Ahmedabad: One of the two black boxes of the Air India plane that crashed in Ahmedabad on June 12 has been found, which will help in finding out the cause of the plane crash in which 241 people died. According to media reports, the black box was found in the rear part of the plane and has been kept safely. A Gujarat ATS official said that we have recovered the digital video recorder (DVR) from the wreckage of the plane.
According to the report, the black box installed in the front part of the plane has not been found yet.
The information recorded in the black box is considered very important to find out the reasons behind the plane crash. Let us know what a black box is and how it works.
What is a black box?
A small box placed in a corner of the plane is called a black box. It is a small machine that records information about the plane during flight. The black box is mainly a flight recorder. It has two devices – Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR). The CVR records radio transmissions and sounds like the pilot’s voice and engine sound. Through this, investigating officers can detect engine speed and defects in other systems.
The black box is made of strong materials like steel or titanium. It remains safe even in a severe fire. The black box is placed towards the rear of the plane, where the impact of the accident is usually the least. This orange or yellow rectangular box can withstand explosions, fire, water pressure and high-speed accidents.
How does the black box help in the investigation?
Both the black boxes installed in the plane – CVR and FDR record information about the flight. This helps in preventing the plane crash again. The CVR records radio transmissions and other sounds in the cockpit, including conversation between pilots and the sound of the engine. While the FDR records more than 80 different types of information related to the plane, such as altitude, wind speed, flight direction, autopilot status, etc.
Invention of the Black Box
The black box was invented in the 1950s. Australian scientist David Warren was investigating the crash of the world’s first commercial jet airliner Comet in 1953. At that time he got the idea of making a cockpit voice recorder. He believed that recording voices in the cockpit would be helpful in investigating plane crashes. Warren created a prototype design in 1956. But it took several years for officials to understand how valuable this device could be and began installing them in commercial airlines around the world.
Air India’s Ahmedabad-London flight took off at 1.39 pm on June 12 and within a minute the plane fell from a height of 625 feet. The plane made a MAYDAY call to the Air Traffic Control (ATC) immediately after takeoff. According to a statement from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation (DGCA), subsequent calls made by the ATC to the plane were not answered.
