What the Aircaft Black Box: Black Box Plane

The airplane black box is one of the most important items the rescue team needs to find after each plane crash occurs because it allows the cause of the accident to be detected. This article explains the key facts and context behind black box plane.

Structure of aircraft black box

Aircraft black box is a device that stores important information about flight data since the aircraft starts to take off like speed, altitude, etc. In essence, it consists of two small devices, Recorder Cockpit (CVR) and Flight Data Recorder (FDR). They work continuously by using electricity from the host's motor. Even to ensure that the signaling activity is maintained when separated from the aircraft, the black box of the aircraft is also equipped with an auxiliary power source.

With such importance, the black box is designed to be extremely safe, able to withstand up to 3,400 times the mass, so it can withstand the terrible destruction of any aircraft explosion. Black boxes are usually placed at the rear of the machine to minimize the impact if the incident occurs.

Black box placement.(Photo: BBC).

The black box of the aircraft has a box shape, about 20 cm x 30 cm in size. It is painted orange, the most easily identifiable color and can emit location alerts even in the water so that rescue teams can find it more easily.

The black box can withstand high temperatures up to 1,100 degrees Celsius for 30 minutes continuously and soak for 30 days under a depth of up to 6.100m. During that time, each signaling device is capable of transmitting ultrasonic waves once a second and continuously until the power is exhausted. When the plane falls into the sea, people will use the navigation system installed on the submarine, rescue ship,. to detect, detect the black box before it completely lost the signal.

Why do people have to look for black boxes after accidents?

After finding the black box, investigators will need about 2 or 3 days to analyze the recordings. At that time, they will know the cause and make corrections to the pitfalls to prevent future aircraft accidents.

Black "box" found after the plane crash.

Currently, only the United States, Canada, Australia, England and France are technologically qualified to perform black box analysis of aircraft.

With the current technology, satellite communication networks can receive and store data of most flights around the world. But not many airlines use this service because the cost is so expensive that aircraft accidents rarely occur. Therefore, aircraft black boxes are still the choice of many airlines.