AHMEDABAD, India — The flight data recorder from the crashed Air India flight was recovered Friday in what likely will lead to clues about the cause of the accident that killed 241 people on the plane and a number of others on the ground.
The London-bound Boeing 787 struck a medical college hostel when the plane came down shortly after takeoff on Thursday in a residential area of the northwestern city of Ahmedabad.
The plane’s digital flight data recorder, or black box, was recovered from a rooftop near the crash site and India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau said that it had begun its work with “full force.” The black box recovery marks an important step forward in the investigation, Civil Aviation Minister Ram Mohan Naidu said in a social media post.
The device will reveal information about the engine and control settings, in addition to what the voice recorder will show about the cockpit conversations, Paul Fromme, a mechanical engineer with the U.K.-based Institution of Mechanical Engineers said in a statement.
“This should show quickly if there was a loss of engine power or lift after takeoff and allow a preliminary determination of the likely cause for the crash,” said Fromme, who heads the professional association’s Aerospace Division.
Separately, the country’s civil aviation regulator ordered Air India to conduct additional inspections of its Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 Dreamliners equipped with General Electric’s GEnx engines. That includes checks of the fuel parameters, cabin air compressor, engine control system, hydraulic system and takeoff parameters, the order said.
Investigators on Friday continued searching the site of one of India’s worst aviation disasters and Prime Minister Narendra Modi met with the lone surviving passenger a day after the crash.
Aviation safety consultant Jeff Guzzetti, a former crash investigator for both the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board and Federal Aviation Administration, said investigators should be able to answer some important questions about what caused the crash as soon as next week as long as the flight data recorder is in good shape.
Investigators likely are looking at whether wing flaps were set correctly, whether the engine lost power, whether alarms were going off inside the cockpit and whether the plane’s crew correctly inputted information about the hot temperature outside and the weight of the fuel and passengers, Guzzetti said.
Mistakes in the data could result in the wing flaps being set incorrectly, he said.
“I’m not saying that this accident’s going to be solved immediately, but I think some basic factual questions will be able to be answered in quick order,” Guzzetti said.
At least five people were killed on the ground and about 50 injured, but many more victims were expected to be found in the search of the crash site. DNA testing was being conducted to identify bodies that were mostly charred beyond recognition.
The plane hit a building hosting a medical college hostel and burst into flames, killing several students, in the city that is the capital of Gujarat, Modi’s home state.
“We are all devastated by the air tragedy in Ahmedabad. The loss of so many lives in such a sudden and heartbreaking manner is beyond words,” Modi said on social media after visiting the site. “We understand their pain and also know that the void left behind will be felt for years to come.”
