After the crash - what really happens next?

14 June 2025, 09:47 | Updated: 14 June 2025, 09:51

When a plane crashes, the response is immediate, and in some cases, it begins before the aircraft even hits the ground.

If the pilots sent a mayday call, air traffic control might have already hit the alarm to scramble fire crews and paramedics. If the crash happens outside the airport, the city’s wider emergency services kick into action too—fire, police, ambulances, disaster response. It’s all hands on deck.

But while the emergency response is focused on saving lives and securing the scene, behind the scenes, a second operation begins: the investigation.

In India, that job falls to the Air Accident Investigation Bureau. Once the immediate crisis is under control, they take over. But they’re not working alone.

There’s an international system for this, coordinated by the United Nations aviation agency ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization). They’ve laid out the ground rules in something called Annex 13 - basically, the global playbook for air crash investigations.

Here’s how it works: the country where the crash happened leads the investigation. Then, they invite a list of other countries to send representatives. These might include:

• Where the plane was registered and operated (in this case, India)
• Where it was designed and built (often the USA or Europe)
• Where the engines were made
• And crucially - any country whose citizens were killed or injured

So, if a British citizen was on board, the UK will almost certainly be involved.

Other experts might be invited too, not because they have a stake, but because they bring valuable skills or technical knowledge.

And it’s not just government bodies. Specialist disaster recovery companies get involved, helping to identify victims and repatriate remains. Insurance investigators, police, even psychologists may all be on site.

Back to the crash site itself: there’s usually a team combing through the physical wreckage. That includes recovering the black boxes—the flight data and cockpit voice recorders.

Despite the name, they’re usually bright orange, and built to survive extreme crashes, deep-sea pressure, and fire. Once recovered, they’re flown to a secure lab for analysis.

One team listens to cockpit conversations, while another analyses the flight data. It’s incredibly detailed work, converting raw numbers into animations, charts, and timelines to work out what went wrong.

Meanwhile, other teams are digging through:

• Maintenance records - Was the plane properly looked after?
• Crew training logs - Were the pilots qualified and well-prepared?
• Fuel, baggage and cargo - Was the plane overweight or not loaded correctly?
• Weather data - Could storms or winds have played a part?
• Wildlife report - Were there birds near the airport?
• Emergency response performance - How well did fire crews and medics respond?

If only one passenger survived, you can bet a team will be looking into why. What was different about that seat? That part of the cabin? That moment?

These investigations take time, sometimes over a year. But if they uncover anything urgent, the aviation industry won’t wait. Airlines and regulators act fast on early findings, because when it comes to aviation, lessons must be learned quickly. The goal isn’t just to understand what happened, but to make sure it never happens again.

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David Gleave is Chief investigator for Aviation Safety Consultants

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