ISLAMABAD: India has decided to send the black box from the recently crashed Air India aircraft to the United States for analysis, according to a report by the Economic Times.
The move comes after local investigators found the device too damaged to retrieve useful data domestically.
The aircraft, a Boeing Dreamliner, crashed last week, killing all 241 passengers on board and at least 30 people on the ground, making it the deadliest aviation disaster globally in the past decade.
According to officials cited by local media, the black box was severely damaged by post-crash fire, rendering data extraction in India impossible.
Data to Be Analyzed in Washington
The black box contains two critical components — the flight data recorder and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR).
These devices store vital flight information such as altitude, airspeed, and pilot communications.
Such data is essential for determining the cause of aviation accidents.
Due to the damage sustained, the black box will be sent to the Washington-based laboratory of the US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Sources say the data recovered there will be shared with India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) for its ongoing probe.
Investigation Underway
Neither the AAIB nor Air India has issued an official statement regarding the transfer of the black box at this stage.
The crash has triggered global attention, and aviation safety agencies are closely monitoring the investigation.
Experts believe the NTSB’s advanced lab facilities will be key in unlocking the data needed to understand what led to the tragic crash.
This is a standard practice when countries lack the necessary tools or resources to handle severely damaged flight recorders.
