What the ‘black box’ can tell us about plane crashes

NEW DELHI (AP) — A preliminary finding into last month’s Air India plane crash has suggested the aircraft’s fuel control switches were turned off, starving the engines of fuel and causing a loss of engine thrust shortly after takeoff.

The report, issued by India’s Aircraft Accident Investigation Bureau on Saturday, also found that one pilot was heard on the cockpit voice recorder asking the other why he cut off the fuel in the flight’s final moment. The other pilot replied he did not do so.

The Air India flight — a Boeing 787-8 Dreamliner — crashed on June 12 and killed at least 260 people, including 19 on the ground, in the northwestern city of Ahmedabad. Only one passenger survived the crash, which is one of India’s worst aviation disasters.

The report based its finding on the data recovered from the plane’s black boxes — combined cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders.

Here is an explanation of what black boxes are and what they can do:

The cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder are tools that help investigators reconstruct the events that lead up to a plane crash.

They’re orange in color to make them easier to find in wreckage, sometimes at great ocean depths. They’re usually installed a plane’s tail section, which is considered the most survivable part of the aircraft, according to the National Transportation Safety Board's website.

The cockpit voice recorder collects radio transmissions and sounds such as the pilot’s voices and engine noises, according to the NTSB’s website.

Depending on what happened, investigators may pay close attention to the engine noise, stall warnings and other clicks and pops, the NTSB said. And from those sounds, investigators can often determine engine speed and the failure of some systems.

Investigators can also listen to conversations between the pilots and crew and communications with air traffic control. Experts make a meticulous transcript of the voice recording, which can take up to a week.

The flight data recorder monitors a plane’s altitude, airspeed and heading, according to the NTSB. Those factors are among at least 88 parameters that newly built planes must monitor.

Some can collect the status of more than 1,000 other characteristics, from a wing’s flap position to the smoke alarms. The NTSB said it can generate a computer animated video reconstruction of the flight from the information collected.

At least two people have been credited with creating devices that record what happens on an airplane.

One is French aviation engineer François Hussenot. In the 1930s, he found a way to record a plane’s speed, altitude and other parameters onto photographic film, according to the website for European plane-maker Airbus.

In the 1950s, Australian scientist David Warren came up with the idea for the cockpit voice recorder, according to his 2010 AP obituary.

Warren had been investigating the crash of the world’s first commercial jet airliner, the Comet, in 1953, and thought it would be helpful for airline accident investigators to have a recording of voices in the cockpit, the Australian Department of Defence said in a statement after his death.

Warren designed and constructed a prototype in 1956. But it took several years before officials understood just how valuable the device could be and began installing them in commercial airlines worldwide.

Some have suggested that it stems from Hussenot’s device because it used film and “ran continuously in a light-tight box, hence the name ‘black box,’” according to Airbus, which noted that orange was the box’s chosen color from the beginning to make it easy to find.

Other theories include the boxes turning black when they get charred in a crash, the Smithsonian Magazine wrote in 2019.

The media continues to use the term, the magazine wrote, “because of the sense of mystery it conveys in the aftermath of an air disaster.”

FILE -The tail of the airplane is seen stuck in a building at the site of an airplane that crashed in India's northwestern city of Ahmedabad in Gujarat state, June 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki, File)

A policeman walks past buildings damaged in the June 12 Air India plane crash in Ahmedabad, India, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/Ajit Solanki)

People offer prayers for crew members of the Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad last month during a prayer meeting at a church in Mumbai, India, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/ Rafiq Maqbool)

A relative of the crew of the Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad last month, mourns during a prayer meeting at a church in Mumbai, India, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/ Rafiq Maqbool)

A woman offers tribute to the crew members of the Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad last month during a prayer meeting at a church in Mumbai, India, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/ Rafiq Maqbool)

Mother of Clive Kunder, co-pilot of the Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad last month, mourns during a prayer meeting for the Air India crew, at a church in Mumbai, India, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/ Rafiq Maqbool)

A man offer prayers for crew members of Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad last month during a prayer meeting at a church in Mumbai, India, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/ Rafiq Maqbool)

People offer prayers for crew members of the Air India flight that crashed in Ahmedabad last month during a prayer meeting at a church in Mumbai, India, Saturday, July 12, 2025. (AP Photo/ Rafiq Maqbool)

GLENDALE, Ariz. (AP) — Carson Beck scrambled for a 3-yard touchdown with 18 seconds left, and Miami will head back home for a shot at its first national championship since 2001 after beating Mississippi 31-27 in an exhilarating College Football Playoff semifinal at the Fiesta Bowl on Thursday night.

The 10th-ranked Hurricanes (13-2) had their vaunted defense picked apart by the sixth-ranked Rebels (13-2) in a wild fourth quarter, falling into a 27-24 hole after Trinidad Chambliss threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Dae'Quan Wright with 3:13 left.

Beck, who won a national title as a backup at Georgia, kept the Hurricanes calm amid the storm, leading them down the field for the winning score — and a shot at a national title on their home field at Hard Rock Stadium on Jan. 19. Beck is 37-5 as a starter, including two seasons at Georgia.

The sixth-seeded Rebels lost their coach before the playoff, but not their cool.

If anything, Lane Kiffin’s decision to bolt for LSU seemed to harden Ole Miss’ resolve, pushing the Rebels to the best season in school history — and within a game of their first national championship game.

Ole Miss kept Miami within reach when its offense labored and took a 19-17 lead on Lucas Carneiro’s fourth field goal, from 21 yards.

Malachi Toney, the hero of Miami’s opening CFP win over Texas A&M, turned a screen pass into a 36-yard touchdown that put Miami up 24-19.

Chambliss' TD pass to Wright put the Rebels back on top, but improbable run came to an end when the defense couldn't hold the Hurricanes.

But what a run it was.

With Pete Golding calling the shots after being promoted from defensive coordinator to head coach, and most of the assistants sticking around, the Rebels blew out Tulane to open the playoff and took down mighty Georgia in the CFP quarterfinals.

They faced a different kind of storm in the Hurricanes.

Miami has rekindled memories of its 2001 national championship team behind a defense that went from porous to nearly impenetrable in its first season under coordinator Corey Hetherman.

The Hurricanes walled up early in the Fiesta Bowl, holding Ole Miss to minus-1 yard.

One play revved up the Rebels and their rowdy fans.

Kewan Lacy, the nation’s third-leading rusher, burst through a hole up the middle for a 73-yard touchdown run on the first play of the second quarter — the longest run allowed by Miami’s defense since 2018.

The Hurricanes seemed content to grind away at the Rebels in small chunks offensively, setting up CharMar Brown’s 4-yard touchdown run and a field goal.

Miami unlocked the deep game just before halftime, taking advantage of a busted coverage for a 52-yard touchdown pass from Beck to Keelan Marion.

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Miami quarterback Carson Beck, right, prepares to hand off to running back Mark Fletcher Jr. during the first half of the Cotton Bowl College Football Playoff quarterfinal game against Ohio State Wednesday, Dec. 31, 2025, in Arlington, Texas. (AP Photo/Julio Cortez)

Mississippi head coach Pete Golding runs on the field at halftime during the Sugar Bowl NCAA college football playoff quarterfinal game against Georgia, Thursday, Jan. 1, 2026, in New Orleans. (AP Photo/Matthew Hinton)