How was the 'black box' of the aircraft born?
When an aircraft accident occurs, the ' black box ' is of great help. It was in the 1950s that the 'black box', which has been installed in all commercial airliners around the world since the 1960s, was created in a modern form.
Black Boxes Help Solve Plane Crashes.
The 'black box' is bright orange so that it can be easily spotted in the event of an accident. Inside is a flight data recorder (FDR) that records flight altitude and speed, and a cockpit voice recorder (CVR) that records the voice in the cockpit, so it will not be damaged even if the aircraft crashes or catches fire. In addition to being made of the same materials and construction, it is also water resistant so that it can be recovered in the event of a crash in the ocean.
If it is a single FDR, it seems that the Wright brothers who succeeded in mankind's first powered flight also had a device that records the number of revolutions of the propeller, and after that, the FDR that records altitude and speed based on photographs was released in 1939. was invented in France. The FDR was also being developed during World War II.
It was Australian researcher David Warren who combined CVR here. The son of missionaries, Warren grew up in the Northern Territory and was a radio enthusiast.
In 1953, a series of accidents occurred in which the British aircraft manufacturer De Havilland's passenger plane 'Comet' crashed. At that time, Mr. Warren, who was working at the Aviation Research Institute of the Australian Department of Defense, decided to cooperate with the investigation into the Comet crash.
During the investigation, Mr. Warren met the world's first pocket recorder 'Minifon' at the trade fair.
Protona Minifon Mi-51
Mr. Warren who saw Minifon said, 'If the person who was on the crashed comet was using Minifon and could find Minifon from the wreckage and reproduce it, I may know what the cause of the accident was.' I thought. This is the origin of the idea of CVR.
However, Mr. Warren's boss did not seem to be attracted to the idea and told Mr. Warren to start blowing up the fuel tank. Still, Warren, who did not abandon this idea, created a prototype of a 'black box' that could save up to 4 hours of voice and flight data immediately before the accident with the cooperation of those around him, and completed it in 1958.
The Australian authorities still did not recognize Mr. Warren's black box, but British aviation officials who visited Mr. Warren's laboratory understood the importance of the 'black box' and the rights belonged to the British manufacturer. Acquired by a certain S. Davall & Sons.
The first product put on the market was called 'Red Egg' because of its appearance, and after that, all black boxes were made in orange, which is easy to find, regardless of the manufacturer.
'Red Egg' flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder | Science Museum Group Collection
Since then, the black box has continued to evolve in subtle ways, helping airlines in the process of capturing data from safely landed flights to identify potentially catastrophic problems. About. As the problem continues to improve, 2022 will be the safest year in commercial aviation history, with only five fatal accidents out of 32.2 million flights per year.
However, just because black boxes are installed does not mean that the causes of all
For this reason, Honeywell, a major manufacturer of black boxes, has developed a new black box that stores FDR and CVR data via satellite networks, but it is not popular due to privacy issues.
What's a Black Box and How It's Getting an Upgrade
https://www.honeywell.com/us/en/news/2019/07/whats-a-black-box-and-how-its-getting-an-upgrade
Experts, including aviation safety consultant John Goglia, have commented that cases where black boxes don't work are rare, so the industry shouldn't rush to reinvent them.
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