Second Air India black box is found: Voice recordings will reveal what happened in cockpit before 241 passengers were killed in fireball crash

Officials have found the second black box from the doomed Air India flight 171 which will reveal a second-by-second reconstruction of the events that led to the fatal fireball crash.
The Gatwick-bound plane carrying 242 passengers, including 53 British nationals, crashed just moments after take-off from Ahmedabad Airport in the northwestern Indian state of Gujarat on Thursday.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner careened back down to earth in the densely populated Meghani area of the city just minutes after leaving the runway around 1.40pm local time (8.10am BST).
All but one person onboard the plane died as doctors say they have recovered 270 bodies from the site, including around 30 of those being people who were killed on the ground.
The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) captures all audio from the cockpit, including pilot conversations, radio transmissions, warning alarms and ambient mechanical sounds.
It will allow investigators to finally understand what happened in the moments leading up to one of the world's worst aviation disasters in a decade.
Planes usually carry two black boxes - small but tough electronic flight data recorders.
One records flight data, such as altitude and speed and the other records sound from the cockpit, so investigators can hear what the pilots are saying and listen for any unusual noises.
The first black box was recovered on Friday from the rooftop of a building at the site of the crash just 28 hours after the crash by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
Authorities say it will now be easier to determine the exact cause of the crash with both the CVR and the Flight Data Recorder having been found.
Aviation experts believe the Boeing 787 Dreamliner may have suddenly lost power 'at the most critical phase of flight' after takeoff.
The possible causes are believed to include a rapid change in wind or a bird strike leading to a double engine stall.
Officials from India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau are leading the investigation.
Indian aviation officials confirmed the final words of the pilot, moments before the plane crashed into buildings near Ahmedabad's Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, were Mayday distress calls.
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who had 8,200 hours of flying experience, desperately cried: 'Thrust not achieved... falling... Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!'
Boeing experts have arrived in Ahmedabad today to investigate the crash that killed 241 people onboard and nearly 30 on the ground, NDTV reported.
The Dreamliner had undergone comprehensive maintenance checks (C checks) in June 2023, with the next scheduled for December 2025, Press Trust of India reported on Sunday.
Elsewhere, a new bombshell video provides evidence that the plane lost power after take off, leading to the catastrophic crash.
Commercial airline pilot Steve Schreiber, who analyses plane crashes and close calls, said a new HD-quality video reveals the doomed Boeing 787 Dreamliner suffered a 'dual engine failure' before crashing in what was one of India's worst aviation disasters.
The jet began losing height moments after take-off and exploded into a fireball after smashing into a medical hostel on the ground in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Initially Mr Schreiber, best known as Captain Steve online, suspected there had been an exceptionally simple error in the cockpit when the co-pilot was asked to retract the landing gear, with devastating consequences.
However, a higher quality version of the original video of the crash has emerged, with higher quality visuals and sound, which Mr Schreiber believes could prove that a dual engine failure led to the plane's terrifying final moments.
The 63-year-old, who has 26 years of flying experience - including 11 as a captain - and has flown in 60 different aircraft, said a tiny detail which can be seen on the new video is a 'total gamechanger'.
Mr Schreiber explained on his Youtube channel Captain Steeeve that beneath the right wing of the aeroplane, he could see a 'protrusion on the belly of the aircraft'. Underneath that there is a 'little grey dot', he added.
He said this is evidence of the Ram Access Turbine (RAT) deploying on the plane.
'Many aeroplanes have it,' he said. 'It is just behind the wing on the right side of the aeroplane, there is a little door that holds it in.
'It looks like a little Evinrude motor, it's a little two bladed prop.
'The purpose is to provide electrical and hydraulic pressure for the aircraft on an extreme emergency.'
Mr Schreiber said that on a 787 there are three things that will deploy the RAT automatically.
He said: 'A massive electrical failure, a massive hydraulic failure, or a dual engine failure.
'Any one of those three things will cause that RAT to deploy.'
The aviation expert said that the protrusion and the grey dot were visual evidence of the RAT deploying on the aircraft.
He added: 'That little grey dot is the RAT. The protrusion is the door that opened to allow the rat to come down.'
Mr Schreiber then detailed the second piece of evidence - the sound of the video.
He said: 'A RAT makes a distinctive sound, it sounds like a propeller aeroplane going by, or a real high-pitched squeal. It is basically spinning at the speed of sound to produce the energy, electrical and hydraulic that it needs to.
'If you weren't looking at it, it sounded like a single-engine prop aeroplane just flew by.
'The RAT was originally designed as the absolute last resort, assuming there is going to be a dual engine failure at altitude.
'It is not designed for an aeroplane at 400- 500ft. But it is evidence for us.'
His theory is that the crash was caused by a dual-engine failure.
He added: 'It is evidence for us it was dual engine failure, most likely. It could have been electrical issue, it could have been hydraulic issue, it could have been either one of that.
'But I think the fact the aeroplane is mushing out the sky gives the idea it was a dual engine failure.'
Meanwhile, the first funerals for some of the victims have been held in Ahmedabad.
Health officials have returned the first bodies identified through DNA testing to grieving families in the city, though most relatives are still waiting.
Rinal Christian, 23, whose elder brother was a passenger on the jetliner, told ABC News: 'They said it would take 48 hours. But it's been four days and we haven't received any response.'

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Learn with AIFact CheckingText to SpeechAI Summary

Related Articles

ITV News

7 hours ago

• ITV News

'I will bring them home': A son's determination after losing his parents in the Air India Crash

A man has promised to bring his parents home to Orpington after they died in an Air India Crash to London Gatwick. Ashok Patel, 74, and Shobhana Patel, 71, have lived in Greater London since the 80s. Ashok was a financial advisor, while Shobahana a microbiologist. The pair travelled to India for a religious trip known as a Yatra which helps people find peace when they eventually pass away. Unfortunately, just days later, they were among 53 British nationals that died in a fatal plane crash in Ahmedabad, West India just minutes after take off. It is still uncertain when the pair will be returned to London though the process to identify them was quick. Their son, Miten, went to India and describes the process as a "miracle". He added "it's a result of meticulous and efficient planning" which meant he had to put his grief to the side to focus on fulfilling his parents' wishes. "I haven't come to terms with it. My main priority was the promise I made my parents to bring them home," he says. He is one of dozens of British family members who have flown to Ahmedabad to identify and bring their loved ones back. "It is not an easy process when there are so many people that have gone through this tragedy," he tells ITV News London. Despite how difficult the last seven days have been, Miten praises his family and the wider community for all their kindness and support in the process. It all began, when Miten received a phone call from his father's friend who was in India. "I couldn't believe it," he says. "I was with him on Father's Day, I held the first time in this whole ordeal I cried because I felt like I was actually hugging my dad." Miten contacted insurance companies, collected dental records and DNA samples to take to India in order to support the identification process. He says it was fate that his mother was identified just four hours after his father was, and added: "It felt like my mum was saying to my dad, stay where you are, you're not going alone, I'm coming with you." In India, he was shown items that belonged to his parents that were found among the wreckage, from the label of his father's beloved Stafford shirt to his mother swan-pendant necklace that Miten's young daughter Amira will now inherit. "My mum used to say one day you will have that. It just feels like she's left that necklace for her," he says. Once his parents are back in the UK, Miten aims to hold a funeral service for them both together. "They have made it this far together so I would like to send them off together," he says. While Miten's dad Ashok was born in India and his family have ethnic roots to the country, India was an 'unknown country' for Miten who grew up in the UK. "I'm just glad I was able to fulfil my promise that I made to my parents and my family that I will make sure that they come home because the UK is their home." "They've been here for over 40 years." Miten says his parents finally being cremated will start off a more personal mourning process for him that he has been delaying. "Once I get them home and we give them a good send off then I'll grieve in my own time, but at the moment I've just got to stay strong for them," he says.

Sky News

8 hours ago

• Sky News

How are investigators looking into the Air India crash - and how long could they take?

The devastating Air India plane crash which killed 229 passengers and 12 crew has been labelled a "mystery" by experts. The Gatwick-bound flight, which was carrying 53 Britons, came down just after take-off from Ahmedabad airport in western India on Thursday 12 June, leaving only one survivor and also killing people on the ground. CCTV footage was captured of the crash, but experts say it has led to more questions than answers. An ongoing investigation will be reviewing the footage and other key evidence left in the crash's wake. But what are investigators looking at - and how long could it take? What is unusual about the crash? Air India Flight 171 took off from Ahmedabad Airport at 1.38pm local time on Thursday, and was only in the air for around half a minute. CCTV footage shows the plane struggling to gain altitude and it quickly begins to descend towards buildings, with its wheels still out and its nose raised. 0:56 It crashed into a densely populated neighbourhood in Ahmedabad, killing at least 29 other people on the ground. According to flight-tracking website Flightradar, the aircraft reached a height of just 625ft before crashing. The plane was a 12-year-old Boeing 787 Dreamliner, of which there are currently around 1,200 in operation worldwide. While other Boeing planes like the 787 Max have been plagued by high-profile safety incidents, this was the first deadly crash in 16 years of the Dreamliner model's operation, according to experts. 1:16 Several experts have told Sky News that they spotted potential anomalies in the footage. One of them was the landing gear, which appears to remain open throughout the clip. Former British Airways pilot Alastair Rosenschein and Paul Edwards, an aviation security analyst and fellow at the Royal Aeronautical Society, have told Sky News the landing gear should have been up and that this remains a mystery. 6:51 Mr Rosenschein is also among the experts who have called into question the aircraft's flaps, which need to be set correctly as they extend the shape of each wing and create vital extra lift at lower speeds to enable the plane to take-off and climb effectively. Some have also suggested a bird strike could be linked to the crash, but experts have pointed out that the aircraft has two engines and is designed to be able to fly on one, making this unlikely. What are investigators looking at? The investigation is being carried out by India's Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) with assistance from the UK, the US and officials from Boeing. Anti-terror squads have also been part of the investigation teams, according to Reuters. Aurobindo Handa, former director general of AAIB, told Sky News that any theories about what may have caused the incident are at this point purely speculative. He says the most crucial thing for investigators was to retrieve the black boxes - or Digital Flight Data Recorders (DFDR) - from the crash site. Black boxes have two components - the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder - and provide crucial insights for crash investigators. They include altitude, airspeed, the status of controls and pilot conversations which help determine probable causes of crashes. They also store essential information about the configuration of the aircraft, including the flaps and landing gear. Mr Handa said that when there is a crash, the retrieval of the black boxes becomes the "primary focus" straight after first responders have carried out their rescue mission. It took investigators more than a day to recover the black boxes, longer than it took in many of the investigations Mr Handa oversaw, and he said this would have been because the aircraft was badly charred from fire. Indian newspaper The Economic Times reported that they were due to be sent to the US so the data could be extracted, as they had suffered fire damage and could not be analysed in India. The government said in a statement that the AAIB would decide where the recorders would be examined after making a "due assessment" of all technical, safety and security considerations. Mr Handa said analysing the boxes' raw data will take some time. "There are hundreds of components and instruments giving feedback to the DFDRs," he explained. "All the control services, all the engine parameters - everything goes into this." Investigators are also looking at the plane's remnants from the crash site, which they compare with the flight data when coming to conclusions. But Mr Handa said the investigators will likely be particularly reliant on the black box data in this instance because so much of the plane will be unrecoverable due to the fires. They will also be scanning CCTV footage of the nearby area and speak with witnesses to get to the root cause of the crash, according to Amit Singh, a former pilot and an aviation expert. Reuters has reported that investigators are assessing why the landing gear was open, citing a source "with direct knowledge", and that they are also looking at any possible operational issues with flaps. A possible bird strike is not a focus of the investigation, Reuters has reported. How long could the investigation take? Investigators across the world follow a standard UN-prescribed Manual of Accident Investigation, also called DOC 9756, which outlines detailed procedures to arrive at the most probable cause of a crash. In the case of a high-profile investigation of a major accident, countries are encouraged by the manual to publish a preliminary report within 30 days of the incident, but this is not mandatory. The guidance says the state should aim to release its final report "in the shortest possible time and, if possible, within twelve months of the date of the occurrence". It adds that if this is not possible, the state should release an interim statement on each anniversary of the incident detailing the progress of the investigation and any safety issues raised. Mr Handa told Sky News the findings will likely not be published anytime soon, even if the investigators believe they have found the probable cause of the crash early on, because they must examine and analyse every possibility and every piece of data available to them. He added that it is not just a case of finding the cause of the crash, but also uncovering the chain of events that led to that failure.

The Independent

11 hours ago

• The Independent

Indian tigress dies after long battle with bone cancer

One of India 's most iconic wild tigers, Arrowhead of Ranthambore, has died after a long battle with illness, shortly after her daughter was relocated following fatal attacks. Arrowhead, also called Lady of the Lake for her crocodile hunting skills, was found dead near Jogi Mahal in the Ranthambore reserve in western India on Thursday. She was around 14 years old. The tigress, officially designated T-84, had reportedly suffered from a bone tumour. She had stopped eating on Monday and appeared extremely thin and weak in her final video. An autopsy confirmed multiple organ failure. Forest officials cremated her body following National Tiger Conservation Authority protocols, with a gathering of wardens, wildlife photographers, and local conservationists present. The tigress, named for the distinct arrow-shaped mark on her cheek, was known for her fierce independence and unusual hunting skills, including eating crocodiles. Just days before her death, she was reportedly seen taking down a crocodile near Padam Talab, in a powerful echo of her grandmother, Machhli, Ranthambore's most famous big cat and original 'crocodile hunter.' Arrowhead's final moments were captured by Sachin Rai, a wildlife photographer who had tracked her since she was a cub. 'It was heartbreaking to see her struggle, attempting to rise and take a few feeble steps before collapsing again,' he wrote in a post accompanying video footage. 'Eventually, she reached a tree and lay beneath it. In that quiet moment, I knew in my heart that the end was near.' Arrowhead was the daughter of tigress Krishna and had inherited a prime territory in the reserve around Padam Talab. She raised ten cubs from four litters, and six of them survive her. She had several confrontations with male tigers over the years and even her own daughter, Riddhi, who eventually displaced her. Arrowhead's death came just hours after another of her daughters, Kankati, was tranquilised and relocated to the Mukundra Hills Tiger Reserve. Kankati had recently been involved in fatal attacks on a forest ranger and a 7-year-old child. 'It is a disheartening coincidence that she passed away on the same day when her daughter was being shifted,' field director Anoop K R said, according to the Hindustan Times. Arrowhead's death sparked an outpouring of tributes. Ranthambore's Instagram account posted: 'She was a symbol of grace, strength and motherly spirit.' Mr Rai echoed the sentiment, calling her 'a true tigress in every sense'. 'Arrowhead was a symbol of wild grace, of power tempered by patience, of survival against all odds,' he said. For many in India's wildlife conservation community, Arrowhead's death marks the end of an era – another link to Machhli lost. Her legacy, though, is being carried forward by the next generation of big cats.