Explainer: How black boxes of crashed Indonesian jet will be handled | Reuters
By: Bernadette Baum (U. S.)
Indonesian authorities have retrieved one of two black boxes, the Flight Data Recorder, from a Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 that crashed into the Java Sea on Saturday.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
By Reuters Staff
(Reuters) - Indonesian authorities have retrieved one of two black boxes, the Flight Data Recorder, from a Sriwijaya Air Boeing 737-500 that crashed into the Java Sea on Saturday.
This is how the black box readout process works.
WHAT ARE BLACK BOXES?
They are not actually black but high-visibility orange. Experts disagree how the nickname originated but it has become synonymous with the quest for answers when planes crash.
Many historians attribute their invention to Australian scientist David Warren in the 1950s. They are mandatory.
The aim is not to establish legal liability, but to identify causes and help prevent future accidents.
HOW HAVE THEY EVOLVED?
The earliest devices recorded limited data on wire or foil. Models like those typically found on the 1980s-designed Boeing 737-50 use magnetic tape. Modern ones use computer chips.
The recordings are housed inside crash-survivable containers able to withstand 3,400 times the force of gravity on impact.
The disappearance in 2014 of Malaysian Airlines MH370 triggered debate about whether data should be streamed instead.
Airbus and France's BEA are testing an alternative design in a floatable panel embedded in the aircraft's fuselage. Bolts would retract and the device would fall away when the plane is about to crash on water, avoiding a deep-sea search.
HOW BIG ARE THEY?
They weigh about …
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No telling if there will be anything useful.
Fisherman at sea described two huge fireballs seconds apart.
Terrorism likely.
Boeing should hope so, but they also noted it was the first flight for this particular plane in 9 months.
Then again, no telling what happened during those 8 months in storage.
No politics please
Hard to say at this point, I guess. It says they think the plane was intact when it went down.
could be an act of terrorism, but probably a maintenance issue. buying off the survivors is cheaper in the long run. just business.