Black box: Inside a flight data recorder

Bill opens up a vintage "black box" from a Delta airlines jetliner. He describes how the box withstands high temperatures and crash velocities because it is made from Inconel: A superalloy steels that is used in furnaces and others extreme environments. The flight data recorder he shows is a Sundstrand FA-542 and was likely used on a DC-9 in the 1970s, although it could have been used as late as 1988 on a Boeing 727.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• Bill Hammack
• University of Illinois
• engineer guy
• black box
• flight data reco rder
• DC 9
• Boeing 727

[DiamondPilotDan]

... Nice haircut

[engineerguyvideo]

@DiamondPilotDan Thanks!

[Cketzalcoatl]

I'm a material scientist specialising in Nickel base superalloys so allow me to say: Aaarghh, Inconel isn't a steel alloy! As the name would imply, it's mostly Nickel (40 - 70% Ni depending on the exact alloy), they may have a bit of iron in there but it isn't more than 10%. But anyway, awesome videos!

[engineerguyvideo]

@Cketzalcoatl Fair enough ... now that I reflect on it I guess the definition of steel would must iron based. These superalloys are fascinating. I wish I could have done more with them: they have made life changing differences in our world. BTW a prime example of how engineering doesn't always need a fundamental scientific understanding for success: E.g., if I recall gamma hardening observed and used before detailed mechanistic studies of the 1960s. (Note that "always" in the statement!)

[MisterErts]

A pity you don't have any modern ones to compare it to. The new ones are much smaller and store all data digitally (it has been the law to have digital ones for the last 20 years), and they don't have any internal instruments. Absolutely no one in the industry calls them black boxes.

[engineerguyvideo]

@MisterErts I agree. We just could not get a hold of a modern one, at least not a cheap one! I agree with the "black box" usage in the industry, that's why I really wanted to get across the phrase "flight data recorder."

[Tonynz]

.............. but will it blend????

[engineerguyvideo]

@ScampiCheese 1) I do like what I'm doing ... I'm truly thrilled about these old engineering things (pop cans, coffee makers, typewriters, etc), 2) I was on public radio for a long time ... its that old NPR voice modulation transfered to YouTube ;-) P.S. All my old radio pieces are on my web site ... give the ice hotel a try ... its my favorite.

[TheThirdGerman]

Every single video on this channel is just beyond excellent. 

[vitormangraviti]

Hiya. Do you think that these devices will eventually be replaced by SSD drives? As we all know, SSD drives can take much greater impacts than normal HD drives. I believe that the kind of data that can be stored in a digital drive would be much more accurate than a bunch of needles and the amount of data can be much larger as well.

If you think about it, the SSD drives can be customized for this kind of application as well as the outer box.

Maybe I will invent that and get rich. Wanna join me?

[darkheat246]

Wouldn't that be dated modern black boxes use advance ram and memory chips.

[whammack]

@DiamondPilotDan My reply too!

[DiamondPilotDan]

@engineerguyvideo sercasm

[poodoo138]

-Make houses, cars, and planes out of sane framework found in blackboxes

-No one ever dies

[TheWelschman]

Aerogel would be a great thing to use for a heat resistant, that is only if you're looking for something that is light weight.