Officials have found the second black box from the doomed Air India flight 171 which will reveal a second-by-second reconstruction of the events that led to the fatal fireball crash.
The Gatwick-bound plane carrying 242 passengers, including 53 British nationals, crashed just moments after take-off from Ahmedabad Airport in the northwestern Indian state of Gujarat on Thursday.
The Boeing 787 Dreamliner careened back down to earth in the densely populated Meghani area of the city just minutes after leaving the runway around 1.40pm local time (8.10am BST).
All but one person onboard the plane died as doctors say they have recovered 270 bodies from the site, including around 30 of those being people who were killed on the ground.
The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) captures all audio from the cockpit, including pilot conversations, radio transmissions, warning alarms and ambient mechanical sounds.
It will allow investigators to finally understand what happened in the moments leading up to one of the world’s worst aviation disasters in a decade.
Planes usually carry two black boxes – small but tough electronic flight data recorders made with robust materials such as titanium or steel and insulated with fire-resistant materials to withstand extreme conditions during a crash.
One records flight data, such as altitude and speed and the other records sound from the cockpit, so investigators can hear what the pilots are saying and listen for any unusual noises.
Officials have found the second black box from the doomed Air India flight 171 which will reveal a second-by-second reconstruction of the events that led to the fatal fireball crash
The Gatwick-bound plane carrying 242 passengers, including 53 British nationals, crashed just moments after take-off from Ahmedabad Airport in the northwestern Indian state of Gujarat on Thursday
The plane crashed into a fireball after a suspected double-engine failure shortly after takeoff
The first black box was recovered on Friday from the rooftop of a building at the site of the crash just 28 hours after the crash by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau (AAIB).
Authorities say it will now be easier to determine the exact cause of the crash with both the CVR and the Flight Data Recorder having been found.
Aviation experts believe the Boeing 787 Dreamliner may have suddenly lost power ‘at the most critical phase of flight’ after takeoff.
The possible causes are believed to include a rapid change in wind or a bird strike leading to a double engine stall.
Officials from India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau are leading the investigation.
Indian aviation officials confirmed the final words of the pilot, moments before the plane crashed into buildings near Ahmedabad’s Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport, were Mayday distress calls.
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, who had 8,200 hours of flying experience, desperately cried: ‘Thrust not achieved… falling… Mayday! Mayday! Mayday!’
Boeing experts have arrived in Ahmedabad today to investigate the crash that killed 241 people onboard and nearly 30 on the ground, NDTV reported.
The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) captures all audio from the cockpit, including pilot conversations, radio transmissions, warning alarms and ambient mechanical sounds (Pictured: A stock image of a CVR)
One records flight data, such as altitude and speed and the other records sound from the cockpit, so investigators can hear what the pilots are saying and listen for any unusual noises (Pictured: A stock image of a Flight Data Recorder)
Rescue team members work as smoke rises at the site in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025
People look at the debris of an Air India plane crashed in Ahmedabad of India’s Gujarat state
A view of the site where the plane crashed shortly after takeoff from Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel International Airport in India’s western state of Gujarat on June 12, 2025
The Dreamliner had undergone comprehensive maintenance checks (C checks) in June 2023, with the next scheduled for December 2025, Press Trust of India reported on Sunday.
Elsewhere, a new bombshell video provides evidence that the plane lost power after take off, leading to the catastrophic crash.
Commercial airline pilot Steve Schreiber, who analyses plane crashes and close calls, said a new HD-quality video reveals the doomed Boeing 787 Dreamliner suffered a ‘dual engine failure’ before crashing in what was one of India’s worst aviation disasters.
The jet began losing height moments after take-off and exploded into a fireball after smashing into a medical hostel on the ground in Ahmedabad, Gujarat.
Initially Mr Schreiber, best known as Captain Steve online, suspected there had been an exceptionally simple error in the cockpit when the co-pilot was asked to retract the landing gear, with devastating consequences.
However, a higher quality version of the original video of the crash has emerged, with higher quality visuals and sound, which Mr Schreiber believes could prove that a dual engine failure led to the plane’s terrifying final moments.
The 63-year-old, who has 26 years of flying experience – including 11 as a captain – and has flown in 60 different aircraft, said a tiny detail which can be seen on the new video is a ‘total gamechanger’.
Mr Schreiber explained on his Youtube channel Captain Steeeve that beneath the right wing of the aeroplane, he could see a ‘protrusion on the belly of the aircraft’. Underneath that there is a ‘little grey dot’, he added.
Wreckage of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner lies at the site where the Air India plane crashed in Ahmedabad, India, June 12, 2025
Parts of the jet crashed into the BJ Medical College and Civil Hospital
Remnants of the fuselage and the landing gear were seen dangling through a gaping hole in the side of the canteen, with half-finished plates of food clearly visible on benches inside
He said this is evidence of the Ram Access Turbine (RAT) deploying on the plane.
‘Many aeroplanes have it,’ he said. ‘It is just behind the wing on the right side of the aeroplane, there is a little door that holds it in.
‘It looks like a little Evinrude motor, it’s a little two bladed prop.
‘The purpose is to provide electrical and hydraulic pressure for the aircraft on an extreme emergency.’
Mr Schreiber said that on a 787 there are three things that will deploy the RAT automatically.
He said: ‘A massive electrical failure, a massive hydraulic failure, or a dual engine failure.
‘Any one of those three things will cause that RAT to deploy.’
The aviation expert said that the protrusion and the grey dot were visual evidence of the RAT deploying on the aircraft.
Vishwash Kumar Ramesh, 40, lying in hospital with a bloodied face and injuries after surviving the tragic crash
Captain Steve said the protrusion and the grey dot underneath the plane were evidence of the Ram Access Turbine (RAT) deploying
Captain Sumeet Sabharwal, left, and First Officer Clive Kunder, right, avoided a three storey apartment before the crash which took the lives of themselves and their passengers
He added: ‘That little grey dot is the RAT. The protrusion is the door that opened to allow the rat to come down.’
Mr Schreiber then detailed the second piece of evidence – the sound of the video.
He said: ‘A RAT makes a distinctive sound, it sounds like a propeller aeroplane going by, or a real high-pitched squeal. It is basically spinning at the speed of sound to produce the energy, electrical and hydraulic that it needs to.
‘If you weren’t looking at it, it sounded like a single-engine prop aeroplane just flew by.
‘The RAT was originally designed as the absolute last resort, assuming there is going to be a dual engine failure at altitude.
‘It is not designed for an aeroplane at 400- 500ft. But it is evidence for us.’
His theory is that the crash was caused by a dual-engine failure.
He added: ‘It is evidence for us it was dual engine failure, most likely. It could have been electrical issue, it could have been hydraulic issue, it could have been either one of that.
‘But I think the fact the aeroplane is mushing out the sky gives the idea it was a dual engine failure.’
Meanwhile, the first funerals for some of the victims have been held in Ahmedabad.
Health officials have returned the first bodies identified through DNA testing to grieving families in the city, though most relatives are still waiting.
Rinal Christian, 23, whose elder brother was a passenger on the jetliner, told ABC News: ‘They said it would take 48 hours. But it’s been four days and we haven’t received any response.’
