Mumbai: The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has downloaded the data from the black box of flight AI-171 and started analysing it, the Ministry of Civil Aviation (MoCA) said on Thursday. However, AAIB is yet to institutionalise the probe panel while it has almost passed halfway of the time limit provisioned to submit a preliminary report of a plane crash.
Following the unfortunate plane crash of Air India Flight AI-171 in Ahmedabad on June 12, AAIB had initiated an investigation and constituted a multidisciplinary team on June 13. The team recovered both parts of the black box including the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) from the rooftop of the building where the aircraft crashed and the flight data recorder (FDR) from the debris, on June 13 and June 16 respectively.
After keeping the devices under police protection and CCTV surveillance in Ahmedabad for 12 days, they were brought to Delhi by an Indian Air Force aircraft on Tuesday. On the same day, the AAIB team, the director general (DG), technical members and members of the US government’s National Transportation Safety board (NTSB), began the data extraction process and downloaded the data from the memory module of the front black box’s crash protection module. The team is now working on analysing the data to reconstruct the sequence of events leading to the accident.
“The analysis of CVR and FDR data is underway. 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. All actions have been taken in full compliance with domestic laws and international obligations in a time bound manner,” read a statement from the ministry.
India is a signatory to the International Civil Aviation Organisation’s (ICAO) Chicago Convention and accordingly has to submit a preliminary investigation report within 30 days of the crash. While AAIB has already passed 14 days from the provisioned timeline, it is facing backlash for not being able to complete the institutionalisation of the probe panel. No official orders have been passed by the ministry to appoint a few members including the lead investigator.
Amit Singh, founder of the Safety Matters Foundation, which works on aviation safety, posted on X, highlighting that no formal order or gazette notification has been issued, no chief investigator-in-charge has been appointed and the occurrence has not been classified as a major accident. “It becomes murkier and murkier. This is not how safety investigations should begin,” he said.
Congress leader and member of parliament Jairam Ramesh also took it to X and expressed resentment on the fact that AAIB is yet to appoint a lead investigator for the probe even after a fortnight of the catastrophic air crash. “This delay is inexplicable and inexcusable,” he wrote.
