Black box found at Air India crash site: Why is this crucial to the investigation

A black box has been recovered from the site where the Air India flight had crashed in Ahmedabad a day earlier. Notably, after a plane crash, the black box becomes a major part of the investigation. It records the final moments of the flight, capturing activity in the cockpit and aircraft systems second by second. Now that the black box from Air India Flight AI-171 has been found, it will be sent to a forensic lab operated by either the DGCA or the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) for analysis read more
Out of the 242 on board, 241 lost their lives. Reuters
Every time a plane crashes, investigators begin searching urgently for the 'black box'.
On Friday, one such box was found at the site where the Air India flight had crashed in Ahmedabad a day earlier.
The Boeing 787-8 had 242 people on board when it came down in the Meghani Nagar area of the city, crashing into the mess area of a medical college hostel.
Read Ahmedabad Plane Crash live updates
Out of the 242 on board, 241 lost their lives. Only one person survived. Another 24 people who were on the ground were also killed, bringing the total number of deaths to 265.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
But what exactly is a black box? Why is it so crucial? And what can it reveal about what led to the crash?
Let's answer these questions for you:
Explained: What is a black box?
Despite the name, a black box is actually a bright orange device made to survive severe crashes and fires.
Every commercial aircraft carries two of these recorders. Their use dates back to the early 1950s. The first flight recorder was created by Australian scientist Dr David Warren (1925-2010).
ALSO READ | The tragic story of a Rajasthan doctor couple, their 3 kids who were killed in Air India crash
The two black boxes found on any aircraft are the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) and the flight data recorder (FDR). The CVR captures all sounds in the cockpit, including pilot conversations, radio exchanges, alarms and mechanical noises. Meanwhile, the FDR logs key details such as altitude, speed, engine power and the plane's flight path.
These devices are protected by strong casings designed to withstand explosions, intense heat, water pressure and high-speed impacts.
According to the American National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) website, depending on the incident, investigators may focus on sounds like engine noise, stall alerts or other unusual clicks. These sounds can help them work out the engine's condition or whether any systems failed.
In 2014, NTSB investigators told the Associated Press that the flight data recorder stores up to 25 hours of data. This can include earlier flights within that period, which may sometimes hold clues to what caused a technical fault later on.
What does the black box contain?
A black box has four main parts: an interface for recording and playback, an underwater locator beacon, a crash 'survivable' memory unit able to withstand a force 3,400 times greater than gravity, and the circuit board with its recording chip.
After a plane crash, the black box becomes the most important tool for investigators. Reuters
Why is it called a black box?
As per the Airbus website, long before David Warren's invention, French engineer Francois Hussenot had developed a data recording system in the 1930s. His device used sensors to project around ten flight details onto a strip of photographic film.
This film was stored in a container that blocked out all light. Because of its light-proof design, the container came to be known as a 'black box'.
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Why black box is important in air crash
After a plane crash, the black box becomes the most important tool for investigators.
It helps reconstruct the final moments of the flight, capturing what took place in the cockpit and within the aircraft systems, second by second.
ALSO READ | Miracle survivor of Air India plane crash and other rare solo escapes from air disasters
This information is important for understanding what went wrong and for improving safety measures to prevent similar events.
In India, the Directorate General of Civil Aviation requires every commercial aircraft to carry a black box. Today, even small planes are fitted with them.
These devices are made from tough materials like titanium or stainless steel so they can survive crashes, fire, and deep-sea pressure.
Across the world, black box data has helped solve major aviation accidents, from the Germanwings crash in 2015 to the Malaysia Airlines cases. In India, the investigation into the 2020 Kozhikode crash used black box data to piece together pilot choices and runway conditions at the time of landing.
One black box found: What happens next?
With the recovery of the black box from Air India Flight AI-171, the next step is to send it to a forensic lab run by either the DGCA or the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
At the lab, investigators will:
STORY CONTINUES BELOW THIS AD
Retrieve and study the data stored in the memory units
Match the cockpit voice with flight data recordings
Compare these with radar logs and Air Traffic Control (ATC) exchanges
In the coming days, the findings from these devices will be key to understanding the cause of one of India's worst aviation disasters in recent times.
With inputs from agencies

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

Mint

an hour ago

• Mint

Nobody taught them: Scientists are stunned by how these tiny insects use the Milky Way as a guide to travel 1,000 km

A small insect, the Bogong moth, travels 1,000 kilometres every year at night across Australia. These moths leave the heat of southeastern Australia in spring to rest in cool caves in the Australian Alps. They return in autumn to mate and die. A new study shows that these moths use the stars to guide them, just like birds and humans. This is the first time such a skill has been found in insects. The Bogong moth, now endangered, has a wingspan of about 5 cm. They sense Earth's magnetic field, which gives them a backup if the sky is cloudy. Scientists studied around 400 Bogong moths to understand how they travel 1,000 km at night. Now, they are amazed at how these small-brained creatures manage such complex navigation. These moths can see dim stars 15 times brighter than humans, helping them use the Milky Way as a guide. Other animals like monarch butterflies and dung beetles also use light for navigation, but not for such long, exact journeys. What's truly special is that Bogong moths make this journey only once in their life and learn it by instinct. Their parents are dead before they're born. Yet, they know where to go. Australian researcher Eric Warrant tested if they also used stars for guidance. He set up a special lab at his home, near the moths' destination in the Alps. Using a light trap, he caught moths and fixed them to thin rods that allowed them to fly while recording their direction. The lab projected the southern night sky, just like it looked outside. Amazingly, the moths flew in the correct migratory direction, south in spring and north in autumn. The experiment showed how they used star patterns to guide their way. 'It is an act of true navigation. They're able to use the stars as a compass to find a specific geographic direction to navigate, and this is a first for invertebrates,' CNN quoted Warrant as saying. 'With a very small brain, a very small nervous system, they are able to harness two relatively complex cues and not only detect them, but also use them to work out where to go,' Warrant said.

Business Standard

a day ago

• Business Standard

Dark energy discovery changed understanding of universe: Nobel laureate

Dark matter pulls the universe and dark energy pushes, both mysteries that endure. And the discovery that a majority of the universe is made up of stuff that makes gravity push rather than pull was a gamechanger, says Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt. The US-born Australian astronomer along with Adam Riess and Saul Perlmutter from the US discovered the stuff, later termed dark energy, in 1998. The three won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2011. Explaining the significance of their discovery that changed the understanding of how the universe functions, Schmidt told PTI, "Dark energy is really saying (that) there is energy tied to space itself. If we didn't have dark energy, the universe would be curved and the universe wouldn't accelerate -- and that changes how cosmic objects, such as galaxies, looks. It really makes a difference," the astronomer, who was visiting Ashoka University for the Lodha Genius Programme, added. The term dark energy is intentionally similar to dark matter. Dark matter refers to particles in the universe that hold galaxies and other structures in space (the cosmos) together. It is said to have peculiar properties, such as being invisible, as it does not interact with light. However, while "dark matter and atoms (that make up ordinary matter) are pulling the universe, dark energy is pushing the universe. There's a balance at any given time of who's winning the war -- dark energy has won the war, it seems now and is pushing the universe apart", Schmidt explained. That's because dark energy had a density set at the time of the Big Bang, said the 58-year-old former president of the Australian National University and currently a distinguished professor of astronomy. The Big Bang, believed to have given birth to the universe, happened some 13.8 billion years ago. Dark matter is among the particles formed immediately after the event, gravity exerted from which is said to produce a slowing effect on the universe's evolution. "And (dark energy) stayed at that density. But as the universe expanded, and the density of atoms and dark matter dropped over time, the two crossed about 6.5 billion years back -- and that crossing meant the dark energy could take over and accelerate the universe," Schmidt said. Work on the discovery that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate and that dark energy is the driving force began in 1994. Schmidt and colleagues intended to look at distant objects and measure how fast the universe was expanding in the past, and then look at nearer objects to see how it slowed down over time. "And if we measured the universe slowing down really quickly, then we'd know that the universe was heavy and you're gonna get a Gnab Gib -- the Big Bang in reverse. But if the universe was slowing down slowly, then we'd know the universe is light and it's gonna exist forever. So that's what we were going to do." Three and a half years later came the answer. What we saw was the universe was expanding slower in the past and it sped up. So instead of slowing down, it's actually the other way -- it's speeding up," the Nobel laureate said. In 1917, physicist Albert Einstein first imagined dark energy as a concept -- only he did not think of it in those exact words but instead accounted for it in his equations of general relativity as a 'lambda' term. Einstein is said to have considered the lambda term irrelevant, even denouncing it as his greatest blunder. "When we made our discovery of the acceleration (of the universe), it was the only sensible way of making it happen. So that thing (the lambda term), that he (Einstein) brought in 1917 and then later discarded as being irrelevant, that seems to (be validated from) what we discovered," Schmidt continued. "In 1998, cosmology was shaken at its foundations as two research teams presented their findings...," states the press release dated October 4, 2011, announcing the recipients for the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2011. The 1998 model has since been scrutinised through experiments, mainly aimed at understanding the nature of dark energy -- is it constant or does it vary? "We put in some extra knobs in the model of 1998, where we allow dark energy to change over time. The models with the most recent data seem to prefer a dark energy that changes," Schmidt said. But he is sceptical. "I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm saying I need better data to be convinced they're right. He said he is also glad that someone else is working on it. Schmidt leads the 'SkyMapper Telescope Project' for which he conducted a survey of the southern sky as seen from Australia, focussed on looking at the "oldest, first stars in the galaxy". "We could see essentially what the chemistry of the universe was back really close to the Big Bang -- because if a star was formed right after the Big Bang, it's made up of the stuff that was in the universe at the time. "And so, we found the most chemically pure stars that have ever been discovered, ones that were almost certainly not formed from the remnants of the Big Bang, but from a single exploding star after the Big Bang. That just gives us a sense of what the first stars look like," said Schmidt, who has published his findings in several journals, including Nature. Schmidt, who addressed high schoolers and others on science as a potential career at the university, advised them to get the skills that seem useful for life by working on something that interests them. Not knowing what to do in life and the fact that he enjoyed astronomy made Schmidt pursue the field. "In learning astronomy, I'd learned math, I'd learned physics, I'd learned computing, I'd learned some engineering. And (while) I didn't think it was likely that I would get a job to be an astronomer, I knew math, engineering, physics, and computing liable to give me a good job doing something. And of course, I did end up being an astronomer," he said. "You don't really know how all of this is going to come together in your life, but if you work on something you're interested in, with a set of skills that seem useful for life, then don't overthink your life, don't overplan your life," Schmidt said.

Time of India

a day ago

• Time of India

Push and pull: Dark energy discovery changed understanding of universe, says Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt

Dark matter pulls the universe and dark energy pushes, both mysteries that endure. And the discovery that a majority of the universe is made up of "stuff" that makes gravity push rather than pull was a gamechanger, says Nobel laureate Brian Schmidt . The US-born Australian astronomer along with Adam Riess and Saul Perlmutter from the US discovered the "stuff", later termed dark energy, in 1998. The three won the Nobel Prize for Physics in 2011. Explaining the significance of their discovery that changed the understanding of how the universe functions, Schmidt told PTI, "Dark energy is really saying (that) there is energy tied to space itself." by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like Play this game for 3 minutes, if you own a mouse Undo "If we didn't have dark energy, the universe would be curved and the universe wouldn't accelerate -- and that changes how cosmic objects, such as galaxies, looks. It really makes a difference," the astronomer, who was visiting Ashoka University for the Lodha Genius Programme, added. The term dark energy is intentionally similar to dark matter. Live Events Dark matter refers to particles in the universe that hold galaxies and other structures in space (the cosmos) together. It is said to have peculiar properties, such as being invisible, as it does not interact with light. However, while "dark matter and atoms (that make up ordinary matter) are pulling the universe, dark energy is pushing the universe. There's a balance at any given time of who's winning the war -- dark energy has won the war, it seems now and is pushing the universe apart", Schmidt explained. That's because dark energy had a density set at the time of the Big Bang , said the 58-year-old former president of the Australian National University and currently a distinguished professor of astronomy. The Big Bang, believed to have given birth to the universe, happened some 13.8 billion years ago. Dark matter is among the particles formed immediately after the event, gravity exerted from which is said to produce a slowing effect on the universe's evolution. "And (dark energy) stayed at that density. But as the universe expanded, and the density of atoms and dark matter dropped over time, the two crossed about 6.5 billion years back -- and that crossing meant the dark energy could take over and accelerate the universe," Schmidt said. Work on the discovery that the universe is expanding at an accelerating rate and that dark energy is the driving force began in 1994. Schmidt and colleagues intended to look at distant objects and measure how fast the universe was expanding in the past, and then look at nearer objects to see how it slowed down over time. "And if we measured the universe slowing down really quickly, then we'd know that the universe was heavy and you're gonna get a Gnab Gib -- the Big Bang in reverse. But if the universe was slowing down slowly, then we'd know the universe is light and it's gonna exist forever. So that's what we were going to do." Three and a half years later came the answer. "What we saw was the universe was expanding slower in the past and it sped up. So instead of slowing down, it's actually the other way -- it's speeding up," the Nobel laureate said. In 1917, physicist Albert Einstein first imagined dark energy as a concept -- only he did not think of it in those exact words but instead accounted for it in his equations of general relativity as a 'lambda' term. Einstein is said to have considered the lambda term irrelevant, even denouncing it as his "greatest blunder". "When we made our discovery of the acceleration (of the universe), it was the only sensible way of making it happen. So that thing (the lambda term), that he (Einstein) brought in 1917 and then later discarded as being irrelevant, that seems to (be validated from) what we discovered," Schmidt continued. "In 1998, cosmology was shaken at its foundations as two research teams presented their findings...," states the press release dated October 4, 2011, announcing the recipients for the Nobel Prize in Physics for 2011. The 1998 model has since been scrutinised through experiments, mainly aimed at understanding the nature of dark energy -- is it constant or does it vary? "We put in some extra knobs in the model of 1998, where we allow dark energy to change over time. The models with the most recent data seem to prefer a dark energy that changes," Schmidt said. But he is sceptical. "I'm not saying they're wrong. I'm saying I need better data to be convinced they're right." He said he is also glad that someone else is working on it. Schmidt leads the ' SkyMapper Telescope Project ' for which he conducted a survey of the southern sky as seen from Australia, focussed on looking at the "oldest, first stars in the galaxy". "We could see essentially what the chemistry of the universe was back really close to the Big Bang -- because if a star was formed right after the Big Bang, it's made up of the stuff that was in the universe at the time. "And so, we found the most chemically pure stars that have ever been discovered, ones that were almost certainly not formed from the remnants of the Big Bang, but from a single exploding star after the Big Bang. That just gives us a sense of what the first stars look like," said Schmidt, who has published his findings in several journals, including Nature. Schmidt, who addressed high schoolers and others on science as a potential career at the university, advised them to get the skills that seem useful for life by working on something that interests them. Not knowing what to do in life and the fact that he enjoyed astronomy made Schmidt pursue the field. "In learning astronomy, I'd learned math, I'd learned physics, I'd learned computing, I'd learned some engineering. And (while) I didn't think it was likely that I would get a job to be an astronomer, I knew math, engineering, physics, and computing liable to give me a good job doing something. And of course, I did end up being an astronomer," he said. "You don't really know how all of this is going to come together in your life, but if you work on something you're interested in, with a set of skills that seem useful for life, then don't overthink your life, don't overplan your life," Schmidt said.