Black box of Mirage-2000 that crashed in Bengaluru sent to France

The black box of the Mirage-2000 trainer aircraft, which crashed in Bengaluru last week killing two pilots, has been sent to France's Dassault Aviation, the Original Equipment Manufacturer, for decoding of its data, a senior HAL official said Wednesday.

A black box collects in-flight information and decrypting it gives insights about the aircraft's activities. Usually the decoding of the black box takes place in India, but this black box was sent to France because it was badly burnt in the crash on February 1, the official added.

Squadron Leader Samir Abrol and Squadron Leader Siddhartha Negi, both from Aircraft and Systems Testing Establishment, were killed in the crash at Hindustan Aeronautics Limited Airport in Bengaluru.

They were conducting an acceptance sortie of the newly upgraded Mirage-2000 trainer jet.

Several reasons such as mechanical failure in the aircraft have been cited as possible reasons for the crash and the black box is a vital link to determine the exact cause.

The Hindustan Aeronautics Limited and the Indian Air Force are jointly investigating the reasons behind the crash.