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Diamond
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Do small planes have black boxes? Or do just the big commercial airliners have them?
 
Posts: 6525 | Location: Grayson, Georgia, USA | Registered: 06-03-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Diamond
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Sorry, for butting in here Jusork, but why isn't the ENTIRE plane made from the same material as the "black box" ??
 
Posts: 5146 | Location: Not of this planet | Registered: 06-16-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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Haha. What's that from? I think I remember hearing a comedian say that once, right?
 
Posts: 6525 | Location: Grayson, Georgia, USA | Registered: 06-03-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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'The plane crash in Queensland's Whitsundays has prompted fresh calls for light planes to be equipped with black boxes.

Air safety investigators are now on Hamilton Island trying to discover what caused a Piper Cherokee plane to crash on the island on Thursday.

Six people died in the crash, including a New Zealand family of four, an American honeymooner and the Australian pilot.

Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) deputy director Alan Stray says investigators may find it difficult gathering evidence because the plane caught fire after it crashed.

He says a black box would help provide more information.

"When you have... a relatively intact wreckage you can sort of piece together the jigsaw puzzle a lot easier, but when you have an intense fire which would be more than likely fuel-fed, which destroys a lot of the evidence, that makes the job very difficult," Mr Stray said.

He says the process would be easier if light planes were fitted with black boxes.

"With technology changing the way it is, there are more and more advances so that it is now possible to get let's say, the poor man's recorder for around $8,000 or $9,000, and so as technology improves that type of equipment may become available," Mr Stray said.'
airsafety.com.au

'It was supposed to be an after-work flight class for a 25-year-old novice, piloting a plane in which he just bought part-ownership. Like the pilot, the instructor also was a young Boeing engineer.

But at 5:45 p.m. yesterday, for reasons that remain unclear, their Cessna 152 suddenly smashed into a floatplane getting ready to land at Renton's municipal airport...

...Both planes were in contact with the airport tower, but the investigation will determine the extent of that contact, Little said. Neither plane had, nor were required to have, black-box data recorders.'
seattletimes.nwsource.com
 
Posts: 8113 | Location: Canada | Registered: 06-03-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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Just as a matter of interest, did they ever find the black boxes from the planes that flew into the World Trade towers and the Pentagon on 9-11?
 
Posts: 288 | Location: Southport, U.K. | Registered: 07-05-04Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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From the US National Transportation Safety Board: "Large commercial aircraft and some smaller commercial, corporate, and private aircraft are required by the FAA to be equipped with two "black boxes" that record information about a flight." One is the cockpit voice recorder, the other is the flight data recorder. Since they use the word some, obviously not all are.

Fourbrick. I may be wrong, but I think the only (intact, at least) black box they found was the voice recorder of flight 93, which crashed in Pennsylvania.
 
Posts: 5891 | Location: Indiana | Registered: 06-13-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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Tree, black boxes are made of stainless steel and/or titainium, while an airplane's skin and (I think) some of its structural components are made of aluminum (aluminium) alloys. Making the plane out of stainless steel, or even titanium would make it much heavier, and possibly (I am out of my depth here) too heavy to fly. Even if planes could fly with that increased weight, the cost of fuel would dramatically increase. Airports would also need to lengthen and strengthen runways to accomodate the heavier aircraft's need.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: DorianGreyed,
 
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Diamond
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In addition to the added cost of cockpit voice/flight data recorders (black boxes), there is also the weight increase to consider. The recorder itself doesn't weigh very much, but there has to be wiring and sensors added. With all of these components there is just too much weight.

DG is correct about the construction material for the aircraft and the black box.

Adding too much weight to an aircraft just increases the hazards of flight. But as technology increases and new light planes begin to be built with *"fly-by-wire" flight controls, the addition of flight data/voice recorders will be much more feasible.

By the way, the boxes themselves are orange in color, making them easier to find at a crash site. They are installed in the tail section of an aircraft so that they have the greatest chance of avoiding damage in a crash.

Dwight

*"fly-by-wire" means the flight controls would be manipulated by electronic means, rather than the current cable/pulley system. Older large aircraft use hydraulic controls, while newer aircraft like the Boeing 777 and Airbus use "fly-by-wire" technology.
 
Posts: 4343 | Location: Anchorage, AK | Registered: 06-05-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Diamond
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All right, thanks a bunch.

Another question, can the black box help locate the plane wreckage, or does it just record?

And so I guess the small planes with black boxes would be the ones that are bigger than the average small plane. I need to set a story I'm writing at some kind of place that involves planes that use black boxes, and that isn't a commericial airliner.
 
Posts: 6525 | Location: Grayson, Georgia, USA | Registered: 06-03-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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I think it's true that it would be impossible for planes to fly if they were made of the same material as the black boxes. I've read and heard as such.
 
Posts: 3477 | Location: Colfax, WA--the home of the world's largest chain-saw sculpture!! | Registered: 06-03-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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quote:
why isn't the ENTIRE plane made from the same material as the "black box" ??
It's just a joke. Wink There are scaling factors to consider. The recorders are fairly small so they can be enclosed inside heavy-gauge, fire-resistant metal boxes. If they were 100 times bigger they'd be just as vulnerable as the airframe in a crash.
 
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quote:
Originally posted by jusork:

Another question, can the black box help locate the plane wreckage, or does it just record?

And so I guess the small planes with black boxes would be the ones that are bigger than the average small plane.


The box that helps locate downed aircraft is called an Emergency Locator Transmitter or ELT. These types of locator beacons are used on both ships and aircraft and can be detected by satellites in earth orbit. Read more about ELTs

Google search on ELTs

If I remember the FAA regulation correctly, any aircraft with 10 or more passenger seats is required to have cockpit/flight data voice recorders.

FAA recorder regulation See section B. 5 c

Google search on voice/flight data recorders

I hope this is of some help!

Dwight
 
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Even if they could create an unbreakable hull, the people would all be splattered on the inside of it in a crash. I vote for ejection seats with parachutes for all of the passengers.
 
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Diamond
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Yeah, very helpful, Dwight. Thanks.

So an Emergency Locator Transmitter is something separate from the black box?
 
Posts: 6525 | Location: Grayson, Georgia, USA | Registered: 06-03-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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Sorry for the delay jusork... Yes it was a comedian, but I can't recall who! Roll Eyes
 
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quote:
Originally posted by jusork:
So an Emergency Locator Transmitter is something separate from the black box?


Yes, all aircraft (except gliders,hot air balloons and hang gliders) have the ELT.

There are three separate units on aircraft carrying these "black boxes".

1. Cockpit voice recorder. This records the communication between the flight crew members: Captain, First Officer, Flight Engineer (if there is one) and jump seat rider (if there is one). Should a flight attendant visit the cockpit, that conversation is also recorded. Radio communication is also recorded, as well as any cockpit sounds (like warning horns, etc.).

2. Flight data recorder. This device has many different sensors that record details like engine power output and condition readings, airspeed, flap and landing gear position indications and so forth.

3. Emergency Locator Transmitter (ELT). Larger commercial aircraft are not required to carry ELTs because they are always flown on detailed flight plans, but all other aircraft (except as noted) do carry them. The ELT is activated either manually by pressing a cockpit button, or by the 9-G switch at impact. It emits an emergency signal on 121.5 MHz and 243.0 GHz (Ultra High Frequency, which is the Military band).

Dwight
 
Posts: 4343 | Location: Anchorage, AK | Registered: 06-05-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
Diamond
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Perfect then. I'll be able to use the ELT in the story. Thanks a bunch, Dwight.
 
Posts: 6525 | Location: Grayson, Georgia, USA | Registered: 06-03-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/black_box.html
quote:
A 9-11 rescue worker recently came forward to say he was told by FBI agents to “keep my mouth shut” about one of the “black boxes” a fellow firefighter helped locate at ground zero, contradicting the official story that none of the flight and cockpit data recorders were ever recovered in the wreckage of the World Trade Center (WTC) towers.

Honorary firefighter Mike Bellone claims he was approached by unknown bureau agents a short time after he and his partner, Nicholas DeMasi, a retired New York firefighter, found three of the four “black boxes” among the WTC rubble before January 2002.
 
Posts: 31 | Location: Ancient Rome | Registered: 03-02-06Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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cnc: You might take a look at a recent discussion on AnswerPool about the alleged 9-11 conspiracy here.

Whatever was left of the black boxes after the impacts was undoubtedly liquified by the fires that melted structural steel.

The link you posted, American Free Press Newspaper (AFP), is a fringe extremist news source described unflatteringly by Wikipedia here. (Also check out their stand against standard vaccinations.) A google search of the author, Greg Szymanski, shows that he has written extensively about the 911 "conspiracy".

It's sleazy sensationalism dressed up as journalism. I wouldn't believe a word of it.
 
Posts: 2053 | Location: U.S. | Registered: 06-03-02Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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quote:
Originally posted by Professor:

Whatever was left of the black boxes after the impacts was undoubtedly liquified by the fires that melted structural steel.


That would be the Hydrocarbon fires that melted the steel would it, Professor. Confused But yet failed to even singe the passport of Satam Al Suqami http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satam_al-Suqami .

Defying the laws of physics was a common occurence on 9-11. Must have been a full moon.

If you wanted to see what happened in a football match you wouldn't go to a rugby website. Don't disrespect the views of another because you don't agree with him. Argue the facts.

I suppose that any reporter who questions the government would be treated the same by you.
 
Posts: 31 | Location: Ancient Rome | Registered: 03-02-06Reply With QuoteEdit or Delete MessageReport This Post
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