Collaborators

💡 Did You Know?

The common name for a flight recorder is a misnomer, as Dutch mentions an airplane's "black box" isn't actually black, but bright orange. The term black box originated in the 1940's during World War II, at the time flight recorders were a new concept and contained experimental electronics, the boxes they were stored in were painted black so that it would be difficult for the enemy to find them in plane wreckage. Sensitive and classified technology on aircraft such as portable radar systems were also housed inside black boxes for protection. Following the end of the war when flight recorder technology was no longer classified and exclusive to the government, commercial aviation companies began installing fight recorders on their aircraft. It was at this point that they were painted bright orange in order for them to be more easily located amongst a plane's wreckage, even though that was almost 80 years ago the name black box has still stuck.