What are Black boxes in airplane?
Black box is word use for Flight recorder, which is an electronic device that records the activities in airplane. Depending upon its location it can be of two types-
Are they compulsory?
Yes, they are compulsory on any commercial flight or corporate jet, and are usually kept in the tail of an aircraft, where they are more likely to survive a crash.
How long audios are recorded ?
Only two hours of cockpit voice recording, which is recorded over itself in a loop. It records the chat of pilots or any external sound. This can be crucial for investigations.
How a black box is found if airplane crashes?
Black boxes are fitted with an underwater locator beacon that starts emitting a pulse if its sensor touches water. They work to a depth of just over four kilometres, and can "ping" once a second for 30 days before the battery runs out. So it is important to find the black box before it battery dies out. For Ex- MH 370 that crashed in Indian Ocean.
Why in news?
Recently Iran has denied handover of Ukrainian flight blackbox to western countries. This flight was clashed due to Iran’s missile launch.