The team investigating the tragic Air India crash in Ahmedabad has submitted its preliminary findings to the Ministry of Civil Aviation, sources said.
However, the exact conclusions drawn by the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) remain undisclosed at this stage of the ongoing inquiry, which was launched after the catastrophic incident that claimed 260 lives.
The crash involved a London-bound Air India aircraft that went down in the Meghaninagar locality of Ahmedabad on June 12.
The plane crashed shortly after departing from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in Ahmedabad, slamming into a hostel complex and killing 241 of 242 people on board, in addition to several fatalities on the ground.
Remarkably, one passenger survived the crash.
Investigation Into Crash
The Ministry of Civil Aviation confirmed that the Crash Protection Module (CPM) from the aircraft’s front black box was safely retrieved.
The memory module was successfully accessed and its contents were downloaded on June 25, 2025, at the AAIB’s advanced laboratory facility in Delhi.
Sources added that the team used a duplicate version of the black box—known as the “golden chassis”—to cross-verify the integrity and accuracy of the data recovered.
The first black box was discovered on the rooftop of a building at the crash site on June 13, while the second was located amid the wreckage three days later, on June 16.
The AAIB is spearheading the investigation, with assistance from a high-level team comprising experts from multiple organisations.
These include the Indian Air Force, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), and the United States National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), the latter representing the nation responsible for the design and manufacture of the aircraft involved in the tragedy.
Oversight of the probe is being provided by the Director General of the AAIB.
In addition to technical personnel, the investigation team features a specialist in aviation medicine and an Air Traffic Control officer.
Sources revealed that the NTSB team is currently stationed in New Delhi, working in coordination with Indian investigators at the AAIB Lab to facilitate a thorough analysis.
Engineers and representatives from Boeing and General Electric (GE) are also in Delhi, contributing to the technical review process.
AAIB Lab
Previously, India lacked the domestic capacity to decode flight recorders, and black boxes recovered from aviation accidents were typically sent abroad for analysis.
Facilities in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, Canada, and Italy were commonly relied upon to perform such tasks.
However, with the establishment of a state-of-the-art AAIB Lab in Delhi, India now possesses the infrastructure to independently decode and analyse Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVR) and Flight Data Recorders (FDR) within its own territory.
This development marks a significant advancement in India’s aviation safety capabilities, allowing for quicker, more efficient analysis of crucial flight data.
The lab’s involvement in this high-profile investigation also represents one of its first major test cases.
As the investigation progresses, authorities are expected to release further details based on the black box data and findings from the technical team.
For now, families of the victims, aviation experts, and the general public await the final report that could shed light on one of the deadliest air crashes in recent Indian aviation history.
(With inputs from IBNS)
