why dont they just make the whole aeroplane out of the material they use to make the black box?

Answer 1

The answer phrased as simply as possible, and in more than one language,

The airplane would be too heavy.
Het vliegtuig zou te zwaar.
L'avion serait trop lourd.
Das Flugzeug wäre zu schwer.
Το αεροπλανο θα ηταν πολυ βαρυ.
L'aereo sarebbe troppo pesante.

Seriously, it's well past time to put this question to rest, and start using the search function to research past answers.

Answer 2

Funny how people like to ask this question. I'm just going to answer like how I did last time.

The choice of material depend on several qualities. Being strong is not the only requirement. It must still be light and flexible enough to counter deadly metal fatigue that may be caused by the pressurisation and depressurisation of the cabin. That was the problem with the 1949 British de Havilland Comet. Anyway, I doubt even black box material can survive a 500 knots crash. The momentem would be too great.

Answer 3

Doesnt matter how strng you make something, the weak link is always the human element.
In an impact, the the energy is transferred to the airframe and its occupants. If you built a jet that would survive with just scuffed paintwork (which is impossible but lets assume) the energy would break your spine and you would be dead instantly.
Modern jets have crumple zones just like your car. The baggage hold is meant to provide cushioning in an impact and that means its not transferrd to the passengers.

This leaves out the fact that the weight increase would mean the jet couldnt fly at all. Plus the strength of a flight recorder isnt in the materials, its in the shapes in the design of the frame. Lots of triangles rather then squares increases inherent strength massively.

Answer 4

Can someone, please, for the love of all things Holy, take this question out and shoot it?

Build bicycle out of bricks and jump onto a busy road in front of a beer truck; the frame might survive, you probably won't. If you were smart enough to put the card from your laptop in your backpack, and armed your brick bicycle with control input sensors, the whole world will know how, or why, you wound up dead or mangled.

When, for whatever reason, an airplane gets smeared on the ground, there's not much guarantee that a CVR or FDR is going to be recoverable.

To draw an equivalent, bigger heavier cars, take the 1970 Cadillac for instance, was bigger, heavier, and seated as many people as a modern mini-van; it used a lot more petrol and despite having shoulder restraints in addition to lap belts, was more likely to result in demise of the people within it at the time of collision than the mini-van.

Electronics can be engineered to withstand much greater deccelerational forces and temperatures than the human body. The airframe can often withstand more deccelerational forces and heat than the passengers and crew can.

As the exact same question has popped up several times this week, I have to wonder if it never once occured to you to look in the "discover" section to find a satisfactory answer to your question.

Design an airplane built out of spring steel, that way, it will just bounce back into the air if something goes wrong; it will certainly become industry standard. Everyone aboard will still be just as dead from blunt-force trauma, but the airframe will survive.

I'm sure you know better than an aviation industry that's been around and evolving carefully for more than 100 years.

DGI

Answer 5

For people that are not involved in the aviation industry or in fact have never actually seen a black box, it is a very valid question. There are a couple of factors that contribute to the survival of the black box during a crash; 1) what it is constructed off , 2) the way it is constructed, and 3) where it is located in the aircraft.

There is usually at the very least two black boxes on the aircraft; the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR).

The CVR works on a loop where it records for a certain amount of time and then starts over; I believe most are on thirty minute loop. You will hear pilots speak about a sterile cockpit, this is a term referring to keeping the cockpit quiet and only speaking about what needs to be said, i.e. reading a checklist or talking with air traffic controller. This allows the CVR to pickup both the pilots voices as well as any noises that may be made in the cockpit, i.e. thud, bang, or switches going on and off.

The FDR similar to the CVR works on a loop, but covers a larger amount of time. The FDR stores all different types of specific aircraft parameters. Some of the items that the FDR records are engine temperatures and controls of the aircraft (ex: flaps).



Both recorders are equipped with their specific recording devices, memory boards, etc… the main guts of the black box. Most of the boards are surrounded by a thin layer of aluminum. Surrounding the aluminum is a form of high-temperature insulation. This layer protects the memory board in case there is a fire on board the aircraft or resulting from the crash. The outside of the “black box” is made of usually stainless steel, although sometimes titanium can be used. This shell is designed to be the armor of the black box.



Each FDR and CVR is constructed in such ways that they can withstand large amounts of pressure, fire and water damage. The companies that build the black boxes put each unit through many tests that reenact they events that can occur during a crash of an aircraft.



Lastly one of the major reasons that the black boxes can withstand the impact of the crash is where they are located in the aircraft. Most are located in the back of the aircraft. This allows the rest of the plane to take the impact of the crash – be it the crash zone. Some black boxes are even equipped with self ejecting units, which allow the black box to separate itself from the rest of the aircraft.

Answer 6

Ahh yes, the old question of why isn't the entire plane made out of the same material as the FDR.

Quite simply, not only would the plane never leave the ground, but in all likelihood, the landing gear would buckle from the weight.

Answer 7

Funny that they keep call it a black box... Its an orange box, and i prefer to call it a flight data recorder.

Besides, they are usually located in the tail of the plane, so there's a pretty large buffer zone before the "black box" is damaged. Tail section usually get the least damage in a crash.

Answer 8

For the same reason other answers stated in this question, which has been asked more times than many of us care to count.

The aircraft would be too bloody heavy to leave the ground.

Answer 9

Too expensive, and too heavy. Consider the immense force that landing gear experience on landing.... An aircraft can be MUCH heavier on takeoff then it can safely land with. As a result, if a plane has to make an emergency landing shortly after takeoff, they would have to dump fuel.

Answer 10

That's either the oldest joke in the world or the most asked question at Yahoo Answers. It's made of heavy steel. You wouldn't get off the ground in a plane made of it.
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It would make more sense to make them out of Nerf.
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