IN News- Recently, Investigators found the “black boxes” of the ill-fated Boeing 737-800 aircraft. 

  • These boxes would help investigators in ascertaining the reasons behind the Air India Express crash at Kozhikode.

History of Black Box:

  • In the year 1953-54, in view of the increasing incidences of Air accidents, it was thought to develop a device which can give information about the reasons for Plane accidents and might also help in saving planes from accidents. Hence, a black box was invented.
  • Earlier it used to be red in colour and was known by the name ‘Red Egg’. In the early days, its inner walls were black in colour, so it came to be known as a ‘Black Box’.

What are the black boxes?

  • A black box is an electronic recording device placed in an aircraft to facilitate the investigation of aviation accidents and incidents and they are also known as flight recorders. 
  • There are two different flight recorder devices:
    • The Flight Data Recorder(FDR)-It records more than 80 different types of information such as altitude, airspeed, flight heading, vertical acceleration, pitch, roll, autopilot status etc.
    •  The Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR)-It preserves the recent history of the sounds in the cockpit, including the conversation of the pilots and engine noises.
  • In the initial days of the black box, the information was recorded on to a metal strip, which was then upgraded to magnetic drives succeeded by solid-state memory chips.

How do the black boxes survive the crash?

  • The recording devices are stored inside a unit that is generally made out of strong substances such as steel or titanium and they are also insulated from factors such as extreme heat, cold or wetness. 
  • To protect these black boxes, they are equipped towards the tail end of the aircraft where the impact of a crash is the least. 
  • There have been cases where planes have crashed into water bodies, therefore, they are equipped with a beacon that sends out ultrasound signals for 30 days. 
  • It usually takes at least 10-15 days to analyse the data recovered from the black boxes. Meanwhile, the investigators will be looking for other clues such as taking accounts from air traffic control personnel and recordings of the conversation between ATC and the pilots moments before the crash.