You know the indestructable black boxes in airplanes? Why don't they make the whole aircraft out of it?

Answer 1

Even if they did, it would still blow up. Think of the seen from Armageddon when he explains how a nuke will only blow the asteroid up from inside it. Same with a plain it blows up from the inside. The black box is only protecting what is on the inside, but if you put a little TNT in the middle of the box it will be history.

Answer 2

What is that makes the black boxes "indestructable"? The actual material? The size and shape of the material? The shock absorbtion built into it to protect the electronics? I think that you'll find that it's actually a combination of all of the above and more.

The thing is, the material the body of an aircraft is made of has to perform to very specific requirements - low weight, high tensile strength, manufacturing and assembly economics, etc. The question then becomes does the material that makes blackboxes "indestructable" (if there ever is any one material that does it for the blackboxes) fit the bill for all of these requirements? The answer would most likely be no.

Also, even if the material an aircraft is constructed from is indestructable, the forces acting on that aircraft as a result of a crash would be on a completely different magnitude to that experienced by the blackbox itself. Take for example the shape and size. An aircraft is typically a tube with wings. Apply extremely high stress to one end of the tube and breaking point will be reached, typically at the joints. A black box is, I presume, rectangular, no bigger than a suitcase. The stresses that that blackbox experiences in a crash, with all the moorings it has to the plane cannot compare to that experienced by the aircraft itself.

Answer 3

They are NOT indestructible. But that have foam fire protection, a sturdy outer shell frame, and are located in the area of a plane that is least likely to be totally destroyed in case of a crash.

Still, it happens that the box has been messed and requires extensive techniques to reconstruct the data.

Because they are relatively small, they can be made with heavy gage metal without too much of a weight penalty. Making the whole plane this way would make it a tank, and it would never fly. And in case of a crash, your indestructible plane could be intact (assuming this can be done) but the passengers would be crushed to bits flying around in the cabin and hitting the floor or the sides, so no one would survive anyway; actually it would be worse, as the indestructible plane would not absorb energy by deforming during impact.

Answer 4

This was my 'Best Answer' from four months ago, perhaps it would be ok now.

The 'Black Box' ( actually this refers to the flight data recorder which is orange ) is not particularly heavily built, however its internal construction is such that it can withstand fairly heavy impacts by being pressure sealed.
The chassis of the recorder is made of a heavy grade alloy reinforced with Titaneum and the recording system is based around an analog wire recorder.

Upon recovery after an incident the wire is most often broken at the point in time the accident happened.

There are usually two and sometimes three flight data recorders fitted to larger aircraft, these will monitor cockpit voice transmissions, aircraft attitude and control surface positions, and lastly all engineering data streams from engines and associated systems.

Within the aircraft industry any electrical box of tricks is referred to as a 'black box' with the colour of the flight recorder often being commonly mistaken.

And believe me, when we recover them from an air accident they are usually totally trashed, only the recording wire is hopefully recoverable.

Answer 5

As a point of fact, both aircraft and Flight Data Recorders are actually constructed out of the same material. Both are a combination of aircraft grade aluminum alloys and plastic. So really...The correct answer is THEY DO!

FDRs survive a crash's impact (as do suitcases by the way) simply be dissipating force through other means. Specifically through their mounting brackets. The brackets shear off on impact, dissipating a great deal of the force. The FDR is typically found in the correct location, but slightly below where it was originally installed.

If we tried this approach with passengers, however, the results would not be as good. What kills people in aircraft crashes is not generally the impact velocity though, its smoke and fire that erupt afterwards. In the wake of Comair 5191, I can't wait for some knucklehead on Fox News to suggest that we find a way to make aircraft fuel fireproof so that this never happens again

Answer 6

the reason planes are not made from the same material as those little black boxes is simple,

a plane is designed and built on a weight to fuel ratio,

they must take into account how heavy the materials used are how much fuel is efficient and how heavy it would be and also take into account luggage which is why your only allowed a certain amount of luggage

and even if a way was found to use said materials to build said plane , it would no longer be indestructible by the time you put windows in as it is no longer a solid structure

for example if you 10 pounds of pressure on an egg at the top and bottom the egg would not break

but if you put one tiny pin-hole in the egg and applied the same amount of pressure you'd be covered in egg

hope this is a sufficient answer!

Answer 7

Far far to heavy and expensive.

Black boxes cost tens of thousands of pounds, they're reinforced and able to withstand intense heat, cold and pressure. An aircraft made out of this would need incredibly powerful engines to move, let alone take off, and would be incredibly fuel inneficient, due to the mass of the aircraft. If the aircraft crashed, the aircraft may survive, but unless the people inside were covered in suppressive foam, bubble wrap etc, they'd all die form the forces exerted on them (Black boxes aren't hollow!)

Just not possible or practical

Answer 8

The "black boxes" survive because the wreckage of the plane absorbs the energy of the impact of a plane crash. It has very little to do with the construction material of the boxes. If just the black box (without the plane around it) fell from 30,000 feet, it would not survive the impact with the ground.

In auto racing, drivers walk away from horrific accidents...why? because the car around them is destroyed...thus absorbing all the impact energy of the crash. Take a person and smash them into the racetrack wall at 200 miles per hour without them being in a car. Do you think they would survive?

Analogy...the driver is the black box and the car is the plane.

Answer 9

The 'Black Box' which is in fact painted bright orange to aid it's recovery is not completely indestructible, but is made to withstand a heavy impact upon landing. The device, which records all radio and cockpit conversations and thousands of bits of data regarding the plane itself is a very specialised and compact piece of equipment, but the materials used in it's construction are little different to those used in the construction of the plane itself (principally aluminium).

Answer 10

Imagine trying to keep a lead weight aloft under any malfunction. That stuff is way heavy, I'd hate to be in an accident inside a tube made of the stuff. Besides, its not typically the crash that kills people, its the fire after the crash.
And Finally!!! Someone has the good sense to let the public know its not Black!!! Its bright @** Orange with reflective strips all over it! Lol =)

Answer 11

First they are not indestructable, they just survive crashes better due to their location in/on the plane
Second. think inertia! if you make a sudden stop(impact!) from 300-500 mph. you are still going to be flattened , while your Black Box plane will be intact. ( example: falling elevator)