Who invented the black box flight recorder?
The black box flight recorder was invented by Australian scientist David Warren at the Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne in the 1950s. It records cockpit voices and flight data to help investigate air crashes.
Warren, a fuel specialist, was part of a team investigating crashes of the world's first jet airliner, the de Havilland Comet, in 1953 and 1954. He realised that a recording of the pilots' conversations and instrument readings would help explain what went wrong.
In 1956 he proposed a device to record cockpit sounds, and by 1958 he had built a prototype called the ARL Flight Memory Unit, which could store four hours of voice and instrument data on steel wire.
Slow acceptance
At first, Australian aviation authorities and pilots were not interested, and some pilots feared being spied on. The idea gained support in Britain, and recorders were developed further there.
In 1960, after a plane crash in Queensland, an inquiry recommended flight recorders, and Australia became one of the first countries to make cockpit voice recorders compulsory in airliners.
Despite the name black box, flight recorders are painted bright orange so they are easier to find in wreckage. Warren's invention is now required on commercial aircraft around the world.
Did You Know?
David Warren's father died in one of Australia's first air disasters, in 1934, when David was nine.