Air India: The black box has been transported to Delhi, decoding process are progressing

New Delhi: The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has commenced the analysis of the black box data retrieved from the crash site of Air India Flight AI171, which went down shortly after takeoff from Ahmedabad on June 12, as announced by the government on Thursday.As part of a formal investigation launched in line with international protocols, both the Cockpit Voice Recorder and the Flight Data Recorder were recovered from the Ahmedabad crash site—one from a rooftop on June 13 and the other from the debris on June 16—and were flown to Delhi.

The AAIB, which serves as the official authority for such investigations, is presently undertaking the inquiry into the crash, as confirmed by the government. On Thursday, the government announced that the devices (CVR and FDR) were secured with continuous police protection and CCTV monitoring prior to being transported to Delhi by Indian Air Force aircraft on June 24. “…the black boxes were transported from Ahmedabad to Delhi by IAF aircraft under full security on 24 June 2025. The front black box reached the AAIB laboratory in Delhi with the Director General of AAIB at 1400 hours on 24 June 2025,” it reported.

“The rear black box was delivered by a second AAIB team and arrived at the AAIB laboratory in Delhi at 1715 hours on 24 June,” it stated. A statement released by the government also verified that data extraction commenced that same evening at the AAIB laboratory in Delhi, and the memory module was successfully accessed. “On the evening of 24 June 2025, the team, headed by the Director General of AAIB, along with technical personnel from AAIB and the US National Transportation Safety Board, initiated the data extraction procedure. The Crash Protection Module from the front black box was securely retrieved, and on 25 June 2025, the memory module was successfully accessed, with its data downloaded at the AAIB laboratory,” the statement indicated.

“All actions have been taken in full compliance with domestic laws and international obligations in a time-bound manner,” the government concluded.