‘Black box’ found three days after Mangalore crash

Investigators have found the ‘black box’ or the Flight Data Recorder of the stricken Air India Express flight IX 812 that crashed here on Saturday. A search team from the Directorate General of Civil Aviation found the device — actually orange in colour — at around 10 a.m. on Tuesday, said Deputy Superintendent of Police S. Girish whose men have been guarding the area.

Mr. Girish said the lid of the one-foot long device was missing and its contents, which included a prominent cylindrical object, were badly charred.

The Deputy Commissioner of Dakshina Kannada district in-charge S.A. Prabhakar Sharma told The Hindu that the district administration has received confirmation from the DGCA about the discovery of the flight data recording unit.

The cylindrical object mentioned by Mr. Girish is the 'Crash Survivable Memory Unit' (CSMU) and as the name suggests, it is the most important component of the unit which also has an inbuilt power supply system.

According to investigators, despite being charred on the surface, the CSMU’s data is unlikely to be affected. The outer layer or housing of this robust unit is usually made of steel armour. Inside the armour is a layer of insulation and within this a thick “thermal block”. The memory board, which stores all the flight data, is at the core of this unit.