Comments on: Nuclear Sub Joins the Hunt for Crashed Air France Plane’s Black Box

By: Robert Muloki

Robert Muloki — Thu, 25 Jun 2009 08:56:05 +0000

In this era of IT it is suprising that the blackbox technology has not been improved to march modern technology demands. IF there modern amazing jets such Rapture Jets why not invest some few million dollars and modernise such a very important garget ?

I would sugest that technology shuold be developed such that flight data is monitored from the the flight base.

By: Herr KOH

Herr KOH — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 07:57:15 +0000

deej 420, I think it is not advisable and unnecessary to use explosives to detach the electrical cables from the black box. Normally, cables are held together by means of male/female electrical connectors which can be separated by force when the box is ejected by remote control, said from the cockpit.
Another important part is to maintain the specify gravity to less than one so that the precious data box is able to float above the sea water. It is also important to line its top surface with a high bright blinking LED logo for easy retrieval. Furthermore a built-in parachute will provide a soft landing and take care of

other safety issues.

By: redmare1950

redmare1950 — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 00:52:26 +0000

why improve the black box? 50 yr old technology ?? stream data real time ..the plane already did that with maintenance issues….I must not understand…but as it does already stream to ground maintenance as it fly s??? why not eliminate the black box?? or at least improve black box battery..a 30 day battery is certainly not “high tech”
20 years of my career was in aerospace and the weakest government agency I ever worked with by far was the FAA ..once I was in a meeting on explosive detection..a DOE guy made a pitch that the FAA disputed and the DOE guy lost it and yelled this is high school chemistry that you are not understanding..sad..he was right THEY ARE~WEAK !!

By: deej420

deej420 — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 14:23:36 +0000

Herr koh, I like your idea and would like to interject a couple of alterations one would be an explosive detachment system which would utilize a series of small explosive charges on all input/output cableing to break the units free and a second charge to detonate millisecs after cable detachment to propel the units free of the plane. I do not beleive it would be that difficult to combine bouyancy with durabilty the units discharge can be set to trip due to any number of factors or a combination thereof i.e. altitude, airspeed, external and internal pressure fluctuations,ect good idea keep me informed

By: Herr KOH

Herr KOH — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 03:00:28 +0000

Hi Brian: Thank you for your enlightenment on the blackbox. May be a backup is needed in case the only unit is unable to retrieve or due to other problems. The backup unit can be ejected by a remote control in the cockpit when necessary. A built-in parachute will provide a soft landing which may attract many peoples attention to alert the authorities and also to protect the precious box.

Who knows one day the important flight datas can be transmitted directly like emails to a recording centre to solve this tricky problem.

By: Brian

Brian — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 23:24:43 +0000

@Herr KOH,

Interesting idea. The flaw unfortunately, is that the black box is not loose cargo, and even if it were, there’s no assurance your idea would work anyway.

The flight data recorders are firmly fastened onto the structure of the plane. In order to float the plane’s physical body would have to be shredded down to a pretty small size. Even major flight disasters often leave huge chunks of the plane behind. The flight recorders are in the rear of the plane and these parts tend to have better survival rates (that’s why the data recorders are there).

Now, what might work better, is some type of dissolvable bolt system. You’d have a floatable black box as you describe. If the mounting bolts could dissolve in water, the black box would “automatically” release itself from the wreckage, so no matter how big the parts it was attached to were, that wouldn’t matter. The system wouldn’t work outside of a water environment, but that shouldn’t matter either. You’d have to design a bolt that would be physically strong under all conditions except moisture. You’d also have to make sure that things like humidity and condensation, routinely encountered in service, would not inappropriately activate the dissolving action.

Finally, this design would do nothing to prevent a released black box from getting caught up in enclosed spaces and wreckage tangles. Some problems you just can’t overcome.

By: Phyllo

Phyllo — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 21:23:19 +0000

95% of the known world use the international system (SI) in their measurements (including all branches of science!). Why you keep using this abstruse imperial thing?

By: Radwaste

Radwaste — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 15:27:56 +0000

The idea that sonar operators on subs use their own ears to detect faint signals is completely wrong, and so the statement is a reminder that this article is for general consumption and not dedicated to accuracy. So is the continued noise about pitot tubes. The Airbus does not depend on ram-air differential pressure detection for speed indication, and even though the liner operates at altitude, distant from ground clues, this is akin to claiming that your car crashed because your speedometer failed.

I think the most elegant explanation is hail impact breaching the cockpit windows. This would result in the immediate death of the flight crew.

By: Herr KOH

Herr KOH — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 14:40:45 +0000

Hier ist meine One Response to “Nuclear Sub Joins the Hunt for Crashed Air France Plane’s Black Box”.

May I suggest to consider a simple method for retrieving the important Black Box from the ocean more quickly in the near future. The idea is to house the Black Box within a hollow metal box with its Specific Gravity is less than 1. Therefore the instrument will be able to flot on the sea surface instead of letting it sink to the sea bottom. Extra bright Blinking red LEDs are to be fixed on top of the box. So that it can be spoted easily and recover it within a shorter time frame before its batteries go flat.

By: Technology Science Fair Projects

Technology Science Fair Projects — Fri, 12 Jun 2009 00:08:45 +0000

Kids that are working on science fair project ideas for next year can use the technology that is developed for tracking what happens during an airplane crash to come up with a project idea. For example, you can find ways to improve the black box technology, or you can find a new application for black box technology.