Let's Talk About the "Black Boxes" - Are they Really Black?

Many times, I have heard mum say to me that "It is how you present yourself that people will address you".

She'll always buttress it by adding that, "your appearance is what people will make of you" but, on meeting with the almighty "Black Box", I've been having a rethink of these lines that stuck over the years.

I've been asking myself questions. Could there be an exemption for these sayings? Could it be that the "Black Box" had decided to go prodigal? I keep thinking.....

Hello, everyone! I'm back with another thought-provoking but educational topic today.

Who amongst us has heard about the "Black Box"? Do you know if it is really black? As black as Vantablack?

What about the "Box" part of it? Do you know the dimension of the Box? What about the shape? Is it rectangular or Square? Or maybe a cuboid..Do you know?

I guess we would need a hand.

What about a rundown of what it really entails and what it actually does?

Well, I think I might be able to help us out. yes, I can and that's exactly what I'll be doing today.

Let's get going..Let's go diving! (on a cement floor? We better not)

So, what is a Black Box?

Black box is simply an unofficial name for the electronic flight recorders that are usually placed in airplanes.

They are specifically placed in airplanes for data retrieval purpose in case of a crash. The flight data recorders come in two parts.

The first is the Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR).

These two combined record flight data including speed, altitude and some conversations and happenings on the airplane while it transits from one place to another.

I believe we now have a view about what the "Black Boxes" are. Right?

So let's proceed to talk about what brought about the placement of these "boxes" in the airplane and how important they really are.

Well, the brain behind the invention of these invaluable devices is Dr. Davis Warren, an Australian Scientist who worked for the Aeronautical Research Laboratory (ARL) for most of his lifetime. The idea came when his father died in a plane crash in 1934.

His initial idea was to find a device that could record the events that went on in the airplane before any crash or mishap is experienced.

He believed that this can help the analyst to piece together what happened and probably know the reason behind the crash.

He submitted a memo with the heading "A Device for Assisting Investigation into Aircraft Accidents" to the Aeronautical Research Center.

He started work on this idea and was able to produce a prototype called the "ARL Flight Memory Unit" in 1956.

This, however, didn't get much attention at first but with more persistence and propagation, the UK and US adopted the idea and manufactured some improved version of it.

But it was Australia who first made it compulsory for their Airlines to mandatorily have the Black Boxes on each of their airplanes, in good condition before the flight.

Since then, it has been adopted by almost all countries and since then, a lot of success has been recorded in terms of retrieving data from the Black Boxes.

A very well detailed record is the report generated from the Black Box retrieved from the Asiana Flight 214. The National Transportation Safety Board of San Francisco reported that:

"The crew of the Asiana Airlines aircraft tried to increase its speed and abort its landing just seconds before it hit the seawall in front of the runway".[(Source)]

Many other events have been recorded for which tangible information was generated. Most time though, it may take weeks, months or even years to recover these recorders after the impact of the crash.

This leads us to the discussing what these Black Boxes are actually made from and how they actually operate.

So, Let's Talk About What the "Black Boxes" comprises and how they record the Data

If you noticed, I used Boxes instead of the Box I had been using earlier. This is because the Flight Recorders actually come in two parts as I mentioned.

The first, the Flight Data Recorders are usually placed at the tail of the aircraft where there's a higher probability of surviving from the crash.

The FDR records majorly the flight data which may include the flight speed, the altitude, the fuel flow, the airspeed, vertical acceleration, control-wheel position, rudder-pedal position, Magnetic heading and many other important flight data.

These data are compiled along with those retrieved from the CVR are analyzed by experts, pieced together and the possible cause of the crash is recreated and merged to form a meaningful output.

The Cockpit Voice Recorder as the name depicts records data at the Pilot's cockpit area through a wired connection from where it is placed at the tail of the airplane. It majorly records voice conversations ongoing there plus other acoustic data from the cockpit.

Each of these recorders has on them their independent power source along with underwater locator beacon through which they are located after a crash.

The recorders were made of Magnetic tape like the traditional tape recorders we know of but these days, they use solid-state memory boards.

These are considered more stable because they lack moving parts and are made of stacks of memory chips.

The data recorded on the FDR and CVR are stored on these stacked arrays of memory chips kept inside a Crash-survivable memory unit (CSMU).

The airplanes usually have sensors installed on them. These sensors collect flight data and send it to the flight-data acquisition unit (FDAU) which acts as the middleman between the FDR and the sensors.

It processes the flight data and sends to the FDR for storage.

The stacked Solid state memory boards of the Black Boxes can store up to 25 hrs of Flight Data (on the FDR) and about 2 hrs of acoustic data on the CVR. These are what is taken for analysis by the specialists for detecting the cash causes.

So, Can We Talk about the "Black Boxes" Color Already?

Ok, here we are already. Just like students eventually, arrive at their graduation day (for those who don't get expelled though). Let me be quick to announce that the "Black Boxes" aren't really black, in fact, they don't usually have a touch of black.

Disappointing? Well, maybe not, if you hear the reason behind it.

The Black Boxes are usually painted International orange as we might have noticed from the pictures above. The International Orange is a set of three colors usually used in engineering and the aerospace industry to set objects apart from their surrounding.

From this statement, we should know the reason why "Orange is the new Black" - movies fans can relate!

After a crash, many objects on the plane most likely get burn and get displaced over a long range of distance depending on the impact it experienced.

The Black Boxes being important objects on the plane needs be made distinctive so that they can be easily found. So, I think we can see that it's fair enough to have our favorite black color get substituted for orange.

Aren't you wondering how they survive that great impact so much that they still hold tangible information that could be pieced together to make something tangible?

Well, I was and I wouldn't mind exposing the Black Boxes' Superpowers! (just like @lemouth's superpowers)

Yes, I'll - I guess my mouth doesn't keep secrets (so bad!)

For the sake of survivability, they are usually wrapped in titanium or stainless steel cases which allows them to withstand the atrocious conditions of a crash.

The most important part of the Black Boxes which is the Crash-Survivable Memory Unit (CSMU) is usually made to undergo a number of tests before the box is coupled.

Some of these tests include the Crash Impact test, the Static crush, the Fire test, Deep-sea and Salt-water submersion, the Pin drop.

The Crash Impact test, being one of the most important tests to be carried out on the CSMU involves the CSMU is being fired to hit a target as it would probably hit a point after impact from a crash.

The magnitude of the simulated impact is usually as high as 3400 Gs which is about 3400 times the weight of the CSMU. This is usually a force assumed to be in excess of what it would actually experience from a crash.

Surviving this test increases the credibility and reliability factor of the CSMU for use in the Black Box

Another important test, the Fire test, involves cooking of the CSMU in a propane-source fireball existing at a temperature as high as 2,000⁰F for about one hour.

This is another excess condition assumed for the survival-ability check of these units. Passing thus test assures the scientist that the CSMU wouldn't fail at the operation site.

Another important test is the fluid related test where the unit is usually submerged deep into the water body at a depth assumed for the CSMU during a crash.

All other tests also involve cases where the crash condition or potential landing environment is being simulated or tried out in estimated conditions for which the Black boxes could get displaced.

It is only after the components of the black boxes have passed these thorough tests before it can be coupled and fitted on the Airplane

What about the Shapes?

Another property of the Black Boxes attached to its name is the "Box" shape.

Each black boxes aren't usually boxes but rather are of cylindrical shapes mounted on metal surfaces and in fact they look like air compressors with the solid-state memory board fitted into them.

The "Black" and the "Box" part of the name are rather what the media favors and is usually what they call them whenever a news about the is being broadcast.

The "Box" part might, however, have a root from the older versions of the Black boxes which store the data on magnetic tapes that were in form of a box and were usually black.

What are the Recent Developments in This Industry as Regards our Almighty Black Boxes

As we should expect, recent technological advancements should have affected this industry significantly as we know that airplane accidents might be rarities but whenever it happens, it could cause great havoc.

With the improvements in technology, the existing spat design of FDR and CVR can now be manufactured in a single crash-proof unit known as the Cockpit Video and Data Recorders (CVDRs). Additionally, on airplanes, Quick Access Recorders (QAR) are now being installed on airplanes.

This stores data on a removable storage medium and can be easily detached from the casing to scan for "events" - which are any kind of deviation from the normal operational parameters of the aircraft. This is designed to be read by standard desktop computers.

The main purpose of this QAR technology is to detect any deviation in time before any error leads to a crash.

So, these conditions are being monitored by ejecting the QAR and then, inserting it into the computer to read any deviation so that it can be corrected or acted upon immediately.

Along with the QAR, modern aircraft are now being installed with a digital built-in test system that feeds the control unit with real-time information as the flight is being conducted.

What About Future Plans to better this System? Are there any?

Currently, scientists and engineers are working towards building a Deployable recorder that works as the black boxes do but depart the airplane immediately any sign of crash is noticed.

This unit would be made smart enough to detect these conditions in case the pilot could not trigger the button that releases it from the airplane.

These units have, however, being tried in the US, first in 1993 where the unit was made to fly away from the impact area and some data were retrieved.

But due to the cost of making this and some law restrictions, there are still many things to improve on so as to have a fully implementable one.

Part of the improvement sought was an additional image recorder to be added to this Deployable units.

This will give us graphics that can be easily interpreted over the voice or data recordings of the existing CVDRs.

Addition of Sonar underwater locators and radio emergency locator transmitters are other proposed requirements for improvement of this system.

Hopefully, soon, we would be able to develop instruments that will help detect crash before and we would be able to either avert it or reach the airplane before it crashes to offload the passengers.

I hope so....Don't you?

Thanks for your time.

References

• Aviation CV | The Black Box
• Things you don't know about the Black Boxes
• What is the Color of the Black Box
• Asiana Airlines Flight 214 'black boxes'
• How Stuff Works | How the Black Box works
• Wikipedia | Flight Recorders

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