CHENNAI: The black box of the Indian Air Force (IAF) training aircraft that crashed near Tiruporur Uppalam on Friday afternoon was successfully recovered from nearly 10 feet of slush on Saturday morning.
After several hours of digging, the black box was located and recovered at around 11.30 am It was cleaned and secured by Air Force engineers.
Senior district officials, including Chengalpattu DRO Ganesh Kumar and Tiruporur Tahsildar Saravanan, visited the site and assisted the IAF teams.
DRO Ganesh Kumar said, “The black box and major components of the wreckage have been recovered. Technical investigation will now be undertaken by IAF authorities.”
The aircraft, a Pilatus PC-7, had taken off from the Tambaram Air Force Station around noon on Friday for a routine training sortie piloted by Subham (30), a trainee pilot from UP. While flying over the OMR–ECR airspace near Tiruporur, he noticed a technical malfunction and immediately alerted Air Traffic Control at the Tambaram base.
Subham attempted an emergency descent but, when the aircraft became uncontrollable, ejected safely using a parachute. He escaped without injuries.
The aircraft crashed in a muddy open field behind a private salt unit along the Tiruporur–Nemmeli Road, where it exploded on impact and broke into several pieces. Soon after the crash, Air Force officials arrived in a helicopter from Tambaram, cordoned off the area and began collecting debris. Security personnel remained at the site through the night.
On Saturday morning, about 50 IAF personnel and officers returned to continue recovery operations. Two earthmovers and a crane were deployed to retrieve parts buried deep in the mud.