New Delhi: The Ministry of Civil Aviation on Thursday shared the status of the Air India’s June 12 London bound plane crash in which 274 people have died, saying that the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has successfully recovered both the flight data recorder and the voice data recorder of the plane and the Crash Protection Module (CPM) from the front black box was safely retrieved, as well as the memory module was successfully accessed and its data downloaded.
The update from the Ministry of Civil Aviation comes almost 14 days after one of the deadliest air crashes in India’s aviation sector.
Updating on the recovery of both the blackboxes of the ill-fated crash involving Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner, the MoCA said: “Both the Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVR) and Flight Data Recorders (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.”
It said that standard operating procedures were issued for their secure handling, storage, and transportation.
It said that the devices were kept under 24×7 police protection and CCTV surveillance in Ahmedabad.
“Subsequently, the black boxes were brought from Ahmedabad to Delhi by IAF aircraft with full security on 24 June, 2025. The front black box arrived AAIB Lab, Delhi with the DG, AAIB at 2 pm on 24 June, while the rear black box was brought by a second AAIB team and reached AAIB Lab, Delhi at 5.15 pm on June 24.
Highlighting about the data extraction and current status, the Ministry said, “On the evening of June 24, the team led by DG AAIB with technical members from AAIB and NTSB began the data extraction process. The Crash Protection Module (CPM) from the front black box was safely retrieved, and on June 25, the memory module was successfully accessed and its data downloaded at the AAIB Lab.”
“The analysis of CVR and FDR data is underway,” it said, adding that 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”.
It also highlighted that all actions have been taken in full compliance with domestic laws and international obligations in a time bound manner.
The Ministry said that as India is a signatory to the ICAO Chicago Convention (1944), investigates aircraft accidents in accordance with ICAO Annex 13 and the Aircraft (Investigation of Accidents and Incidents) Rules, 2017. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) is the designated authority for such investigations.
The Ministry pointed out that following the unfortunate accident involving Air India Flight AI-171, the AAIB promptly initiated an investigation and constituted a multidisciplinary team on June 13, in line with prescribed norms.
The team was constituted as per international protocol, is led by DG AAIB, and includes an aviation medicine specialist, an ATC officer, and representatives from National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) which is government investigative agency from the state of manufacture and design, (USA), as required for such investigations.
Besides the AAIB and DGCA handling the probe of the Air India’s AI171, the government also ordered one more probe under Home Secretary.
The AI171 crashed within 39 seconds after taking off from Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport. Out of 242 people on board 241 had died while 33 other had died on ground taking the total toll to 274.
