If the flight data recorder inside an aircraft is indestructable....?

Question

then why don't they just make the whole plane out of the same sort of stuff?

Ok guys I should have mentioned that this was not a serious question LOL. It's a thing I got from a Birthday card titled "Daft Questions for intellectuals"

Answer 1

they aint impossible to be desteoyed, many have been destroyed in aircraft accidents. I think easy jet is made out of the same material have you seen the colour on it. lol

Answer 2

There are several issues that need to be addressed for all data to be sent directly. Note that, while the flight data recorder is a major part of an accident investigation, it is not the only one, there are several very important clues that need to be examined from the wreckage, and that recovery of the aircraft hull is still a vital aspect on an investigation. That said, as far as the Air France downed airbus is concerned, the messages that were sent by radio were maintenance alert, usually those allow the maintenance staff to know that a system is failing and that they should prepare for repairs. In other words, the intent is for those messages to be radioed just when something is noted as being wrong. On the other hand, if all the airlines were to send out all their data continuously and simultaneously, this would put a major strain on the satellite network, especially for those planes flying over the north pole (as some do, direct flights between New York and Tokyo for instance) which are not well covered by satellites. Having a couple dozen of thousand airliners sending data would require strict channel allocation and frequency monitoring, and centralized reporting stations and so on. This would never happen overnight, and the cost to implement that would have to be justified and compared with the cost to recover the one hard to get flight data recorder, which does not occur frequently. There is also another aspect. There are two recorders in an aircraft: the flight data and the cockpit voice recorder. The later retains only the last 30 minutes of conversation before it over-records. Air crew routinely actively erase the tape just as they land, if the flight went without a problem. Do you think that they would take gladly to having all their conversations sent over to some other location, perhaps saved and possibly eventually looked at by a paranoid (and perhaps a bit sick) person who would like to monitor pilots for things like how often they leave the cockpit to go to the washroom, or what they are humming to themselves when bored while waiting on the taxiway of an airport for their takeoff slot to open? How could the data be made perfectly secure to avoid witch hunting to occur? Would YOU like to have all your personal location and car data and cell phone conversations continuously recorded saved centrally, just for the remote possibility that one day you'd be in an accident in a remote area? Sending all data is technically doable. Cost effective? Probably not. Desirable? Not sure. Acceptable to all? No.

Answer 3

If you crash at the speeds that an aircraft reaches, it won't make a difference what the plane is made of. The body of the plane might suustain minimal damage, but everything inside would probably be destroyed. Besides, making it out of strong enough material to survive a serious crash would make the plane so heavy, it wouldn't be able to get off of the ground. Even if it could be done, the plane would cost an airline hundreds of millions, maybe even billions of dollars to acquire. Imagine what that would do to the price of a ticket.

Answer 4

Because the data recorder is a device inside the plane you would need to have a plane built inside a plane. That would mean a very bulk aircraft that burns too much fuel. Besides, human beings are not like data recording media. By that, I mean a data recording media falls 35,000 ft and hits the ground at over 500 mph but will still work; a human being can not do that.

Short answer = it would not work.

Answer 5

The ball bearings of your vehicles are almost indestructible in collisions. Would you want your vehicle to be built with solid steel and perfectly spherical?

Nothing in an airplane is indestructible. The shape, composition, smaller size and placement gives it a higher chance of survivability. FYI, the tail section of the aircraft (usually where the FDR is located) is most likely to survive a hard impact. So applying the same logic, why dont they make the airplane with just the tail?

Answer 6

The flight recorder is in heavy duty metal that is very thick. If the whole plane were made of the same stuff it would be way too heavy to get off the ground.

Answer 7

Why not do a search for the other thousand times this question has been asked?

And by the way, flight recorders ARE NOT indestructable. Some have gotten smashed to a pulp.

Answer 8

Too heavy; the plane would never be able to fly. And they are not indestructible, just can endure a lot of g force.

Answer 9

Bank vaults are almost indestructible. They don't fly either.

Purpose dictates design

Answer 10

Yes, it's daft.

It's also about forty years old.

It's also been answered several times, this week, in Yahoo Answers.

Fly the Friendly Skies.