The Black Box That's Round and Red [Past Forward

Abstract

Summary form only given, as follows. Problem: In the 1950s, major air disasters were on the rise, but determining the cause was often nearly impossible. Solution: Fit aircraft with a sturdy device that records cockpit conversation for recovery after a crash. Today the flight data and voice recorder seems like an obvious invention, but when David Warren first proposed it at Australia’s Aeronautical Research Laboratories in 1954, his boss flat out rejected it. It took four years for his idea to gain traction, and another five years before Australia became the first country to require the recorders on all aircraft. The modern-day equivalent remains a key tool for crash investigators. Though it’s often called the black box, it has always been a brightly colored orange or red to make it easier to find.