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The Origins of the Black Box. The Modern-Day Black Box. Why Digital Signaling is Important to the Black Box. Questions
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The Origins of the Black Box
Making a recording of some aspect of a flight began with the beginning of flight itself. The Wright brothers, who created the first airplane, actually used a device to record their propeller rotations. (Think of it as the very first FDR, except that it only recorded a single kind of data! ) Some basic recording devices were invented and used during the 1930s and during World War II, but they weren’t commonplace. It was two decades later that aviation recorders began to become more widespread. The modern day black box is credited as an invention by an Australian scientist, Dr. David Warren.
Warren came up with the idea that multiple aspects of all flights should be recorded while he was working at the Aeronautical Research Laboratory in Melbourne. He was helping investigate an accident by the world’s first jet-powered commercial aircraft, the Comet. Without any kind of recording, the crash was a total mystery to him and his co-investigators. He demonstrated the first basic flight data recorder in 1957. It was called a “red egg” for its shape and color. The red egg was fireproof and shockproof. It could reliably record both a plane’s instrument readers and the pilots’ voices, using only one wire. It also included a device to then decode all this information back on the ground. The red egg wasn’t put into widespread use immediately. In 1960, however, there was another unexplained plane crash in Australia; this time in Queensland. After that, Australia became the first country in the world to mandate that the device be used on all commercial aircraft.
The Modern-Day Black Box
The black box is now used on all commercial aircraft and corporate jets. It’s unclear exactly where the term came from, but it’s possible it came from something a journalist told Dr. Warren about his red egg. Supposedly, he said, “this is a wonderful black box. ” At any rate, the phrase doesn’t refer to the black box’s color — the equipment is actually painted bright orange, in order to make it easier to find. The modern device is used around the world and is highly regulated. International standards mandate that it be able to withstand high acceleration and deceleration, high and low temperature fires, deep sea pressure, submersion in seawater or other liquids, and high impact and being crushed.
Why Digital Signaling is Important to the Black Box
Beginning in the 1990s, the technology employed by the black box was greatly improved. Newer black boxes were being built with solid state memory boards, which use memory chips to record and store information. This digital system is an improvement over the original system, magnetic tape technology, for several reasons. First off, magnetic tape needs to be pulled across an electromagnetic head. Solid state technology, however, has no moving parts making it both more reliable as an encoder of information and less likely to break. Second, the original cockpit voice recorder could only hold about a half-hour of information. It would record in a loop, recording over every half-hour, so the last half-hour of a flight was all investigators could hear. With solid state technology, the CVR can record up to two hours, which provides much more information. Furthermore, the flight data recorder can hold up to 25 hours using solid state technology.
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Solid state memory boards are also better than magnetic tape technology concerning what the flight data recorder can record. While the old technology was able to record up to 100 different aspects or parameters of a flight, solid state technology records up to 700. What has remained the same, from one technology to the next, is the way the black box is powered. Both types draw energy from two generators which are powered by the plane’s engines. The black box records and provides a huge amount of information. However, its technology helps determine how quickly investigators can analyze and use that information. In the case of an investigation, it can take weeks, even months, for investigators to download all the information from black boxes still using magnetic tape technology. And that’s before they can even start studying and processing what happened! Using digitally equipped black boxes, however, they’re able to download all the information from a flight in a matter of minutes. What a vast improvement! Black box manufacturers have made a complete switch to digital signaling from the old analog ways, and no longer make the magnetic tape recorders.
Questions
1. How does the black box on an airplane record information about the flight?
a. It videotapes the passengers.
b. It uses microphones in the cockpit and sensors all over the plane.
c. It uses close circuit television transmissions.
d. Flight attendants enter information manually into a computer in the box.
2. The passage explains that the solid-state technology is an improvement over the magnetic tape technology. What was one problem with black boxes using magnetic tape technology?
a. The color of the boxes made them difficult to find after an accident.
b. The tapes could get damaged if passengers had magnets on the plane.
c. The tapes could break as they were stretched across a machine to be read.
d. The tapes did not provide clear video images.
3. Solid state memory boards are more reliable than magnetic tapes for recording and transmitting flight information. Which evidence from the text supports this conclusion?
a. Solid state technology records more data than magnetic tape technology.
b. Solid state memory boards use memory chips to record and store information.
c. The black box draws energy from two generators that are powered by the plane’s engines.
d. Information recorded on solid state technology can be downloaded in minutes.
4. Which of the following conclusions about flight recordings is supported by the text?
a. The most reliable methods for recording flight data are the oldest ones.
b. Experts began to record flight information only recently.
c. It is critical to get the most reliable data from flight recordings when investigating airplane accidents.
d. Digitized black boxes record flight information more effectively because they use more generators than the older ones.
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5. What is the main idea of this passage?
a. Airplanes should record information when they are in flight.
b. The Wright Brothers created flight recorders when they invented the airplane.
c. Digitized signals are a vast improvement over magnetic tapes in black box recorders.
d. Colorful flight recording devices are easier to find than black ones.
6. Choose the answer that best completes the sentence “Solid state technology has no moving parts; ________, it is more reliable as an encoder of information and less likely to break. ”
a. however
b. therefore
c. but
d. otherwise
7. Why are digital signals more reliable than magnetic tapes in recording and transmitting information during a flight? (an open answer)
8. It is important to get information about a flight from many parts of the airplane. What evidence from the text supports this conclusion? (an open answer)
9. How have improvements in black box technology impacted the investigation process of aircraft? Use information from the passage to support your answer. (an open answer)
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