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Although plane crashes are statistically rare, when one does happen, it’s the black box that is key to figuring out what went wrong.
But what is a black box and how does it work?
A black box is an electronic device stored in the tail of the plane that records flight information. Airplanes have two of them: the CVR , or cockpit voice recorder, and the FDR, or flight data recorder. And, despite the name, they’re not actually black, but bright orange, so they can be easily found.
The CVR records conversations, air traffic control and warning sounds in the cockpit from the two most recent hours of a flight. The FDR keeps track of the plane’s vital information, like speed, altitude, engine power, fuel levels, temperature and flight controls. It records up to 25 hours of data, and after that it records over existing data.
Black boxes can get damaged, but their “crash-survivable memory units,” which protect the memory cards, are practically indestructible. They’re wrapped in a thin layer of aluminum, an inch of high-temperature insulation and are covered in stainless steel or titanium.
Black boxes are built to survive acceleration up to 3,400 Gs, an hour in temperatures as high as 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit and to survive being submerged in water at a depth of 20,000 feet. They have an underwater beacon that emits a pulse every second and is detectable by sonar for about 30 days.
With hundreds of thousands of flights taking off daily around the world,, when it comes to the essential role of black boxes on planes, at least you can say, “Now I get it.”
But that beautiful passport survived? And it was never proven that this was a terrorist act.
I can see maybe not finding the ones at the Towers, but Pennsylvania and the Pentagon?
originally posted by: soulpowertothendegree
Somebody please, give me a real good explanation why every single black box (8) were never recovered?
(Hijacker Satam M. A. al-Suqami's) passport was recovered by NYPD Detective Yuk H. Chin from a male passerby in a business suit, about 30 years old. The passerby left before being identified, while debris was falling from WTC 2. The tower collapsed shortly afterwards. The detective then gave the passport to the FBI on 9/11. Source (pdf)
On the street, standing in a shower of office paper and the siding from the building, he found a piece of paper. It was an airliner's itinerary, listing information about a flight from Boston to Los Angeles. Source
"...I noticed in the courtyard that there were valises, suitcases, strewn about the courtyard. There were wallets everywhere, broken glass, and then I noticed that there were airplane tickets." FDNY firefighter John Moribito
Along with the letter was a note: ''To whom it may concern. This was found floating around the street in downtown New York. I am sorry if you suffered any loss in this tragedy. Sincerely, a friend in New York!''
...Since then, Mrs. Snyder, a customer service representative at a grocery store, has discovered that she has one of only two pieces of mail known to have been recovered from the planes that crashed into the World Trade Center. At least one auction house has contacted her, saying she could sell the letter for tens of thousands of dollars. Source
originally posted by: samkent
It was proven to be a terrorist attack.