The Story Behind Plane Black Boxes

It has been a little over a century since the first aircraft took to the skies, and from that time onward they have undergone major changes, especially with regards to safety. The most mysterious of these innovations is the aircraft black box.

A few fun facts about black boxes is that they are orange, to assist with recovery after an accident; and are correctly known as a flight data recorder (FDR).

The boxes are composed of two devices that record the last 24 hours of an aircraft’s recent flight operation history (along with several other factors such as fuel flow, pressure altitude and control-wheel position), and the voices in the cockpit (Cockpit Voice Recorder).

Every air vehicle manufactured since the late 50s comes mandatorily equipped with an FDR – which previously used magnetic tape but now uses solid-state memory to record data – and has remained a critical piece of equipment when monitoring flights and improving passenger safety.

Each FDR is covered in stainless steel or titanium with high-grade insulation on the inside, to ensure heat-, shock-, pressure-, corrosion- and impact-resistance.

These robust devices are paired with underwater locator beacons that can withstand being immersed in depths up to 6 000 metres, and emit an ultrasonic “ping” for roughly 30 days.

Since aircraft crashes are often rough and destructive events, it makes sense that FDRs are nigh-indestructible, because the data they carry can help piece together the sequence of events that led to the unfortunate accident.

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