- The ATSB’s central office in Canberra, houses specialist technical facilities for the download and analysis of recorded audio and flight data information.
The latest hit on Netflix may well tell us that Orange is the New Black but in the aviation safety world, we have known that for half a century.
An aircraft’s flight recorders which are popularly known as ‘black boxes’, are painted orange so they can be easily found following an accident.
Black boxes are an important tool for investigators in identifying the factors behind an accident. Recorders usually comprise two individual boxes: the Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR) and the Flight Data Recorder (FDR).
The ATSB’s central office in Canberra, houses specialist technical facilities for the download and analysis of recorded audio and flight data information. Australia is one of a few countries in the Asia-Pacific region with these facilities and we regularly provide assistance and expertise to international investigations.
If an accident occurs at night in a remote area or at sea, the flight recorders may be the main, if not only, means of establishing the sequence of events just before the accident. At the very least, CVR and FDR data can help the work of the on-site investigation team as it examines the wreckage, and can save many months in the overall investigation.
Flight recorders are particularly useful for cases in which evidence is transitory, e.g. occurrences involving environmental factors like windshear and severe turbulence. Data from flight recorders can reveal the sudden effects of windshear on an aircraft’s flight path without which, it may be difficult or impossible to determine with certainty the factors associated with an accident. The evidence available from flight recordings has shown that investigators can underestimate or misunderstand the effect of environmental factors like windshear.
Virgin Australia pilots on a tour of ATSB’s technical facilities
More about Black box flight recorders