Editing Flight recorder (section)

{{Short description|Aircraft electronic recording device}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=January 2022}}
{{Use American English|date=January 2022}}
[[File:Fdr sidefront.jpg|thumb|A modern flight data recorder; the [[underwater locator beacon]] is the small cylinder on the far right. (Translation of warning message in French: "Flight recorder do not open".) The warning appears in English on the other side.]]
[[File:Soviet MS-61 Cockpit Voice Recorder.jpg|thumb|Cold War-era [[Soviet Union|Soviet]] MS-61 cockpit voice recorder from a [[Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-21|MiG-21 interceptor]]]]

A '''flight recorder''' is an electronic recording device placed in an [[aircraft]] for the purpose of facilitating the investigation of [[aviation accidents and incidents]]. The device may often be referred to colloquially as a "'''black box'''", an outdated name which has become a [[misnomer]]—they are now required to be painted [[Safety orange|bright orange]], to aid in their recovery after accidents.
[[File:Flight data recorder recovered from the Potomac River on 2 February 2025 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Flight data recorder recovered from the [[Potomac River]] on 2 February 2025, from one of the aircraft involved in the [[2025 Potomac River mid-air collision]]. ]]
There are two types of flight recording devices: the '''flight data recorder''' ('''FDR''') preserves the recent history of the flight through the recording of dozens of parameters collected several times per second; the '''cockpit voice recorder''' ('''CVR''') preserves the recent history of the sounds in the cockpit, including the conversation of the pilots. The two devices may be combined into a single unit. Together, the FDR and CVR objectively document the aircraft's flight history, which may assist in any later investigation.

The two flight recorders are required by international regulation, overseen by the [[International Civil Aviation Organization]], to be capable of surviving the conditions likely to be encountered in a severe aircraft accident. For this reason, they are typically specified to withstand an impact of 3400 [[g-force|''g'']] and temperatures of over {{convert|1000|C}}, as required by [[EUROCAE]] ED-112. They have been a mandatory requirement in commercial aircraft in the United States since 1967. After the unexplained disappearance of [[Malaysia Airlines Flight 370]] in 2014, commentators have called for live streaming of data to the ground, as well as extending the battery life of the underwater locator beacons.