In a major breakthrough, the Indian Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB) has begun analyzing data extracted from the Air India flight 171 black boxes found at the crash site in Ahmedabad.

On June 26, 2025, the Ministry of Aviation announced that both the Air India aircraft’s Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR) had been flown to Delhi by the Indian Air Force.

The Cockpit Voice Recorder and Flight Data Recorder arrived separately at the AAIB laboratory under stringent security on June 24, 2025, at 14:00 and 17:15 (local time) respectively.

That same evening, the AAIB Director General, GVG Yugandhar, and colleagues from the AAIB and US National Transporation Safety Board (NTSB) began the data extraction process from the two devices.

The Crash Protection Module (CPM) from the CVR was safely retrieved. The following day, technical staff accessed the memory module and its data was successfully downloaded.
Indian Government
The AAIB confirmed that analysis of the Air India CVR and FDR data is currently underway.

“These efforts aim to reconstruct the sequence of events leading to the accident and identify contributing factors to enhance aviation safety and prevent future occurrences,” a spokesperson for the AAIB said.

The Ministry of Aviation confirmed that one of the black boxes was found at the crash site among the aircraft debris while the other was recovered from a rooftop. The first was found on June 13, 2025, and the second on June 16, 2025.

Before they were brought to Delhi, the CVR and FDR were kept under 24/7 police protection and CCTV surveillance in Ahmedabad.

The fact that the devices have now been found and the data is being analyzed should bring comfort to those who are searching for answers on what caused Air India flight 171 to crash on June 12, 2025.

There had been speculation that the black boxes would need to be flown to the US to undergo specialist data extraction.

Authorities have confirmed that 260 people were killed in the tragedy. 241 of the 242 people on board the Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner died, while 19 on the ground also perished.

Flight 171 was due to depart Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport (AMD) at 13:10, local time on the day of the crash and arrive at London Gatwick (LGW) just under 10 hours later.

The aircraft ascended to a maximum barometric altitude of just 625 feet—around 425 feet above the airport’s 200‑foot elevation—before descending at approximately 475 feet per minute. The signal was lost at 13:38, less than a minute after take-off.

The passenger jet impacted the campus of Byramjee Jeejeebhoy Medical College and Civil Hospital, located just a few short miles from the airport.