Whys it called the Black Box?

Question

Why call it the black box when every one we see is painted the brightest shade of orange that they can find

Answer 1

The actual recording devices are black, and only the protective casing surrounding it is painted the bright orange. The recording devices are housed inside the orange case so that no matter how badly the case itself is damaged the recordings and data can be retrieved. The offensive orange color is chosen because it sticks out from wreckage much more than black would.

Answer 2

The term Black Box is used casually, often by journalists, to refer to a collection of several different devices used in transportation. The flight data recorder or cockpit voice recorder in aircraft, the event recorder in railway diesel locomotives, and other recording devices in various vehicles may be included. There is little similarity between these units and they are designed and installed on the basis of different regulatory requirements. In industry the more specific terms are used. In aviation these devices are known as flight recorders and in automobiles they are known as Event Data Recorders.

These devices are, contrary to their popular name, most often painted a bright blaze orange to aid recovery crews in locating them quickly after an incident. The "black box" term originated when after a meeting about the first commercial FDR, named the "Red Egg" for its colour and shape, someone commented that, "This is a wonderful black box." Black box is more a humorous cadigan than an accurate term, and almost never used within the flight safety industry.

Black box (systems) has long been part of professional jargon for a mechanism in which the input and expected outputs are well understood but the internal operations are deliberately and completely unknown, but has no special connection with recording devices

Answer 3

The original "black boxes" were actually black hence why the term was coined. They have since been painted orange to make it easier to find on crash sites.

Answer 4

the orange is so investigators can see it easier. the "black box" is actually describing the the video inside. it can also give out a beacon for 30 days if it gets lost.

Answer 5

Black box is an old generic name for electronics.

It is orange as you already know for ease of finding by the rescue/salvage crews.

Answer 6

Because the recording device is black and its in a box.

Answer 7

Cause the first one was black

Answer 8

because she is really a Brunette and only dyes the hair on her head so her box is still black.

Answer 9

They're being racist.... No, seriously, the original ones were black, then they realised that they were difficult to find in a crash site... Idiots...

Answer 10

I guess its due to the little black book similarity where you keep all your secrets