Air India Dreamliner AI 171 Crash in Ahmedabad kills over 200 people

The Air India flight number AI 171 crashed shortly after taking off from the Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad, Gujarat, on 12 June 2025. More than 200 people are feared killed in the accident. 

The Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner plane was bound for Gatwick Airport, London, United Kingdom. It was also the first accident worldwide involving a Boeing 787 Dreamliner since the aircraft made its commercial debut in 2011.

The Tata Group owns Air India.

Only One Survivor of the Crash 

• The flight, which took off from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, Ahmedabad, lost control of the air traffic control (ATC) and crashed into the hostel of the BJ Medical College.
• At least five medical students have been killed when the plane crashed into their hostel mess during lunch hour..
• The plane had 242 people on board - 230 passengers and 12 crew members. According to Air India, 169 of the 230 passengers were Indian nationals, 53 British nationals, seven Portuguese, and one Canadian.
• One passenger, a British national, Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, miraculously survived the crash.
• Former Gujarat Chief Minister Vijay Rupani was also on the plane and died in the tragic accident.

Investigation into the Accident and Black Box 

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau has started an investigation into the Air India crash. 

The Aircraft Investigation Bureau was established by the government of India on July 30, 2012, under the Ministry of Civil Aviation.

The Aircraft Investigation Bureau is mandated to investigate any air accident in India or anywhere in the world involving an airline registered in India.

The American Company Boeing is also sending a team to investigate the Air India accident.

The investigator will use the Air India plane’s black box to decode what happened to it and determine the cause of the crash.

What is a Black Box?

The Black Box is a flight recorder on board an aeroplane that records the performance and condition of an aircraft in flight.

It was invented by an Australian, Dr. David Ronald de Mey Warren.

Australia was the first country in the world to make a black box mandatory for all aeroplanes.

Normally, an aircraft is equipped with two black boxes: the flight data recorder (FDR) and the cockpit voice recorder (CVR). 

The FDR records aircraft conditions such as airspeed, altitude, heading, vertical acceleration, etc.

The CVR records verbal communication between crew members within the aircraft’s cockpit and radio voice transmissions.

The black box is encased in a stainless steel shell that is expected to survive a forceful crash, high temperature, and pressure.

The black box is also equipped with a sonar that sends a signal for at least 30 days if the plane crashes at sea.

Colour 

• The CVR and the FDR are International Orange. This colour is used in the aerospace industry to distinguish objects from their surroundings. 
• It is called a black box because earlier, the device used magnetic tapes to record the events in the plane.
•  It was tightly enclosed in a shell so light could not enter the device and corrupt the film. Hence, it was called a black box.