SURVIVAL OF A BLACK BOX

When air transportation is considered as one of the greatest invention in human history, air-crashes around the world is becoming a nightmare day-by-day. About 207 air crashes are recorded, starting from the crash of powered aircraft Wright Model A aircraft at Fort Myer, Virginia, US in the year 1908 September 17, to the biggest crash - two Boeing 747 passenger jets, operating KLM Flight 4805 and Pan Am Flight 1736 (Tenerife airport disaster) in 1977 March 27, resulting 583 fatalities.

Apart from all these sorrowful incidents, one remarkable invention was resulted – “Black box”; or to be specific “Flight Data Recorder”. Many of us might have heard this term; especially, once a plane crash happens, authorities rush to find this small, but exceptional object to get information related to the accident. But, when a massive accident occurs, how is it possible for a small box to survive- be it is a fire or falling into an ocean !

Birth of Black Box

Black Box

When the number of air crashes increased between the years 1953-54, David Warren, a scientist in Aeronautical Research Laboratory (ARL) in Melbourne during his study on world’s first jet-powered commercial aircraft – ‘the Comet’, thought about an idea of recording every single incident happening inside an aeroplane. His idea

David Warren

was taken only to a little interest by the authorities world-wide. Then, from his personnel experience as a teacher, he remembered that the idea ‘show and tell’ is more effective than ‘just tell’. As a result, he made a demonstration recorder, giving birth to one of the biggest innovation- ‘the first black box’, which was capable of storing speech continuously for four hours prior to an accident. After this, so many ups and downs and rejections were faced by this small box and its inventor. In 1960, crash of Fokker Friendship at Mackay, Queensland opened the eyes of authorities and it was recommended to install black box in all airlines. Thus, Australia became the first country to start cockpit-voice recording and later it was adopted internationally for both- safety measures and investigations.

What makes a black box a survivor? And why it is called a black box, when it has bright orange !!

Many questions arise when we think about a black box. One among them is the color. Yes, it is true that the name given and its actual contradicts in reality. To understand the change in color, first we should acknowledge its purpose.

A black box consists of two parts: Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR). An FDR was designed to monitor different parameters and can capture and record any data coming from the sensors, even if there is only a microscopic variation in its surrounding. A CVR on the other hand is used to monitor and record audio signals coming from earphones and microphones, especially from cockpit of pilot headset. Thus, prior to any crash or accident, data regarding changes in fuel quantity, temperature, pressure, or damage or malfunctioning of any equipment or parts of the aeroplane like engine, dangers and situations faced by the pilots and many more parameters can be captured within this small Flight Data Recorder. 

Identifying this small, black colored equipment from an accident spot was difficult initially. Many experts says that this is one of the prime reason for changing its color to orange, which is easily visible from a far distance or among the ash. Some expert says that, previously, the term ‘black boxes’ in engineering design represents the box containing electronic equipments.

A black box will always be kept at the rear end of an aeroplane, because, chances of crashing to take place at that area is comparatively less. Also, it has its own battery so that even if the whole plane shuts down, a flight data recorder can work efficiently. It has

Underwater Locator Beacon (ULB), also known as ‘pinger’ to help in identifying location on underwater accidents and works only if it is immersed in water; producing acoustical signal on 37.5 KHz to a depth of 14,000 ft. (4,200 m). To protect integrated circuits of memory unit, the whole system is packed in multi-layered configuration, where outer-most layer is the housing- made up of steel armor plate. Beneath these, a layer of insulation is kept, followed by a thick slab of paraffin. This paraffin melt by absorbing temperature keeping the internal parts completely safe and secured. The equipment can withstand upto 1100°C for 30 min at highest intensity.

In a nut shell, black box, yet again, proves that even a small object can be a massive invention and act as a ‘knight in a steel armor’ !!!