Why are there no flotation device on Black Boxes for planes or make it floatable?

[DrPizza]

There'd be a pretty decent chance (I think) that it would float to the surface. I don't think that uncontrolled crashes into bodies of water generally result in significantly large pieces of jet.


Speaking of jets, wtf?! I thought I was about to die 10 minutes ago. A jet went over my house, VERY low to the ground. Never had one close to the ground before. I ran out the front door to see what was going on and just got a glimpse of it between a couple trees. It was so low that I couldn't see where it was heading, or if it was about to attempt a landing in some field or something.

 

[MikeyIs4Dcats]

A black box has significant weight. You would need a VERY LARGE bouyant vessel to make it float. morons.

 

[Bignate603]

Originally posted by: spidey07
You HAVE to believe they've thought and tested this.

This... There's a reason why they are built of the things they are and put where they are. If there was a way to make them more retrievable without making them ridiculously large/expensive they would have done it. I work as an aerospace engineer (engines though, not electronics but my company does make black boxes) and the people I work with are not stupid.

 

[Red Squirrel]

They should make planes that don't crash, then they would not need black boxes altogether.

Actually in today's day and age it's surprising how many crashes there are. Though with better safety technologies the survival rate is much higher and in the end that's what really matters.

And yeah never considered the weight, I'm guessing they're made out of cast iron or something super heavy and durable so it can survive crashes. They probably weigh quite a lot vs the size.

 

[Crono]

Originally posted by: clamum
Fuck that. What I want to know is why we don't make PLANES out of the black box material.

Same reason they don't make cars out of it. It's too heavy, and something (preferably not people) has to absorb the force of impact in the event of a crash.

 

[thescreensavers]

Why don't that make smarter pilots?

I was told buy a few old timer pilots, that new pilots have almost no experience flying airplanes compared to what they have back in the day did. Everything now is computer controlled. yes, some of it was computer controlled back in the day as well but not as much now.

 

[SoulAssassin]

Originally posted by: Crono

Originally posted by: clamum
Fuck that. What I want to know is why we don't make PLANES out of the black box material.

Same reason they don't make cars out of it. It's too heavy, and something (preferably not people) has to absorb the force of impact in the event of a crash.

That sound flying over your head isn't a plane.

 

[Regs]

Originally posted by: HardcoreRobot
what good is a floating box trapped in a plane 7000M down in the ocean trenches?

:laugh:

 

[DayLaPaul]

Originally posted by: Fayd

Originally posted by: So

Originally posted by: RedSquirrel
This could work. 90% of the time it would probably be trapped in the plane but there's still a chance it floats. Or move it. Put it right on top of the plane instead of inside. (would need to be aerodynamic obviously)

What happens when the plane collides with another plane in midair or (gasp!) the ground (!) and the black box is destroyed because it's not placed safely in the middle of the plane? That's a much more common scenario than "fell into the ocean and sank"

yes, but if the plane hits another plane, the cause of the crash is pretty simple. the pilot was stupid.

You obviously don't watch 24 or Breaking Bad. It's the air traffic controller's fault.

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: rasczak
better yet, why not make the plane floatable?!

they do... but they call those things boats.

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: Qianglong
will this incident prompt changes to make the black box floatable? I mean since the box isn't that big in size, enclosing it in fire-resistant but buoyant covering would make its recovery much much easier in the event of sea crashes?

Why not build the black box with a self contained site to site beaming apparatus, this way, when it sense the plane is gonna get fucked up, it emergency transports itself home.

or... why not just put the black box on the outside of the plane...

or.. why not have the black box flying behind the plane, you know.. like a little trailer attached to the plane?

 

[RagingBITCH]

Yet another clueless airplane question :roll:

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: RagingBITCH
Yet another clueless airplane question :roll:

I'm waiting for:
"Why aren't planes able to transform if they're in trouble"
"Why can't planes become gliders if they lose their engines"
"Why aren't there escape pods on planes"
"Why can't a plane become a boat if it's gonna crash in the water"


People want planes to do some pretty amazing things, but don't think of the cost or engineering difficulty associated with it.


Could they make a completely fireproof and explosion proof plane? possibly...
but do you want to pay the $9000 ticket per trip? no... so why bother?

 

[Baked]

When are they gonna make an airbag for airplanes?

 

[Brigandier]

Why do the seats on an airplane double as a flotation device? Isn't that kind of like seats on a boat doubling as parachutes?

 

[Saint Nick]

My buddy said this the other night...

why not make it float and also put a GPS on it.

if I had a big sign that said "DUH!" on it, i would video tape myself holding it up and then send the video to Boeing themselves.

 

[Udgnim]

probably because it's stuck inside a plane

 

[coloumb]

Originally posted by: Qianglong
Now the news is talking about how the doomed Air France jet's blackbox might be 7000M down in the ocean trenches, will this incident prompt changes to make the black box floatable? I mean since the box isn't that big in size, enclosing it in fire-resistant but buoyant covering would make its recovery much much easier in the event of sea crashes?

If a system was in place consisting of multiple black boxes which would automatically eject one or more upon loss of power - this would [might] be possible?

 

[LTC8K6]

They will probably have the FDR and CVR transmit their data in real time, which would remove the need to find the boxes. The boxes would then just be a backup data source in case the real time link failed for whatever reason.

Possibly have the boxes burst transmit their data if certain conditions are sensed. Cabin depressurization, high G impact, in flight engine shutdown, etc.

 

[beat mania]

What's the hurdle that is preventing them from revising the bb and make it transmit the data before it hits the ground/water? We've got satellites every where.

 

[guyver01]

Originally posted by: beat mania
What's the hurdle that is preventing them from revising the bb and make it transmit the data before it hits the ground/water? We've got satellites every where.

Well.. its a Flight Data RECORDER...

Not Flight Data Transmitter

It records everything that occurrs on the plane.

It's not equipped to transmit that much data

 

[KMFJD]

Originally posted by: Imp
Cause it might not float out of the steel coffin it's encased.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

 

[CallMeJoe]

Originally posted by: KMFJD

Originally posted by: Imp
Cause it might not float out of the steel coffin it's encased.

Winner Winner Chicken Dinner

Except that it's aluminium, not steel.

The CVR (and FDR) are placed in the tail of the aircraft in an area where they are most likely to survive impact with another aircraft or terrain. There would be no practical way to ensure that the unit would come clear of the fuselage in a crash, and if you designed some sort of "ejector", you'd have the problem of recorders ejecting onto runways every time a pilot had a hard landing (I get to reset G-switches when CVRs shut down or ELTs are triggered by a hard landing more often than you would think). Currently they are painted Blaze Orange (usually with black stripes) to make them easy to locate in a land accident, and they are equipped with an ultrasonic locator beacon in case of a water landing. Until they establish real-time remote cockpit and data monitoring (which pilots would fight tooth and nail), this is about the practical limit.

 

[geno]

Ok, but riddle me this :

The blackbox needs to be attached somehow, to keep it from flying around during turbulance and such. How is it supposed to float away when it needs to be secured somehow?

 

[TheKub]

Originally posted by: thescreensavers
Why don't that make smarter pilots?

I was told buy a few old timer pilots, that new pilots have almost no experience flying airplanes compared to what they have back in the day did. Everything now is computer controlled. yes, some of it was computer controlled back in the day as well but not as much now.

In some cases Id rather be in a plane being piloted by a computer than by someone who is having a "bad day at the office".