Picking up the missing pieces to tragic puzzle

Scattered across a 1,000-foot debris field in Ahmedabad, the remnants of Air India Flight 171 provided investigators with a puzzle of twisted metal and damaged components that would prove crucial to understanding what caused the Boeing 787's catastrophic engine failure.

- HT Correspondent

The Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau's preliminary report reveals how each recovered piece - from heavily damaged flight recorders to precisely positioned cockpit controls-contributed to reconstructing the final 32 seconds of a flight that claimed 260 lives.

A tale of two black boxes

The investigation’s breakthrough came from one of the aircraft’s two Enhanced Airborne Flight Recorders (EAFR), integrated black boxes that combine traditional flight data recording with cockpit voice capture in single units. The aft EAFR, located in the tail section, was discovered on the roof of the hostel mess a day after the crash. “The EAFR had impact and thermal damages to the housing. The wires were protruding from the housing and the connectors were burnt,” the report states. Extensive damage rendered it unreadable through conventional means.