Vehicle: Airplane: Black Box
new black box   (+2, -4)  [vote for, against]
easy, reliable, safe

Ok when ever a plan crashes we always have to search for the black box and its a pain to find (if it survives) why not have an ejecting black box that ejects by pilot command or auto at the last second if there is a sudden drop in altitude or major mechanical failure a fire or explosion, and if the pilot has time he could even type a message saying exactly what went wrong, after ejecting it would Parashoot down safely to earth surrounded by a little raft type thing incase it is in water, once ejected a GPS signal is turned on and with a simple locator the safety personal can find it and analyze it.

I also want to thank everyone in advance for telling me that I can't spell, sorry I'm 14
-- Half-Life, Sep 04 2002

[Half-Life], Please learn to spell. I do not doubt your ability to write using the correct grammar, so please do so.
-- BinaryCookies, Sep 04 2002


<pedant> correctly. and I'm not sure about grammatically in that context - how about "to write grammar correctly" or "to write using the correct grammar?" </pedant> (hope the irony isn't lost on you ;op )
-- yamahito, Sep 04 2002


Fixed, [yamahito]. I seem to have a tendency to make up words with a -y at the end...
-- BinaryCookies, Sep 04 2002


{obligatory first-word-is-"ok" fishbone}
-- waugsqueke, Sep 05 2002


OK, When the plane crashes the black box will run around the cabin gathering up all the passengers and crew, then it will fly down to the ground and place them gently down, after checking they are all ok it will fly back up to the plane and take over the controls guiding the plane to a perfect 3 point landing.
-- Gulherme, Sep 05 2002


Did anyone else get out of breath reading that idea? Ooh, what a long sentence.
[Half-life]: Being 14 does not, of itself, excuse poor spelling.
Part of the point of a flight data recorder (aka "black box", although they're usually orange) is that it records the last dying impulses of the aircraft. Ejecting it before that would rather defeat the object. Also, although it may be mixed up with all the other parts of the wreckage, it will, at least, be in the same general area. The locator beacon part of the idea is baked in current FDRs.
-- angel, Sep 05 2002


FDRs and CVRs are pretty heavilly arrmoured, and these days they're solid state, using FLASH memory, so they're very tough.

But for some situations, an additional ejectable system might have some merits and is worth considering.
-- 8th of 7, Sep 05 2002


"The plane landed safely despite the ejection of the black box flight recorder. As a result, the circumstances around the narrowly avoided mid-air collision, which followed about 20 minutes after the heroic pilots steered the plane away from the mountainside (hence the black box ejection) will never be known."
-- PeterSilly, Sep 05 2002


I was just wondering if they couldn't continuously beam the information from the black box to a satellite, rather than storing it on magnetic tape or whatever they use, thus removing the necessity to locate the box.
-- pottedstu, Sep 05 2002


I think that was suggested on a previous 'improved FDR' idea (possibly by your elf).
-- angel, Sep 05 2002


//OK when ever a plan crashes//

I think this plan just crashed..
-- Mr Burns, Sep 05 2002


//ejects by pilot command or auto at the last second //

Rather like the cartoon character stepping off the falling 'whatever' just before it hits the ground?
-- drew, Sep 05 2002


Right. I can see it now. Co-pilots madly typing away on a little keyboard inside a burning plane, journaling the last seconds of their doom, with the Pilot dictating while trying to shoot the terrorist who's just come through the door.

Reminds me of a Monty Python classic. "'Here may be found the last moments of Flight 442. He who is valiant and pure of spirit may find the Holy Flight Recorder #2 in the Castle of aaaaaagggh'.
What?
'...The Castle of aaaaaagggh'.
What is that?
He must have died while typing it.
Oh, come on!
Well, that's what it says.
Look, if he was dying, he wouldn't bother to carve 'aaaaaggh'. He'd just say it!
Well, that's what's carved in the rock!
Perhaps he was dictating.
Oh, shut up...
-- RayfordSteele, Sep 06 2002


not a bad thought.

as was brought up this would have to be in addition to the recorders mandated by the FAA. With current technology, there's no reason multiple inexpensive parachute equiped recorders ( or just the media ) couldnt be ejected. They would have cheap 100 mw transmitters that would be good for days.

The trigger for the deployment would be an event such as fire, loss of altitude or control, or set off by GPWS ( ground proximity warning system )

pottedstu brings up continuously beaming information, and with the advent of sat communication, that would be easy enough to do also.
-- ferd77, Sep 07 2002


The pilot and copilot are usually too busy trying to keep the black box from being necessary to type a little Hallmark moment. It's only if those efforts fail that it becomes necessary.

The boxes already have radio beacons, I believe. The biggest problem in finding them is that they tend to be at the bottom of an airplane shaped crater with the remains of a quite large machine on top of them.

Being 14 is no excuse for not being able to spell, or at least spell-check.
-- StarChaser, Sep 07 2002


Having a continuous stream of data to a satilite and down to an airport could be the future of black boxes, but that would need a sort of antenna, and do you want to have to wait longer for a flight, just because their was less room due to the antenna.
-- weaselfan, Dec 16 2007


Yeah, but data links like this are notoriously unreliable. The first few plane crashes during thunderstorms, when the investigators have absolutely no data to go off because the data link was down, and we'll be back the the ol' black (or fluoro orange, as it were) box.
-- Custardguts, Dec 17 2007


Sounds like what is needed is a couple of parachuted EPIRBS or such that could be ejected from the crashing plane, so that they could guide the rescuers or FAA to the crash site like landing lights. I'm sure the signal off a parachuted beacon would be way better than one on a crashed plane. Drop two beacons going in and the FAA an use those to line up your final destination.
-- MisterQED, Dec 17 2007


Don't all 'bone at once.....

It would make economic (if no other sense) to equip one or all members of the cockpit crew with an ejection seat.

This would have a number of benefits:

1. The investigators get to speak directly to a qualified and trained observer(s) who was present during the incident.

2. At least one life is saved (hopefully).

Sadly it would not be possible to save any of the passengers; this may be due to a number of reasons, but it isn't possible to equip personnel transport aircraft with ejection seats - neither the airframe nor the passenders would cope with them.

It seems to make little sense to condemn the pilots to go down with the aircraft if their lives at least could be saved.
-- 8th of 7, Dec 17 2007


[8th of 7] in the long run I doubt you'd save a life. The escaped crew member would undoubtedly suffer survivor's guilt and probably be useless or suicidal from then on. Also it removes one of the few people who could help avoid the crash. i.e. The 747 with no hydraulics which was landed using just throttles. Also I'd think a giant hole in the roof of the cockpit would be distracting to the remaining crew. The only upside is you would now have smeplace to let the terrorist sit as he attempts to highjack the plane. His assitants could stand next to him or just anywhere not buckled in.
-- MisterQED, Dec 17 2007


[MisterQED], the proposal is for a zero-zero seat that can be used just before impact.

[bigsleep] this "drunken pilot" business is just press hysteria; 99.9% of pilots are sober, highly responsible, and truly dedicated. Besides, some pilots are still a hundred times better even when drunk than some others when totally sober.

[UB] esp. if it was one of those parliamentary "fact-finding" junkets ....
-- 8th of 7, Dec 17 2007


Perhaps there could be two black boxes, one of which does this, while the other doesn't. Also, the one that does could be fired toward the back, so as to stay out of the wreckage.

Being 14 myself, I have a better point of veiw on which to base an assertion that being 14 does not, in itself, excuse your floccinaucinihilipilification of spelling, grammer, and punctuation.
-- apocalyps956, Dec 17 2007



random, halfbakery