of this advanced facility, India now handles Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR) analysis independently. For instance, the 1996 Charkhi Dadri crash saw decoding done in Moscow and the UK, while the 2010 Mangalore crash was analyzed by the NTSB in the US. The 2020 Kozhikode crash involved partial data processing in India with US support.
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Swastika Sruti is a Senior Sub Editor at NewsX Digital with 5 years of experience shaping stories that matter. She loves tracking politics- national and global trends, and never misses a chance to dig deeper into policies and developments. Passionate about what’s happening around us, she brings sharp insight and clarity to every piece she works on. When not curating news, she’s busy exploring what’s next in the world of public interest. You can reach her at [swastika.newsx@gmail.com]
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