Black box recovered from crashed Air India aircraft; DGCA orders enhanced inspection of Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet
GUJURAT, JUN 13 : One of the two black boxes of the Air India flight that crashed on Thursday killing 265 people, including all people onboard except a miraculous survivor, has been recovered by the authorities on Friday.
According to officials, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) team recovered one black box from the tail of the plane at the crash site outside the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport near the crowded Meghaninagar area in Ahmedabad, where the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft went down.
The airline is yet to officially confirm the recovery of the black box.
“AAIB began work with full force immediately. Over 40 staff from the state government joined efforts to augment the MoCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation) teams on site. The DFDR (Black Box) has been recovered from the rooftop,” the AAIB said in a statement.
A black box is a small device that records information about an aircraft during its flight. It helps in the investigation of aviation accidents.
Meanwhile, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) on Friday ordered enhanced safety inspection of Air India’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet, in the wake of the horrific incident.
There are 26 Boeing 787-8s and 7 Boeing 787-9s in the fleet of Air India owned by Tata Group.
The aviation watchdog has directed Air India to carry out additional maintenance actions on its Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 planes that are equipped with Genx engines with immediate effect.
These actions will be carried out in coordination with the DGCA regional offices concerned.
The aircraft carrying 242 people onboard, including 230 passengers and 12 crew members nosedived minutes after takeoff, crashing into the complex of the BJ Medical College in Meghaninagar, killing 265 people.
One passenger survived the tragedy, while 241 on board, including 168 Indians, 53 British, seven Portuguese and one Canadian, were killed.
The aircraft could be seen from afar, losing altitude rapidly and crashing in a ball of fire that sent plumes of thick black smoke spiralling up in the air.
Four MBBS students and a doctor’s wife were among those killed at the complex of BJ Medical College outside the airport perimeter.
-PTI
