The tragic crash of the Air India flight on 12 June, which killed over 240 people, has left the entire world in shock. As the investigation begins, authorities have found one of the two black boxes from the plane. This small but very strong device may help experts understand what caused the deadly accident just minutes after the plane took off from Ahmedabad airport.

What is a black box and how is it made?

A black box is a special machine that records everything happening in an aircraft while it is flying. Despite the name “black box”, it is usually bright orange or yellow so it can be found easily after a crash. It was invented by an Australian scientist named David Warren in the 1950s. He came up with the idea after his father died in a plane crash. Warren died in 2010, but his invention continues to save lives by helping find the causes of air crashes.

Black boxes are made using strong materials like steel or titanium. They are built to survive fire, explosions, ocean pressure, and the massive impact of a crash. They are placed near the back of the plane, where the damage is usually the least in case of a crash.

Inside every black box, there are two important parts:

  1. Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR): This records all sounds in the cockpit, like the voices of the pilots, engine noise, alarms, and any other cockpit communication.
  2. Flight Data Recorder (FDR): This records information like the plane’s speed, height, direction, pressure, and the status of different systems. It usually collects over 80 types of data.

It also contains an underwater locator beacon to help search teams find it in case the crash happens in water. One important part inside is called the "Crash Survivable Memory Unit", which is designed to survive 3,400 times the force of gravity.

Why the black box is important for crash investigation

The black box helps investigators understand the exact sequence of events before a crash. In the case of the Air India Boeing 787 crash, the plane had made a MAYDAY call shortly after takeoff, indicating something was very wrong. But soon after that call, all communication from the plane stopped.

By listening to the cockpit voice recordings and checking the flight data, experts can find out if there were any mechanical problems, human errors, or sudden events that caused the crash. Usually, it takes 10 to 15 days to carefully check all the data inside the black boxes.

Finding and studying the black box is one of the most important steps in any air crash investigation. It helps answer the biggest question: what went wrong?

The Air India crash has left many families grieving, and now the black box might help bring them answers and prevent such disasters in the future.

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