Title: The Evolution of Black Boxes in Aviation and Their Role in Accident Investigations

Article:

The South Korean transport ministry unveiled on Saturday that the flight data and cockpit voice recorders of the ill-fated Jeju Air jet, which took the lives of 179 people on December 29 in a tragic crash, ceased operations approximately four minutes before the incident.

The critical devices, commonly known as black boxes, are paramount in providing answers following airplane accidents. However, their name is deceiving as they are not black in color but are made in a high-visibility orange hue to aid in their recovery after an incident.

The conception of these black boxes is credited to Australian scientist David Warren in the 1950s. Over the years, these devices have evolved from primitive wire, foil, or magnetic tape systems to sophisticated digital chips encased in metallic shells.

These boxes are obligatory in all aircraft, with the primary objective being to store vital cockpit sounds and flight data. This information aids in the prevention of future accidents by providing essential insights.

Two separate recorders make up a black box – a Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and a Flight Data Recorder (FDR). Generally, the FDR assists in understanding what transpired during an accident, while the CVR provides context to why it happened.

Despite their critical role, black boxes are small, weighing about 4.5 kilograms, and are comprised of four main components. These include a chassis or interface, an underwater locator beacon, a crash survivable memory unit, and a recording media which are now minute chips on circuit boards.

When analyzing the data from these recorders, technicians meticulously clean connections to avoid unintentional data loss. The raw files are then decoded and presented in a graphical format.

The amount of information which these boxes can store has been a topic of lengthy discussions. They must record a minimum of 88 essential parameters, but modern systems can record an additional 1,000 or more signals.

The recording duration of CVRs has also been extended from a mere two hours to 25 hours. However, implementing such changes often takes years.

One such change was proposed by the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board after several incidents where recorders stopped working due to loss of onboard electrical power. The recommendation was for enough backup power to ensure an extra 10 minutes of recording.

This change was proposed in 2005 by the Federal Aviation Administration and was implemented for new planes from 2010 onwards. However, the Jeju Air jet involved in the recent crash was manufactured just eight months prior to this change, according to data from FlightRadar24.

The push to extend the recording time for voice data to 25 hours, especially for trans-oceanic flights, accelerated following the crash of Air France 447 in 2009 and the disappearance of Malaysia’s MH370 in 2014. Last year, the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act included the 25-hour requirement for cockpit voice recorders, mirroring earlier decisions in Europe.