"Don't open" - the gift left by the inventor of the black box to mankind

Tribute to David Warren, the inventor of the "black box". He found the key to the black box of air crashes.

Written by Qu Lijian

At about 2:00 pm on March 21, 2022, China Eastern Airlines Flight 5735 (hereinafter referred to as China Eastern Airlines MU5735) crashed in Wuzhou, Guangxi. This day was also the second day of the 97th birthday of David Warren (1925-2010), the inventor of the "black box". The incident shocked and saddened everyone. The cause of the accident can only be determined after the "black box" data is analyzed. At present, two "black boxes" have been found. We look forward to finding out the truth as soon as possible, comforting the souls of the victims in heaven, and giving an explanation to the families of the deceased.

Staff are searching for the black box of the crashed China Eastern Airlines plane

The official name of the "black box" is Flight Recorder. It is a powerful tool for analyzing the truth of air crashes, learning lessons from air crashes, and improving aviation safety.

What is the story of the inventor of the “black box”?

Inventing alone

Before the middle of the last century, the world's aviation trend was led by a company that no longer exists - the British de Havilland Company. At that time, air travel was still a high-risk activity, and de Havilland, the leader in the aviation industry, suffered air crashes almost every year.

In the year between October 1934 and October 1935, two De Havilland aircraft disappeared in Australia, and none of the crew survived. The plane crash in 1934 caused 9-year-old David Warren to lose his father.

David Warren (far right) and his family photo. His father (far left) died in a plane crash.

Warren with the radio his father left him

As a student, David Warren obtained a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Sydney and later obtained a PhD in Chemistry from Imperial College London.

From 1952, Warren began working as a scientist at the Australian Aeronautical Research Laboratory in Melbourne, conducting fuel research.

At this time, de Havilland's leading position in the world's aviation industry was further consolidated. In 1946, the company launched the first civil airliner powered by a jet engine, named "de Havilland Comet", which was a milestone in the history of civil aviation.

The Comet airliner entered service in 1952, and its maiden flight made a world sensation. This aircraft heralded that ordinary people could easily travel across continents.

Comet

However, the good times did not last long, and Comet airliners crashed one after another.

In 1953, Warren was appointed to the Comet crash investigation team.

There were few clues in the accident investigation, and it was difficult to make progress, which was frustrating. One day, a member of the investigation team suggested that the plane might have been destroyed by terrorists. Warren thought that he had just gone to an instrument exhibition a week ago and saw the world's first pocket recorder Minifon exhibited in the Federal Republic of Germany. If a similar recorder was installed in the cockpit of the plane, and the recorder was found in the wreckage after the plane crashed, wouldn't it be easy to know what happened on the plane?

Warren holds the Minifon recorder, the inspiration for the flight data recorder

He then planned to develop a waterproof, fireproof and impact-proof tape recorder to be installed in the cockpit of an airplane. However, his boss scoffed at this idea and warned him not to do such unprofessional activities during working hours. He could do it in his spare time, but he had to keep it confidential to avoid being exposed and embarrassed.

Warren started it in his garage.

In 1955, Warren welcomed a new boss, Tom Keeble. Warren told his new boss about his ideas, and Keeble was very supportive.

Warren worked hard, repeatedly testing on the test aircraft, and finally built the first prototype in 1958 - the ARL Flight Memory Unit, ARL being the acronym for Warren's work unit, Aeronautical Research Laboratory.

The ARL flight memory uses a magnetized steel wire with a diameter of 0.05mm as the storage medium. It can store 4 hours of cockpit sound. There is also equipment to record data such as wind speed, altitude, and cabin pressure. When the storage is full, the new information will automatically erase the oldest information, so it can be used all the time without frequent replacement.

ARL flight recorder, the first prototype of a flight recorder.

To Warren's disappointment, the Australian Civil Aviation Authority said directly that they didn't think his invention would be useful, and the Air Force asked, what else can you expect to hear besides the pilots' last-minute curses? The pilots' union reacted particularly strongly, saying that this thing is designed to monitor pilots, and pilots don't want to work in an environment where "Big Brother is listening to you."

Years of hard work in vain?

At this time, Warren met a noble person who helped him.

Foreign monks have a keen eye for talent

One day, Robert Hardingham, Secretary General of the Aircraft Technical Inspection and Registration Bureau of the United Kingdom, came to visit and listened to Warren's explanation of his invention. Hardingham immediately saw the great significance of this invention and immediately booked a flight ticket for Warren to fly to the United Kingdom.

Warren installed his invention on the plane he was on, and as it happened, the plane really crashed.

The plane lost an engine over the Mediterranean Sea. The plane should have made an emergency landing in Tunisia. However, the weather in Tunisia was too hot, with temperatures reaching over 40 degrees Celsius at night. The pilot didn't want to endure the hot weather and decided to try his luck and fly back to the UK with the remaining three engines.

Fortunately, the plane arrived safely in the UK.

After landing, Warren turned on the recording and learned that after a brief discussion, the pilots decided to continue the risky flight. He said that if the plane was really destroyed and everyone on board died, leaving the flight memory intact, the embarrassment would be for those Australian bastards, but the price they paid was too high.

The British media was particularly interested in Warren's invention. The BBC interviewed Warren and produced a special program for him. In his later years, Warren speculated that the name "black box" might have come from these programs. In the British Royal Air Force, the informal name for electronic equipment is "black box" (when referring to electronic equipment, the more appropriate translation is "black box"). The BBC also used this term to refer to Warren's invention. In fact, his invention has been a striking orange-red color since its birth, which is easy to search, and it has been used to this day. The informal name "black box" that "does not live up to its name" is also used to this day.

This air crash changed the fate of flight recorders, which were not taken seriously in their own country. When Warren returned to Australia from the UK, his unit took it seriously and formed a special team for him to help him continue to improve the prototype and conduct trial production.

Insight into the air crash, no regrets in life

On June 10, 1960, a tragic plane crash occurred in Queensland, Australia, killing all 29 people on board, including 9 children. The accident investigation lasted for several months, but there was no conclusion except for arguments and speculation.

Chief Investigator Judge John Spicer learned of Warren's invention during the investigation and pointed out that accident investigations would be much easier if the aircraft were equipped with a domestically invented flight recorder.

Sir John Spicer (March 5, 1899 - January 3, 1978) was an Australian lawyer, judge and politician who pushed the Australian government to require civil aviation to install flight recorders.

John Spicer begins campaigning for the government to introduce a system to make flight recorders mandatory on civilian airliners.

However, the biggest resistance to this action came from the pilots' union, who still regarded flight recorders as "Big Brother's" monitoring devices.

Warren personally stepped in to refute this perception. He said that the device only stores recordings four hours before the accident, and recordings before that are automatically and permanently erased, without affecting privacy. The final recording can reveal the cause of the accident, allowing the industry to learn lessons and continuously improve safety factors, and the biggest beneficiary is the pilot.

Finally, the pilots' union backed down.

In January 1963, Australia became the first country in the world to require civil aviation to be equipped with flight recorders. Subsequently, the United States and the United Kingdom introduced similar laws in 1964 and 1965 respectively.

Flight recorders are gradually becoming standard equipment in civil aviation.

After an aircraft accident occurs, the flight data and voice information recorded in the "black box" are the most accurate and detailed clues used by aviation experts to analyze the cause of the aircraft accident.

Not only that, the "black box" also helps the aviation industry identify safety hazards, improve safety factors, and make continuous progress in safety. The risk of dying from air travel is halved every ten years, making airplanes the safest means of transportation.

Neither Warren nor his work unit applied for a patent for the flight recorder, nor did they produce and sell it themselves. Instead, they licensed it to a British company for free.

The first mass-produced spherical flight recorder in the UK was called the "Red Egg".

Today’s flight recorders have a message on them saying “Flight Recorder, Do Not Open.”

After that, Warren gradually stopped working on flight recorders and instead engaged in his old profession, fuel research, and achieved certain success.

As time went by and flight recorders continued to develop, the name David Warren faded into obscurity in the aviation world.

It was not until the 21st century that Warren's contributions were recognized and he received many honors.

A reporter asked him if he felt it was unfair. Warren replied that this invention did benefit the government, but he had hundreds of other inventions that were ultimately useless, and the government didn't ask him to pay compensation.

Warren died in 2010, displaying his humor one last time. His urn reads: "Inventor of the flight recorder. Do not open."

Warren's urn has the words "Inventor of the flight recorder, do not open."

References

https://www.bbc.com/zhongwen/trad/world-49204852

https://wingmag.com/en/black-box-part-1-an-incredible-story

https://spectrum.ieee.org/the-inventor-of-the-black-box-was-told-to-drop-the-idea-and-get-on-with-blowing-up-fuel-tanks

http://havkar.com/en/blog/view/history-of-the-fdr-flight-data-recorder/107

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-27/black-box-inventor-david-warren-may-never-be-a-household-name/8293656

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Warren_(inventor)

https://kenblackbox.com/blackbox.htm

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