Editing Flight recorder (section)

== History ==
[[File:Apparatus for Directing and Recording the Course of a Steam Ship, and for Signalling, patent granted January 1897.jpg|thumb|Maritime 'black box' forerunner invented by John Inches Thomson]]
In seafaring, a device which recorded the position of different vessels in case of an accident was patented by John Sen Inches Thomson in January, 1897.  

[[File:2002-dmuseum-luftfahrt-014-650.jpg|thumb|A Fairchild A100 cockpit voice recorder, on display in the [[Deutsches Museum]]. This is a magnetic-tape unit built to an old standard, [[Technical Standard Order|TSO]] C84, as shown on the nameplate. The text on the side in French says "Flight recorder do not open".]]

=== Early designs ===
One of the earliest and proven attempts was made by [[François Hussenot]] and Paul Beaudouin in 1939 at the [[Marignane]] flight test center, France, with their "type HB" flight recorder; they were essentially photograph-based flight recorders, because the record was made on a scrolling [[photographic film]] {{convert|8|m|yd}} long by {{convert|88|mm}} wide. The [[latent image]] was made by a thin ray of light deviated by a mirror tilted according to the magnitude of the data to be recorded (altitude, speed, etc.).<ref name="Fayer"/> A pre-production run of 25 "HB" recorders was ordered in 1941 and HB recorders remained in use in French flight test centers well into the 1970s.<ref name="Beaudouin-2"/><ref>{{Cite web|title=Black Box History|date=May 22, 2020|website=Native Khabar|url=https://www.nativekhabar.com/india/black-box-plane-flight-data-recorder-aeroplane/5731|access-date=May 22, 2020|archive-date=January 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125123838/http://nativekhabar.com/|url-status=live}}</ref>

In 1947, Hussenot founded the Société Française des Instruments de Mesure with Beaudouin and another associate, so as to market his invention, which was also known as the "hussenograph". This company went on to become a major supplier of data recorders, used not only aboard aircraft but also trains and other vehicles. SFIM is today part of the [[Safran]] group and is still present in the flight recorder market. The advantage of the film technology was that it could be easily developed afterwards and provides a durable, visual feedback of the flight parameters without needing any playback device. On the other hand, unlike magnetic tapes or later flash memory-based technology, a photographic film cannot be erased and reused, and so must be changed periodically. The technology was reserved for one-shot uses, mostly during planned test flights: it was not mounted aboard civilian aircraft during routine commercial flights. Also, cockpit conversation was not recorded.

Another form of flight data recorder was developed in the UK during World War II. Len Harrison and Vic Husband developed a unit that could withstand a crash and fire to keep the flight data intact.  The unit was the forerunner of today's recorders, in being able to withstand conditions that aircrew could not.  It used copper foil as the recording medium, with various styli, corresponding to various instruments or aircraft controls, indenting the foil. The foil was periodically advanced at set time intervals, giving a history of the aircraft's instrument readings and control settings. The unit was developed at [[Farnborough, Hampshire|Farnborough]] for the [[Ministry of Aircraft Production]]. At the war's end the Ministry got Harrison and Husband to sign over their invention to it and the Ministry patented it under British patent 19330/45.

[[File:Lentokoneen_musta_laatikko._Ollut_käytössä_1940-70._Valtion_lentokonetehdas,_1940-luku._Tampereen_museot._Kuva_Marika_Tamminen,_Vapriikin_kuva-arkisto._(16271443869).jpg|thumb|right|"Mata-Hari" flight data recorder]]

The first modern flight data recorder, called "Mata-Hari", was created in 1942 by Finnish aviation engineer Veijo Hietala. This black high-tech mechanical box was able to record all required data during test flights of [[fighter aircraft]] that the [[Finnish Air Force]] repaired or built in its main [[Valtion lentokonetehdas|aviation factory]] in [[Tampere]], Finland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://siiri.tampere.fi/displayObject.do?uri=http://www.profium.com/archive/ArchivedObject-8077CE76-2B43-6FAA-D11C-77AAFD6C72E8|trans-title=State aircraft factory: Mata-Hari or black box|title= Valtion lentokonetehdas: Mata-Hari eli musta laatikko |date=1946| website=Museums of Tampere |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171019110346/http://siiri.tampere.fi/displayObject.do?uri=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.profium.com%2Farchive%2FArchivedObject-8077CE76-2B43-6FAA-D11C-77AAFD6C72E8 |archive-date=October 19, 2017 |url-status=dead|access-date=October 19, 2017|language=fi}}</ref>

During World War II both British and American air forces successfully experimented with aircraft voice recorders.<ref>{{Cite AV media|last=Chuck Owl|title=Audio From the Past [E01] - WW2 - Avro Lancaster Crew Radio|date=February 4, 2015|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF5_hvE4WEA|access-date=February 13, 2019|via=[[YouTube]]|archive-date=November 16, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181116214517/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MF5_hvE4WEA&feature=youtu.be|url-status=live}}</ref> In August 1943 the [[USAAF]] conducted an experiment with a [[Wire recording|magnetic wire recorder]] to capture the inter-phone conversations of a B-17 bomber flight crew on a combat mission over Nazi-occupied France.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.americanradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-News/40s/Radio-News-1944-01-R.pdf|title=Radio News, 'Radio - On a Flying Fortress' |page=21|last=Porter|first=Kenneth|date=January 1944|website=www.americanradiohistory.com|access-date=February 13, 2019|archive-date=January 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125123836/https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-Radio-News/40s/Radio-News-1944-01-R.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref> The recording was broadcast back to the United States by radio two days afterwards.

=== Australian designs ===
[[File:ABC Black Box.ogv|thumb|Video clip of 1985 [[Australian Broadcasting Corporation|ABC]] news report interviewing David Warren about his invention]]
In 1953, while working at the Aeronautical Research Laboratories (ARL) of the [[Defence Science and Technology Organisation]] in [[Melbourne]],<ref name="DSTO"/> Australian research scientist [[David Warren (inventor)|David Warren]] conceived a device that would record not only the instrument readings, but also the voices in the cockpit.<ref name="APC"/> In 1954 he published a report entitled "A Device for Assisting Investigation into Aircraft Accidents".<ref name="Independent"/>

Warren built a [[prototype]] FDR called "The ARL Flight Memory Unit" in 1956,<ref name="Independent"/> and in 1958 he built the first combined FDR/CVR prototype.<ref name="APC"/><ref>[https://content.time.com/time/subscriber/article/0,33009,1909619,00.html "A Brief History of Black Boxes"]. ''[[Time (magazine)|Time]]''. July 20, 2009. p. 22.</ref> It was designed with civilian aircraft in mind, explicitly for post-crash examination purposes.<ref name="Time"/> Aviation authorities from around the world were largely uninterested at first, but this changed in 1958 when Sir Robert Hardingham, the [[Secretary (title)|secretary]] of the [[Civil Aviation Authority (United Kingdom)|British Air Registration Board]], visited the ARL and was introduced to David Warren.<ref name="DSTO"/> Hardingham realized the significance of the invention and arranged for Warren to demonstrate the prototype in the UK.<ref name="Independent"/>

The ARL assigned an engineering team to help Warren develop the prototype to the airborne stage. The team, consisting of electronics engineers Lane Sear, Wally Boswell, and Ken Fraser, developed a working design that incorporated a fire-resistant and shockproof case, a reliable system for encoding and recording aircraft instrument readings and voice on one wire, and a ground-based decoding device. The ARL system, made by the British firm of S. Davall & Sons Ltd, in [[Middlesex]], was named the "Red Egg" because of its shape and bright red color.<ref name="Independent"/>

The units were redesigned in 1965 and relocated at the rear of aircraft to increase the probability of successful data retrieval after a crash.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.aea.net/AvionicsNews/ANArchives/FlightDataRecordersJan06.pdf|title=Flight Data Recorders – Built to Survive|author=Tony Bailey|date=January 2006|page=38|publisher=Avionics News|website=aea.net|access-date=September 5, 2018|archive-date=December 10, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20191210013702/http://aea.net/AvionicsNews/ANArchives/FlightDataRecordersJan06.pdf|url-status=live}}</ref>

Carriage of data recording equipment became mandatory in UK-registered aircraft in two phases; the first, for new turbine-engined public transport category aircraft over {{convert|12000|lb|kg|abbr=on}} in weight, was mandated in 1965, with a further requirement in 1966 for piston-engined transports over {{convert|60000|lb|kg|abbr=on}}, with the earlier requirement further extended to all jet transports. One of the first UK uses of the data recovered from an aircraft accident was that recovered from the Royston "Midas" data recorder that was on board the [[British Midland]] [[Canadair North Star|Argonaut]] involved in the [[Stockport Air Disaster]] in 1967.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1967/1967%20-%201315.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214002903/https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1967/1967%20-%201315.html |archive-date=February 14, 2019 |title=1967 {{!}} 1315 {{!}} Flight Archive}}</ref>

===American designs===
[[File:NTSB investigators remove the recorders from UPS 1354 (9518908718).jpg|thumb|NTSB investigators recover flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder from [[UPS Airlines Flight 1354]]]]
[[File:CVR in NTSB Lab (33406167018).jpg|thumb|NTSB staff examine the memory boards of the cockpit voice recorder from [[Atlas Air Flight 3591]]. The boards may have suffered water damage.]]
A flight recorder was invented and patented in the United States by James J. Ryan. Ryan's "Flight Recorder" patent was filed in August 1953 and approved on November 8, 1960, as US Patent 2,959,459.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=02959459 |title=US Patent 2,959,459 for Flight Recorder by James J. Ryan |access-date=March 25, 2014 |archive-date=January 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160108175156/http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=02959459 |url-status=live }}</ref> A second patent by Ryan for a "Coding Apparatus For Flight Recorders" is US Patent 3,075,192<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=03075192 |title=US Patent 3,075,192 for Coding Apparatus for Flight Recorders by James J. Ryan |access-date=January 7, 2014 |archive-date=January 8, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160108175156/http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=03075192 |url-status=live }}</ref> dated January 22, 1963.

A "Cockpit Sound Recorder" (CSR) was independently invented and patented by Edmund A. Boniface Jr., an aeronautical engineer at [[Lockheed Aircraft Corporation]].<ref name="US3327067"/><ref>[http://www.slyck.com/story2348_Airplane_Black_Box_Flight_Recorder_Technology_How_it_Works "Airplane 'Black Box' Flight Recorder Technology, How it Works"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011073938/http://www.slyck.com/story2348_Airplane_Black_Box_Flight_Recorder_Technology_How_it_Works |date=October 11, 2016 }}. ''Slyck News'', March 13, 2014</ref><ref>[http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/why-are-cockpit-voice-recorders-painted-orange-and-called-a-black-box/ " Why Are Cockpit Voice Recorders Painted Orange and Called a Black Box?"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160917172701/http://guardianlv.com/2014/03/why-are-cockpit-voice-recorders-painted-orange-and-called-a-black-box/ |date=September 17, 2016 }}. ''Guardian Liberty Voice'', By Jerry Nelson on March 8, 2014</ref> He originally filed with the US Patent Office on February 2, 1961, as an "Aircraft Cockpit Sound Recorder".<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aahs-online.org/journals/journal_template.php?vol_no=v59n34|title=AAHS Journal Vol 59 Nos 3-4 - Fall / Win|website=www.aahs-online.org|access-date=September 3, 2021|archive-date=September 3, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210903142935/https://www.aahs-online.org/journals/journal_template.php?vol_no=v59n34|url-status=live}}</ref> The 1961 invention was viewed by some as an "invasion of privacy".{{citation needed|date=August 2024}} Subsequently, Boniface filed again on February 4, 1963, for a "Cockpit Sound Recorder" (US Patent 3,327,067)<ref name="US3327067">{{cite web|title=Cockpit Sound Recorder|url=https://patents.google.com/patent/US3327067?oq=edmund+boniface|work=Google Patents|publisher=Google Inc.|access-date=December 31, 2013|archive-date=April 28, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160428165251/https://www.google.com/patents/US3327067?pg=PA1&dq=edmund+boniface&hl=en&sa=X&ei=5C_CUqWACpXioASq74HIDw&ved=0CDcQ6AEwAA|url-status=live}}</ref> with the addition of a spring-loaded switch which allowed the pilot to erase the audio/sound tape recording at the conclusion of a safe flight and landing.

Boniface's participation in aircraft crash investigations in the 1940s<ref>[https://issuu.com/fl600aviationdigest/docs/issue_11_may_2015/58 "The Flight Data Recorder"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161011060517/https://issuu.com/fl600aviationdigest/docs/issue_11_may_2015/58 |date=October 11, 2016 }}. ''Aviation Digest'', May 11, 2015, page 58.</ref> and in the accident investigations of the loss of one of the wings at cruise altitude on each of two [[Lockheed L-188 Electra#Civilian operations|Lockheed Electra]] turboprop powered aircraft (Flight 542 operated by [[Braniff Airlines]] in 1959 and Flight 710 operated by [[Northwest Orient Airlines]] in 1961) led to his wondering what the pilots may have said just prior to the wing loss and during the descent as well as the type and nature of any sounds or explosions that may have preceded or occurred during the wing loss.<ref name="pdfpiw.uspto.gov">[http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=03327067 US Patent 3,327,067 for Cockpit Sound Recorder by Edmund A. Boniface, Jr.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170707070226/http://pdfpiw.uspto.gov/.piw?PageNum=0&docid=03327067 |date=July 7, 2017 }};</ref>

His patent was for a device for recording audio of pilot remarks and engine or other sounds to be "contained with the in-flight recorder within a sealed container that is shock mounted, fireproofed and made watertight" and "sealed in such a manner as to be capable of withstanding extreme temperatures during a crash fire". The CSR was an analog device which provided a continuous erasing/recording loop (lasting 30 or more minutes) of all sounds (explosion, voice, and the noise of any aircraft structural components undergoing serious fracture and breakage) which could be overheard in the cockpit.<ref name="pdfpiw.uspto.gov"/>

On November 1, 1966, the director of the Bureau of Safety of the Civil Aeronautics Board Bobbie R. Allen and the chief of Technical Services Section John S. Leak presented "The Potential Role of Flight Recorders in Aircraft Accident Investigation" at the AIAA/CASI Joint Meeting on Aviation Safety, [[Toronto]], Canada.<ref name="AllenLeak1966">{{citation |last1=Allen |first1=B. R. |title=Aviation Safety Meeting |year=1966 |series=BOSP 7-4 |chapter=The potential role of flight recorders in aircraft accident investigation |publisher=U.S. Civil Aeronautics Board |doi=10.2514/6.1966-810 |last2=Leak |first2=John S.}}</ref><!-- And did this presentation prove influential later? Why are telling readers about this presentation? -->