The AAIB has presented its initial report on the AI-171 crash in Ahmedabad to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and associated authorities. The report is based on the preliminary investigation into the Air India plane crash, in which over 250 people lost their lives. The Crash Protection Module (CPM) was successfully retrieved from the front black box, and the data was downloaded on June 25, 2025, at the AAIB Lab. The use of a ‘golden chassis’ ensured that data could be accurately recovered. One black box was recovered from a rooftop on June 13 and another from the debris on June 16. The investigation is being carried out by AAIB officials and includes technical experts from the Indian Air Force, Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL), and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) from the United States. The NTSB is the official investigative agency for the aircraft’s design and manufacture. The investigation is headed by the Director General of AAIB, with contributions from an aviation medicine expert and an Air Traffic Control officer. The NTSB team is currently stationed in Delhi, working closely with Indian authorities at the AAIB Lab. Boeing and GE officials are also present to assist with the technical aspects. Before this incident, black boxes were sent to overseas decoding centers, but now the AAIB Lab in Delhi has the capacity to decode both Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVR) and Flight Data Recorders (FDR) domestically.
