Editing Flight recorder (section)

== Terminology ==
[[File:J M Briscoe24 07 200713 05 14IMG2104 GEE AIRBORNE.JPG|thumb|[[Gee (navigation)|GEE]] airborne equipment, with the R1355 receiver on the left and the Indicator Unit Type 62A "black box" on the right.]]

The term "black box" was a World War II British phrase, originating with the development of radio, radar, and electronic navigational aids in British and Allied combat aircraft. These often-secret electronic devices were encased in non-reflective black boxes or housings.&nbsp; The earliest identified reference to "black boxes" occurs in a May 1945 ''[[Flight International|Flight]]'' article, "Radar for Airlines", describing the application of wartime RAF radar and navigational aids to civilian aircraft: "The stowage of the 'black boxes' and, even more important, the detrimental effect on performance of external aerials, still remain as a radio and radar problem."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1946/1946%20-%200844.html|title=Flight, 'Radar for Airlines'|page=434|date=May 2, 1945|website=[[Flight International|Flight]] |access-date=February 13, 2019|archive-date=February 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214002854/https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1946/1946%20-%200844.html|url-status=live}}</ref> (The term "[[black box]]" is used with a different meaning in science and engineering, describing a system exclusively by its inputs and outputs, with no information whatsoever about its inner workings.)

Magnetic tape and wire voice recorders had been tested on [[RAF]] and [[USAAF]] bombers by 1943 thus adding to the assemblage of fielded and experimental electronic devices employed on Allied aircraft.&nbsp;As early as 1944 aviation writers envisioned use of these recording devices on commercial aircraft to aid incident investigations.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IObo37IFIXUC&q=Aerial+Eavesdropper|title=Flying, 'Aerial Eavesdropper'|last=Corddry|first=Charles Jr.|date=August 1944|pages=150|access-date=October 17, 2020|archive-date=January 25, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220125123855/https://books.google.com/books?id=IObo37IFIXUC&q=Aerial+Eavesdropper|url-status=live}}</ref> When modern flight recorders were proposed to the British [[Aeronautical Research Council]] in 1958, the term "black box" was in colloquial use by experts.<ref>[http://kenblackbox.com/other/The_ARL_Black_Box_Flight_Recorder.pdf] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140124051649/http://kenblackbox.com/other/The_ARL_Black_Box_Flight_Recorder.pdf|date=January 24, 2014}}</ref>

By 1967, when flight recorders were mandated by leading aviation countries, the expression had found its way into general use: "These so-called 'black boxes' are, in fact, of fluorescent flame-orange in colour."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1967/1967%20-%201315.html|title=Flight, 'Saving the Record'|last=Scott|first=Geoffrey|date=December 14, 1967|website=www.flightglobal.com|page=1002|access-date=February 13, 2019|archive-date=February 14, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190214002903/https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1967/1967%20-%201315.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The formal names of the devices are ''flight data recorder'' and ''cockpit voice recorder''. The recorders must be housed in boxes that are bright orange in color to make them more visually conspicuous in the debris after an accident.<ref name="BBC" />