Former Airline Pilot Emma Henderson has claimed there is a "good chance" the black box on board the craft can be recovered from the crash site.
Speaking to GB News, Henderson claimed that the condition of the back end of the aircraft appears to be in a condition where the box can be removed intact.
Air India confirmed there were 169 Indian, 53 British, one Canadian and seven Portuguese passengers on board the plane, with reports claiming one person has since survived the crash.
Police also reported the flight, carrying 242 passengers, crashed into a hostel building for doctors.
The Air India plane crashed into a building thought to be a hostel to local doctors
Reuters
Discussing the remains of the aircraft, Henderson told GB News: "I've seen a photo of the tail plane of the aircraft in a building, which means that the black box - it's always the black box, that's the key to these things.
"There's a very good chance of it being recoverable, it should be the case. I would expect the investigation teams to be in possession of that now and be looking at it."
Highlighting the importance of answers in such an investigation, Henderson added that the families of the victims who were on board "need answers" as to what happened.
She said: "Of course, what everybody wants and particularly for the families who so tragically lost so many people, they want answers as to what has happened to their loved ones.
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Police say there were no survivors of the crash, with more than 200 bodies recovered from the site
Reuters
"And in aviation, we want answers to make sure that we know what's happened, so that instantly things will be put in place to make sure that can't happen again."
Sharing more details of the black box and what the authorities can gather from the device, Henderson explained: "Aviation always learns from these terrible tragedies, and the way we learn is to find out that information which is stored in the black box.
"The cockpit voice recorder, all of that is stored there and will be extracted. It's literally like putting a jigsaw puzzle together, so all the pieces will be placed together so that we can see a full picture of what happened between the moment that aircraft took off and the moment it crashed into the ground."
Reflecting on the footage captured of the craft crashing to the ground, Henderson claimed that it appears the "flaps look like they are in the wrong position".
Henderson told GB News that there is a 'good chance' that the black box could be recovered intact
GB News
Henderson told GB News: "From what I can see in the video, the flaps do look in the wrong position.
"The gear is definitely down, and the nose is definitely higher than I would expect to see."
A London Gatwick spokesman said: “We can confirm flight AI171 that was involved in an accident on departure from Ahmedabad Airport today (12 June) was due to land at London Gatwick at 18:25 BST.
"The Boeing 787-8 aircraft had 242 passengers and crew members on board. London Gatwick is liaising closely with Air India and a reception centre for relatives of those on board is being set up where information and support will be provided. Our thoughts are with family and friends of those on board."
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