Air India Crash: Boeing 787 Black Box to be sent to the US for analysis – As concerns raised over transparency, here is why it can’t be analysed in India

The black box of the ill-fated flight-787 of Air India that crashed in Ahmedabad over week ago is reportedly set to be sent to the US for data extraction. The black box was recovered by the authorities from the roof of a hostel building which was hit by the plane a day after the accident. However, it suffered serious external damage due to fire that erupted after the crash, making it impossible for the data to be retrieved in India.

Therefore, the black box or the Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR) will now be sent to the Washington laboratory of the US’s National Transport Safety Board (NTSB) for analysis. The NTSB will share the details of the analysis with India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) as under the international rules, the state where a place accident takes place has the responsibility of investigation.

As per reports, The NTSB will carry the black box to their lab in the US under the supervision of Indian officials in compliance with the protocols. The British Air Accident Investigation team will also accompany them as 53 British nationals were onboard the flight-787. The data extraction process could take from days to months depending on the extent of damage to the recorder.

What is a Black Box

A black box is an orange-coloured metal box having two units- the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR). It is placed in the tail of the aircraft for least impact. It is crucial for reconstructing an aircraft’s final moments before an accident.

The CVR records up to 25 hours of cockpit conversations, noise, radio calls with the Air Traffic Control (ATC). However, since the Boeing-787 was delivered in 2014, it is likely to have a two-hour recording capacity as the mandate for the 25-hour long CVR storage was introduced in 2021. In newer aircraft models, it also records audible alerts. The CVR contains crucial cockpit recording such as pilot conversations, and any warning messages from the electronic systems.

On the other hand, the FDR records details relating to multiple detailed parameters such as timing, altitude and speed.  In modern jets, the FDR can record thousands of parameters at the same time and loop for 25 hours.

Concerns being raised on the transparency of the data extraction process

The Air India flight-787 was a Boeing Dreamliner manufactured by the US-based aviation company Boeing. The American corporation has a poor safety track record and a dubious history. Its aircraft, which are said to suffer from some manufacturing flaws, have been involved in several flight accidents. Boeing’s Dreamliner has also been under the scanner due to quality issues. The company’s 737 MAX aircraft was involved in two fatal crashes in 2018 and 2019 which resulted in the death of 346 people. As a result, the 737 MAX fleet was grounded worldwide for more than 20 months.

The company has been accused of influencing investigations against it and the whistleblowers who exposed the shortcomings in the company’s aircraft have either committed suicide or have mysteriously passed away. With the contentious past of the American company, concerns are being raised about the transparency and the reliability of the data that will be extracted from the black box of Boeing-787 in the US.

Journalist Barkha Dutt said that the block box should be sent to a neutral country for investigation, not the country where the manufacturer of the jet is based. Not just Boeing, even GE is an American company, an important factor given that the most likely cause of the crash was dual engine failure.

Journalist Kushan Mitra opine that instead of NTSB, British AAIB or French BEA would have been a better neutral in this case. He said that while there no doubt on the NTSB, involvement of American companies Boeing and GE in the case can’t be overlooked.

People are also questioning as to why India, which has a huge aviation industry, has not so far developed any laboratories capable of extracting data from damaged black boxes which form a key component in the investigation of flight accidents.

The practice of sending black boxes to US or Europe for analysis

However, it is to be noted that the black box will be analysed by US federal agency NTSB, not Boeing or GE. There is no evidence that the aviation companies can influence the results of the testing done at NTSB lab.

Moreover, this is not the first time black box is being sent to US for analysis. Actually, this is a standard practive for many countries. This is because, analysing black boxes, especially those badly damaged, require specialised tools, and not all country posses those tools. Therefore, most countries send the blackboxes to US, France or UK, where such specialised equipment exist.

Earlier this year, in January, a Boeing 737-800, operated by Jeju Air, was involved in a devastating crash at South Korea’s Muan International Airport while attempting a landing. All 181 people onboard the place, except two, lost their lives in the crash. The aircraft belly-landed reportedly after being hit by a bird. The black box of the flight was damaged in the crash due to which its FDR was sent to the US for data extraction.

As accidents of commercial jetliners are rare, many countries prefer to send them US or Europe for analysis, instead of investing on their own equipment.

In India, there was not even a specialised agency to investigate air accidents, and DGCA used to do it. The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) was established in 2012. The agency has investigated only one accident involving a commercial jet, the Air India Express crash in 2020 that killed 21 people at Calicut airport.

A Digital Flight Data Recorder and Cockpit Voice Recorder (DFDR & CVR) Laboratory under the AAIB at the at Udaan Bhawan in Delhi has been set up, which was inaugurated in April this year. The facility, commonly known as  “Black Box Lab”, was established with the support of the Hindustan Aeronautics Limited. The plan is to establish advanced DFDR and CVR laboratories and equip them to analyse retrieved flight data from aircraft.

While this facility capable of reading data of the black boxes, it faced hurdles with the Boeing 787 Dreamliner recorders as they are badly damaged by fire. As per reports, AAIB laboratory tried to extract the data but could not, as some advanced tools are needed for such heavily damaged recorders, which AAIB does not have at present.

An AAIB team will be present at the NTSB lab in the US when the data is extraced from the data recorder. After that, the data will be handed over to AAIB to proceed with the investigation.

Therefore, despite the concerns, it is expected that data integrity will be maintained while extracting the data from the decices. However, as India’s aviation market grows, it is expected that the govt will invest in acquring the advanced technology needed to investigate aircraft accidents and incidents, so that the AAIB does not have to depend on foreign labs.

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