While rescue officials sift through the debris of Air India Flight AI171, which crashed into a physicians’ hostel just outside Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport within minutes of taking off, investigators are relying on the plane’s black box to reveal the reason behind the tragedy that claimed 241 lives. The Boeing 787-8, which was headed to London, dived from 625 feet, bursting into flames and filling the air with thick smoke.
The black box, ironically enough, is an orange-colored object consisting of two parts: the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR). The CVR records radio communications, captain and crew member conversations, and noises such as engine sounds or stall alarms, allowing experts to study important audio signals. The FDR tracks a minimum of 88 variables, such as altitude, airspeed, and direction of travel, with contemporary aircraft monitoring as many as 1,000 features, like flap lever positions or smoke detector activation, reports the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Initially developed in 1953 by Australian scientist David Warren, whose inspiration was his father’s death in a 1934 plane crash and the 1953 Comet crash, the black box has become an essential instrument for aviation safety. Painted orange for visibility, they are constructed from titanium or stainless steel to survive high-impact crashes, fires, and 14,000-foot deep-sea pressure. The FDR is usually installed in the aircraft tail, and the CVR in the cockpit. On helicopters, a single combined recorder monitors 800–1,200 parameters, according to Airbus.
Designed to endure extreme conditions, black boxes can transmit signals from ocean depths and are treated to remove corrosive salt if submerged. Data retrieval, often conducted at facilities like Delhi’s new Digital Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder Laboratory, involves meticulous repairs and analysis, providing insights within 24 hours, though full investigations may take weeks.
Although critical, black boxes are not infallible. The NTSB commented that the Jeju Air plane crash in South Korea (December 2024) lost vital data from the last minutes of the flight. Likewise, Malaysia Airlines Flight 370’s black box was never found (March 2014), and detection issues were exposed. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) will be depending on the Delhi lab to inspect the recovered black box in the case of the Air India crash, hoping to explain the catastrophic failure.
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