Indian investigators have successfully retrieved vital data from the flight recorders of the Air India Boeing 787 Dreamliner that crashed shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad earlier this month, killing 260 people in one of the deadliest aviation disasters in the past decade.
The tragic flight, en route to London, went down just minutes after departing Ahmedabad on June 12, claiming the lives of nearly everyone on board as well as several people on the ground. The twin black boxes — the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder — were recovered in the days following the crash, with the last found on the rooftop of a nearby building.
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According to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, a joint team from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) accessed data from the forward flight recorder on Wednesday. The information is expected to help reconstruct the final moments of the flight and identify potential causes.
Investigators suspect the aircraft lost altitude rapidly after reaching just 650 feet, with concerns pointing to a possible engine thrust issue. The Wall Street Journal also reported that the plane’s emergency power generator may have been active at the time—an unusual condition that could signal deeper system malfunctions.
Though a preliminary report is due within 30 days, some aviation experts have questioned the nearly two-week delay in analyzing the black boxes. Officials maintain that all procedures are being conducted in line with international safety standards and domestic regulations.
