Preliminary Report on Ahmedabad Air India Crash Submitted; ‘Golden Chassis’ Aids Black Box Data Recovery

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has delivered its preliminary report on the AI-171 crash in Ahmedabad to the Ministry of Civil Aviation and relevant authorities. The report is based on initial findings from the investigation into the Air India plane crash, which resulted in over 250 fatalities. The Crash Protection Module (CPM) was safely retrieved from the front black box, with its memory module successfully accessed and data downloaded at the AAIB Lab on June 25, 2025. A ‘golden chassis’ – an identical black box – was used to verify accurate data recovery. One black box was recovered from a building rooftop on June 13, and the other from debris on June 16. The investigation is being led by AAIB officials with technical support 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 Director General of AAIB is heading the probe, with an aviation medicine expert and an Air Traffic Control officer also involved. The NTSB team is currently in Delhi, collaborating closely with Indian authorities at the AAIB Lab. Boeing and GE officials are also present to assist with the technical process. Previously, AAIB sent black boxes to overseas decoding centers, but the AAIB Lab in Delhi is now fully equipped to decode both Cockpit Voice Recorders (CVR) and Flight Data Recorders (FDR).