It is one of the most important part of the forensic evidence after the crash accident of an airplane: so -called “black box”.
In fact, there are two of these very sturdy devices. Cockpit voice recorder and flight data recorder. And they are usually orange, not black.
Friday Federal Investigator Recovered the black box Passenger jet, who dropped crash on the Potomac River just outside Washington on Wednesday, was looking for a similar device for a fallen military helicopter.
One of the recovered flight data recorders is in good condition, and the information is expected to be downloaded soon. Water is in the cockpit's audio recorder, making it more difficult to download data. With this collision, 67 people have died in the United States's most fatal aviation disaster since 2001.
This is an explanation about what a black box is and what they can do.
What is a black box?
Cockpit voice recorders and flight data recorders are a tool that helps investigators to rebuild events that lead to airplane crash drops.
They are sometimes the depth of the sea, and the color is orange to make it easier to find with debris. They usually have an airplane tail. This is considered to be the most surviving part of the aircraft. National Transportation Safety Board website。
It is also equipped with a beacon that is activated in water and can be transmitted from 14,000 feet (4,267 meters) depth. In 2014, NTSB investigators will run a battery to enhance the beacon in the AP communication in 2014, but there is no decisive shelf life of the data itself.
For example, the black box of Air France, which was dropped in the Atlantic Ocean in the Atlantic Ocean in 2009, was discovered from more than 10,000 feet two years later, and most engineers were able to recover most information.
If the black box is sinking in seawater, the engineer remains sinked in freshwater to wash away the corrosion salt. When water permeates, it is necessary to use a vacuum oven to dry the device for hours to prevent the memory chips from cracking.
Electronic devices and memory are checked and necessary repair is performed. Chips are scrutinized under a microscope.
What do the cockpit voice recorder do?
According to the NTSB website, the cockpit voice recorder collects radio transmissions and sounds such as pilots and engine noise.
NTSB said that the investigators could pay close attention to the engine noise, stall warnings, other clicks and pops, depending on what happened. And from those sounds, investigators can often determine the speed of the engine and some systems.
Investigators are also listening to conversations between pilots and crew members and communication with air control. Experts create a thorough transcription product of voice recording that can take up to one week.
What do flight data recorders do?
According to NTSB, the flight data recorder monitors the altitude, anti -speed, and headline of the plane. These factors are at least one of the 88 parameters that need to monitor the newly built airplane.
Some people can collect more than 1,000 other characteristics status, from wing flap position to smoke alarm. NTSB stated that it could generate a computer animation video reconstruction of a flight from the collected information.
NTBS investigators said to AP in 2014 that flight data recorders would carry 25 hours of information, including previous flights in that period. The initial evaluation of the data will be provided to the investigators within 24 hours, but the analysis lasts for a few weeks.
What is the origin of the black box?
It is believed that at least two have created a device to record what will happen on an airplane.
One is François Fusenot, a French aircraft engineer. In the 1930s, he found a way to record an airplane speed, altitude, and other parameters on a photo film. According to the website For European airplane maker Airbus.
In the 1950s, Australian scientists, David Warren, came up with the idea of a cockpit voice recorder, according to the 2010 AP Obituary.
Warren was investigating the CRASH drop of Comet, the world's first commercial jet airer in 1953, but thought that it would be useful for an airline accident investigator to record his voice in the cockpit. The Ministry is his death in a later statement.
Warren designed and built a prototype in 1956. However, it took several years to understand how value the device is and to start installing commercial airlines around the world. Warren's father died in 1934 in an airplane CRASH drop in Australia.
Why is there a name “black box”?
Using a film, it suggests that it comes from a Fusenot device because the name “Black Box” continues because it ran in a light box. According to AirbusIt turns out that the orange is the color of the box selected from the beginning.
Other theories include boxes that turn black when burned in a collision, Smithsonian Magazine wrote in 2019。
“The truth is much more common,” he wrote. “In the field of electronic circuits after World War II, the black box has become a ubiquitous term of an electronic device of self -contained electronic devices whose input and output are clearer than internal operations.”
The media continues to use this term, and the magazine wrote that “it is a mysterious sense, it is in the aftermath of the Air Force disaster.”
