Ahmedabad Air India plane crash: What is a black box? How does it work?

Ahmedabad Air india plane crash: What is a black box? How does it work? In modern aircraft, there are Cockpit Voice Recorder and Digital Flight Data Recorder; they are called black boxes even though they are painted with bright orange to ensure high visibility

As thousands of commercial flights take to the skies daily, sturdy boxes painted in bright orange hues are tucked away in aircraft fuselage.

Those boxes, better known as black boxes, record data during flights without interruption and hold crucial information in plane crashes like the fatal accident of an Air India aircraft on Thursday afternoon (June 12, 2025).

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In modern aircraft, there are Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and Digital Flight Data Recorder (DFDR).

Generally, they are called black boxes even though they are painted with bright orange colour to ensure high visibility.

In some aircraft, the two recorders are integrated.

In April 2025, the Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau set up a flight recorders laboratory at its premises in the national capital for carrying out more effective probes into accidents.