The black boxes will provide cockpit conversations and data related to the plane's engine and control settings to investigators and help them in determining the cause of the crash.

Investigators in India are studying the black boxes of a Boeing 787 Dreamliner after recovering them from the aircraft wreckage to ascertain the cause of last week's plane crash that left at least 270 people dead.

That was the total time Air India Flight 171 was in the air before its fatal plunge into an Ahmedabad suburb, leaving a blackened ruin and desperate questions for the international aviation community.