TechCapon

Popularly known as a flight recorder, today TechCapon will take out time to explain to you everything you should know about an aeroplane black box.



Whenever there’s a major plane crash anywhere in the world, a team of investigators go to the crash site and survey the area. The first thing they do is to look for the plane’s black box and then retrieve it. Then they contact the air traffic controller as well as gather information about the plane from the airline involved.

The aeroplane black box is the last hope for the friends and families of the victims to know exactly what caused the crash. It also helps authorities to determine the cause of the crash so as to use that information to prevent a future plane crash due to the same issue. The black box is so important that even in cases where there are no survivors, it can still give full details of what happened during the final minutes leading to the crash.

THE BLACK BOX IS ACTUALLY ORANGE IN COLOUR AND NOT BLACK



Most people I have encountered think that because it is called the “black box”, the colour must be black. That conclusion is absolutely wrong! I don’t blame them, most people have not had the opportunity to see what a black box look like. Perhaps, they are not even interested to know. However, it is surprising to know that the colour is actually orange and not black as widely speculated.

2. THE BLACK BOX IS ACTUALLY “2 BOXES” AND NOT 1 BOX.



Yeah, you heard me right. They are actually 2 orange boxes and not 1 box as most people think. These orange boxes are the flight recorders. The idea to invent the black box came up in the 1950s when the first commercial jetliner had 5 accidents in its first 2 years of service. Then the authorities didn’t know what is causing the planes to crash. They came up with the idea that it would be nice to create some sort of recorders that would record things happening in the planes before they crash. Now the technology for recording flight data have improved tremendously, they now record the data on memory chips.

3. THE BLACK BOX IS MADE OF 2 MAJOR COMPONENTS



Now that you know that the black box is actually 2 and not 1, the question will be “what are the 2 components?” Well, the first component is actually the “cockpit voice recorder”. This records every sound in the cockpit as well as the voice from the pilot’s microphones in the last two hours. In most cases, this cockpit voice recorder is enough to tell investigators what led to the crash.

For example, the case of “German Wings” airline which crashed in 2015 killing everyone on board. The cockpit voice recorder showed that it was actually the pilot who locked out his co-pilot and crashed the plane. It showed the co-pilot banging on the door and yelling “for God’s sake open the door” while passengers were screaming at the background. The second component is the “flight data recorder”. This captures more data than the cockpit voice recorder. This tells investigators everything that happened before the plane lost power.

TechCapon

4. THEY ARE INSTALLED NEAR THE TAIL OF THE PLANE



The plane manufacturers are so smart that they figured out most plane crashes usually occur from the front and not the back. They know that in order to protect the black box, they need to install it in a spot with the least impact during a crash. That spot is the tail region. The memory chips are covered in strong steel and titanium cases that are designed to withstand the worst crash and heat. They are also surrounded by insulators that protect it against high temperatures including fire burning at over 10,000 degrees Celsius. That means no matter how badly damaged the box is or the aircraft is, the memory chips will remain intact!

5. THEY CAN TRANSMIT THEIR OWN SIGNALS



Yes, you heard me. The black box is fitted with its own beacons to enable them to transmit signals. This is very useful especially if the aircraft crashed inside a sea or ocean. It will transmit ultra-sound signals every second for 30 days. The signal is so powerful that it can travel through 14,000ft of water.

However, the case of Malaysian airline MH370 is still a mystery that continued to shock the world. For over 2 years, there’s still no clue to where the plane is or what happened to the aeroplane. This is why engineers are working on new technology that will not leave that data only in the black box but rather transmit those data real time to the ground through satellite. The issues this technology will face is the issue of privacy and cost. This is because there’s no need to get the flight data unless there’s a plane disaster. The pilot’s privacy will be violated.

6. #FUNFACT: THE NAME “BLACK BOX” IS NOT EVEN A RECOGNISED NAME IN THE AVIATION INDUSTRY

A lot of you may be wondering, “why is it called a black box when the colour is actually orange?”

Very funny but interesting question. The word “Black Box” is not really used in the aviation industry. Rumour has it that the reason why it is called “Black Box” is that when there’s a plane crash, the fire and heat from the crash will burn off the orange surface thereby turning the colour to black! Nobody really knows where the name black box came from. The proper name for it is “flight recorders” or “Onboard recording devices.”

SOURCE:https://techcapon.com/everything-you-should-about-an-airplane-black-box/

Now I know.

Thanks.


But they should rather invent something useful that will prevent the plane from crashing. To me it is useless when lives are already lost.

Nice one

izzou:


Very informative

Question: How large is the memory of the "black box"? Is there an option of erasing past data on it? Or it keeps recording until the plane goes to rest?

it records voice and sound in the cockpit in the last 2 hours. After which it will keep erasing and recording. This means anytime you open it, you'll find sound recorded in the last 2 hours before the plane crashed

Thanks

fk001:
Now I know.

Thanks.


But they should rather invent something useful that will prevent the plane from crashing. To me it is useless when lives are already lost.

it's not useless. It helps to determine the cause of the plane crash and to prevent that same issue from causing plane crash in the future. For example when the German wing pilot deliberately locked the copilot out and crashed the plane, authorities established a new law that 2 people must be in the cockpit at any given time. If a pilot is going to ease himself, another person (flight attendant) must step into the cockpit to keep an eye on the next pilot. This is to prevent one angry pilot from taking full control of the plane

Oluwasaeon:
Thanks

ur welcome

Thank you

Come get a peck please

Thanks TechCapon

Your gist have really help,since you said that Black Box is placed toward tail end of the plane,It would be more adversable for We BoneBeing to only Book for last seat which is more closer to the BLACK BOX so that if any Catastrophy should incase occur we would be at save hand than the rest passengers ..Emmm what amma thinking

Nice info. the black box is only useful when there is a plane crash right? and if the black box can be so protected like that, then the aircraft too need more measure to protect the passenger, the can improve on safety like the fighter jet

MrBONE2:
Thanks TechCapon

Your gist have really help,since you said that Black Box is placed toward tail end of the plane,It would be more adversable for We BoneBeing to only Book for last seat which is more closer to the BLACK BOX so that if any Catastrophy should incase occur we would be at save hand than the rest passengers ..Emmm what amma thinking

booking back seat still won't guarantee your survival

learnt something today

JoanHicks:
Thank you

Come get a peg please

truly black box for black mishaps

If it is not techapon then it's not worth reading.


modified;


Now I learnt something New today....thanks techapon

fk001:
Now I know.

Thanks.


But they should rather invent something useful that will prevent the plane from crashing. To me it is useless when lives are already lost.

that's where parashoot came in

MrBONE2:
Thanks TechCapon

Your gist have really help,since you said that Black Box is placed toward tail end of the plane,It would be more adversable for We BoneBeing to only Book for last seat which is more closer to the BLACK BOX so that if any Catastrophy should incase occur we would be at save hand than the rest passengers ..Emmm what amma thinking

you're right bro at least sit down close to the window at the fore back

Now i know!

Ever since Nigeria crashed, it's black box hasn't been retrieved just like MH370.

JoanHicks:
Thank you

Come get a peg please

What's a "peg"?

Topmaike007:
that's where parashoot came in

It takes practice to use parachute, that might still end up being disastrous.

Maybe I will decide to sit with the copilot. Learning things

preciousosas1:

What's a "peg"?

Peck

Why cant plane manufacturers make d body of planes as strong as dat of d black box covers

Realtord43:
Nice info. the black box is only useful when there is a plane crash right? and if the black box can be so protected like that, then the aircraft too need more measure to protect the passenger, the can improve on safety like the fighter jet

Now I step in.

Fighter jets are flew by fighters. The fighter pilots pass thru rugged simulations and they are combat certified. They are good marksmen. Shoot a fighter pilot down, he changes to guerrilla, war continues. The prominent safety gadjet in jets is the ejector seats, others are that dy wear parachutes while flying, technology behind the helmet of F-35 is still classified. These jets passengers are the missiles, enough electronics to enable "ghost mode" as I call it or evade radar detection and encourage precision. For 4k sake, a fighter pilot is expected to eject out of his seat once in his life time. Second attempt can render his vertebra/spinal cord useless.

Integrating the safety measures on d blackbox in the liner itself, will màke d jet very heavy for commercial use. These companies are out to make money. More passengers, more money. Concorde was designed as a military jet, read up why it was retired.

God, I love jets.

wiseone28:
why can't the plane be made to withstand crash like the black box

Because "withstand" is different from "cause".

No knowledge is a waste...
I need work o

wiseone28:
why can't the plane be made to withstand crash like the black box

Well, there goes your opportunity to become the richest man ever! Go ahead and manufacture one... save our world!

Anyway, thanks to the OP!