Air India crash in Ahmedabad: Black box recovered from BJ Medical College rooftop

Ahmedabad/New Delhi, June 14: The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) on Friday said that the black box of Air India’s crashed Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft was recovered from the rooftop of the residential quarters of BJ Medical College in Ahmedabad.

Meanwhile, aviation watchdog DGCA on Friday ordered enhanced safety inspection of Air India’s Boeing 787 Dreamliner fleet powered by GEnx engines, a day after 241 people died in the plane crash.

The plane from Ahmedabad to London’s Gatwick had crashed into the residential quarters of BJ Medical College. An official said that the black box was recovered from the rooftop of the residential quarters.

“AAIB began work with full force immediately. Over 40 staff from the State government joined efforts to augment the MoCA (Ministry of Civil Aviation) teams on site. The DFDR (black box) has been recovered from the rooftop,” a statement said.

The black box is a small device that records information about an aircraft during its flight. It helps in the investigation of aviation accidents.

The enhanced inspection by the the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA) will include checks of various systems and a review of takeoff parameters of the Boeing 787 Dreamliner aircraft of Air India owned by Tata Group. There are 26 Boeing 787-8s and 7 Boeing 787-9s in the Air India fleet.

The DGCA has directed Air India to carry out additional maintenance actions on its Boeing 787-8 and 787-9 planes equipped with Genx engines with immediate effect. These actions will be carried out in coordination with the DGCA regional offices concerned.

With effect from January 15, the regulator had ordered various one-time checks of the Boeing 787 planes, including inspection of fuel parameter monitoring and associated system checks.

Inspection of cabin air compressor and associated systems, electronic engine control system test, engine fuel driven actuator-operational test, and oil system checks have also been ordered. Besides, DGCA has directed to carry out a serviceability check of the hydraulic system and review of takeoff parameters.

According to an order issued by the watchdog, flight control inspection has to be introduced in transit inspection till further notice, apart from having power assurance checks within two weeks.

Also, DGCA has said there should be “closure of maintenance actions based upon the review of repetitive snags during the last 15 days on B787-8/9 aircraft at the earliest”. Reports of these checks have to be submitted to the regulator for review.

The London Gatwick-bound Boeing 787 aircraft that crashed on Thursday was powered by GEnx engines. GEnx engines are made by GE Aerospace, which said that it is prepared to support Air India and the investigation into the plane crash in Ahmedabad.

“We have activated our emergency response team, and we are prepared to support our customer and the investigation,” a GE Aerospace spokesperson said in a statement.

– PTI