By What is Aeroplane Black Box, Air India Plane Crash:
This black box provides information about what exactly happened in the accident. The use of the black box started in the 1950s, when after plane crashes it was difficult to find out the decisive reason behind the accidents during investigation.
Air India’s plane crashed in Gujarat’s Ahmedabad. On 12 June 2025, when the Air India plane was taking off from Ahmedabad Airport, it crashed in the Meghaninagar area of Ahmedabad. In such a situation, it becomes important to know — what is a black box?
When a plane crashes, investigators often search for the black box. It helps the investigators a lot in finding out the actual reason for the plane crash. So, let us try to understand — what exactly is a black box and how does it work? When was it used for the first time?
To find out the cause of any accident in a flight, the black box is used. It records all the information and activities related to the flight. That is why it is also called Flight Data Recorder (FDR). To keep it safe during an accident, it is made from the strongest metal, titanium. Its strength is such that even in the event of an accident, the black box remains safe.
This black box provides information about what actually happened. The use of the black box began in the early 1950s, when investigators were unable to determine the exact cause of plane crashes. An Australian scientist named David Warren is often credited with inventing it.
Initially, its color was red. At that time it was called Red Egg, but later due to the black interior of the aircraft wall, the box was referred to as a black box. Even after falling in mud or bushes, it should be visible — for that reason, the upper part of it is kept in red or orange color.
This box is placed at the very back of every plane. The reason for this is so that it can remain safe even if an accident occurs. A regular black box weighs about 10 pounds (4.5 kg). Inside it, there is a chip the size of a nail for recording. It contains two recorders —
One is the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR), which records the sounds coming from the cockpit, and
The second is the Flight Data Recorder (FDR).
It usually takes 10–15 days to analyze the data obtained from the black box. During this time, investigators search for other clues — like taking information from air traffic control personnel and recordings of conversations between ATC and pilots before the accident. This helps investigators understand whether the pilots were aware of the situation that was developing, and if they were, whether they had informed about any problem in controlling the aircraft.