WEBVTT - SYSK Selects: How Black Boxes Work 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:04.120 Hey, everyone, it's me Josh and for this week's s 0:00:04.240 --> 0:00:07.440 Y s K Selects, I've chosen How Black Boxes Work, 0:00:07.960 --> 0:00:11.440 which I had forgotten, was a special request from our 0:00:11.520 --> 0:00:15.720 good friend Cormack Ron Dazzo, who is an absolute cute kid. 0:00:15.920 --> 0:00:18.079 Where he was at the time that this came out 0:00:18.320 --> 0:00:21.079 and now he's a cool dude from what I understand. 0:00:21.800 --> 0:00:24.800 At any rate, Kick back and enjoy a look at 0:00:24.840 --> 0:00:30.320 an amazing invention that can survive a plane crash. Welcome 0:00:30.320 --> 0:00:32.560 to Stuff you Should Know, a production of My Heart 0:00:32.640 --> 0:00:41.080 Radios How Stuff Works. Hey, and welcome to the podcast. 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:44.720 I'm Josh Clark and they're sitting by me. Is Chuck 0:00:44.800 --> 0:00:49.840 Bryant across from you and Jerry Rowland beside us. Yeah, 0:00:50.880 --> 0:00:54.280 here we are. Yeah, this is stuff you should Hey, 0:00:54.280 --> 0:00:58.200 and this is a fan request by one of our 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:02.640 younger fans. Yeah, when Cormack run Dazzo, it's right, our buddy, 0:01:02.720 --> 0:01:05.760 Joe's son and wife Cat. They all listen as a 0:01:05.800 --> 0:01:11.120 family and it's adorable they shout at their stereo as 0:01:11.160 --> 0:01:13.759 a family. Yeah, apparently Cat shouted at the stereo. When 0:01:13.800 --> 0:01:18.560 you didn't remember thirteen year old girls doing fingerspelling sign language, 0:01:19.080 --> 0:01:21.200 Joe said, cat was like, how can he not have 0:01:21.319 --> 0:01:26.880 known this? That's all we did. It wasn't around um Toledo. Yeah, 0:01:26.880 --> 0:01:28.440 and you know what, Emily didn't know about it either, 0:01:28.480 --> 0:01:31.560 and she was in Ohio, So maybe it's everywhere but Ohio, 0:01:31.840 --> 0:01:36.959 Ohio colon left behind as usual. It's pretty funny. But yeah, 0:01:37.040 --> 0:01:40.679 Cormack suggested that we do an episode on black box 0:01:40.720 --> 0:01:43.680 flight recorders, and that's what we're doing. Yeah, so Chuck, 0:01:43.920 --> 0:01:47.560 if you'll indulge me before we get started. Um. I 0:01:47.600 --> 0:01:49.880 don't know if you remember, but a couple of years ago, 0:01:50.640 --> 0:01:54.680 a fans and in some day planners for us UM 0:01:54.720 --> 0:01:57.360 that were like year long day planners. The the ones 0:01:57.400 --> 0:02:00.000 made out of old library books, yeah, and like um 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:04.720 and they had like like day coupage like liquor stuff 0:02:05.360 --> 0:02:09.080 on the on The covers are great perfect. I can't 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:13.280 find anything even remotely that good anywhere I've been looking 0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:16.679 for a while. So dear listener, if you're still out 0:02:16.680 --> 0:02:19.280 there and you were listening, UM, get in touch with us, 0:02:19.280 --> 0:02:21.440 because I would love to buy those from you. Every year. 0:02:21.720 --> 0:02:24.119 Oh yeah you like those? Oh they were great? Yeah yeah, 0:02:24.160 --> 0:02:27.040 you mean went crazy for it. Yeah, So if you 0:02:27.960 --> 0:02:31.120 are that person, get in touch with us. Put in 0:02:31.160 --> 0:02:34.360 the subject line, I'm the person Josh is looking for 0:02:34.919 --> 0:02:40.720 our day planners. Yeah, okay, thank you, Chuck. So we're 0:02:40.720 --> 0:02:44.040 talking black boxes, that's right, it's pretty interesting. I thought, yeah, 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:46.280 we should probably put to rest the inane question of 0:02:46.400 --> 0:02:51.400 if they can make something like a black box that 0:02:51.480 --> 0:02:54.040 can survive an airplane car crash, why don't you just 0:02:54.080 --> 0:02:56.600 make the whole airplane out of a black box material? 0:02:56.919 --> 0:03:00.280 And the answer is because it wouldn't fly. Simp is 0:03:00.320 --> 0:03:02.200 that Yeah, So I'm glad we got that out of 0:03:02.240 --> 0:03:04.680 the way. Yeah, and they're also we should go ahead 0:03:04.720 --> 0:03:07.800 and say right up front, they're not black. Uh, they're 0:03:07.960 --> 0:03:11.200 generally like bright orange with like reflective tape and things, 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:12.920 because you want to be able to find it. Yeah, 0:03:13.280 --> 0:03:16.520 amongst the rubble as of the I think the sixties 0:03:16.560 --> 0:03:18.840 or seventies, there became a mandate where you had to 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:21.000 paint them bright orange so you could find them. But 0:03:21.120 --> 0:03:23.880 they think that they were called black boxes originally because 0:03:23.880 --> 0:03:28.040 either the original ones were black or because it was 0:03:28.120 --> 0:03:32.240 kind of a grim moniker because the boxes will become 0:03:32.320 --> 0:03:35.160 charred in the wreckage and turn black. Yeah, I saw 0:03:35.200 --> 0:03:38.360 another explanation to that. I don't think holds water. That 0:03:38.400 --> 0:03:41.920 they were initially like round and red and uh, when 0:03:41.960 --> 0:03:43.920 they first debuted it, someone in the room said, oh, 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:48.040 what a nice black box, as a smarmie thing to say. 0:03:48.080 --> 0:03:50.240 I guess about something that's round and red. I don't 0:03:50.240 --> 0:03:52.640 know if that holds water though. Yeah. It's weird all around. 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.800 And apparently in the aviation industry they don't call them 0:03:55.800 --> 0:03:58.160 black boxes anyway. That's like something for the news media 0:03:58.200 --> 0:04:02.360 and jerks like us, they probably call them crash survivalbal 0:04:02.720 --> 0:04:05.720 memory units. I think what they column is either one 0:04:05.760 --> 0:04:09.000 of the two things that are either a flight data 0:04:09.080 --> 0:04:15.440 recorder or a voice box. Well, there's a there's a 0:04:15.440 --> 0:04:19.440 lot of um. Yeah, it's not that hard. But because 0:04:19.480 --> 0:04:22.800 of the media and in part because of this article, uh, 0:04:22.880 --> 0:04:27.880 it's very unclear that black boxes are different things. Yeah, 0:04:27.880 --> 0:04:30.560 there's two different we'll get into it, but there's really 0:04:30.560 --> 0:04:32.800 two different kinds. And what you would think of as 0:04:32.800 --> 0:04:37.159 a black box is actually a group of components the 0:04:37.200 --> 0:04:40.960 system that yeah, that formed this system that's meant to 0:04:41.760 --> 0:04:47.440 record the flight data and the cockpit um sounds, which 0:04:47.520 --> 0:04:50.080 is the discussion and the beeps and the pings and 0:04:50.120 --> 0:04:53.120 all that of every single flight that goes into the 0:04:53.160 --> 0:04:58.080 air commercial flight. Yeah, um, in order, and then it 0:04:58.200 --> 0:05:00.200 is housed in a way that it will survive. I've 0:05:00.560 --> 0:05:04.240 even a horrible plane crash. It's frequently the only survivor 0:05:04.279 --> 0:05:06.000 of a plane crash. Yeah. And we'll get to the 0:05:06.040 --> 0:05:07.520 testing of these which I thought was kind of the 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:09.919 coolest part later. Yeah, I thought so too. And the 0:05:09.960 --> 0:05:12.200 whole point is, of course, is to get all the 0:05:12.279 --> 0:05:15.279 data to figure out what happened in a plane crash, 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:19.760 what happened, because very frequently that it's not. Again, if 0:05:19.760 --> 0:05:23.560 it's the sole survivor, then there's no one there to say, oh, 0:05:23.600 --> 0:05:27.080 well there's fire. There's fire. It's somebody lit a fire 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:30.200 in the cabin and and the whole the plane blew up. Yeah, 0:05:30.240 --> 0:05:32.640 but you could hit play and you're the pilots going 0:05:32.760 --> 0:05:35.240 someone lit a fire in the cabin, right, and there 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:37.719 you have it. Yeah, but it's a little more complicated 0:05:37.720 --> 0:05:41.479 than that. Uh. And goes back to UH. In the 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:45.440 nineteen forties, there was a Finish aviation engineer named V. A. 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:52.799 Ho which doesn't sound finish, um the immigration and he 0:05:53.120 --> 0:05:56.800 did some of the first UM flight recording was something 0:05:56.800 --> 0:05:59.560 called the Mata Harre for World War two planes test 0:05:59.600 --> 0:06:02.279 flights basically, but I think it was only like instrument 0:06:02.320 --> 0:06:06.200 readings at the time. It wasn't recording uh uh, any 0:06:06.279 --> 0:06:10.440 voices like cockpit recording. Well, supposedly the right brothers had 0:06:10.520 --> 0:06:13.599 some sort of recording device to record the propeller rotation. 0:06:13.640 --> 0:06:16.480 That's pretty cool. Yeah, it's like there's been flight data 0:06:16.720 --> 0:06:19.320 ever since there's been flight that's awesome. I found that 0:06:19.400 --> 0:06:22.120 an Australian named David Warren was the one who really 0:06:22.120 --> 0:06:24.440 came up with the black box recorder. Yeah, he's the 0:06:24.480 --> 0:06:28.920 one that brought the voices into it, the actual audio recording. Okay, yeah, yeah, 0:06:28.920 --> 0:06:32.360 he was. He was a member of a crash investigation 0:06:32.880 --> 0:06:35.240 for a mysterious plane crash and he thought it would 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:37.240 be really good if we had like a recording of 0:06:37.279 --> 0:06:39.760 what was going on at the time. So he developed him. Yeah, 0:06:39.880 --> 0:06:42.120 he's like that, you couldn't be too hard. And that 0:06:42.279 --> 0:06:45.919 was the fifties I believe, and they became widespread and 0:06:45.960 --> 0:06:49.000 mandated in the sixties. Yeah, in Australia. It was the 0:06:49.040 --> 0:06:53.680 first country and I guess even continent to make the mandatory. 0:06:54.000 --> 0:06:58.960 So go uh ozzy uzzy AZZI good on you. So um. 0:06:59.080 --> 0:07:03.359 Initially the the black box recorders were UM recording on 0:07:03.440 --> 0:07:07.680 magnetic tape, and then they moved in the strangely enough, 0:07:07.680 --> 0:07:10.000 in the late nineties early two thousands. It wasn't until 0:07:10.680 --> 0:07:16.120 UMO eight that they fully switched. Yeah, that the f 0:07:16.240 --> 0:07:18.760 a A mandated in two thousand five. There was a 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:21.560 list of proposed rules, and one of them was, let's 0:07:21.560 --> 0:07:24.880 get rid of magnetic recorders, which no one uses anymore. 0:07:25.480 --> 0:07:28.360 That's two thousand five after all, and go to solid 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:33.320 state digital recorders. Yeah right, uh, no cassettes even um 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:36.400 and uh they the f A thought about it and 0:07:36.400 --> 0:07:38.640 thought about and thought about and finally said, okay, fine, 0:07:38.680 --> 0:07:41.480 we'll do that. One of the big reasons why was 0:07:41.840 --> 0:07:44.280 with magnetic tapes you could just record the last half 0:07:44.320 --> 0:07:48.640 hour of a cockpit conversation. Yeah, it would. It would 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:51.720 rerecord over itself every thirty minutes, which is you know, 0:07:52.960 --> 0:07:55.320 probably that's all you need. Yeah, you want to hope 0:07:55.320 --> 0:07:57.520 that your plane doesn't take thirty minutes to go down 0:07:57.880 --> 0:08:03.320 be pretty bad. Um. But the the big superiority that 0:08:03.560 --> 0:08:06.239 solid state has over that is that the recording time 0:08:06.360 --> 0:08:13.960 is far greater. Yeah, the recording media is smaller, more durable. Yeah. 0:08:13.960 --> 0:08:17.080 If you're moving parts yeah, and so it can't break 0:08:17.120 --> 0:08:20.120 down as easily. And if one part breaks you can 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:25.080 still take the solid state memory sticks and reconfigure them 0:08:25.120 --> 0:08:27.760 and get the data off of them. Still. Yeah. They 0:08:27.760 --> 0:08:31.000 cost between ten and fifteen grand each and are usually 0:08:32.040 --> 0:08:35.760 um comes straight from the manufacturer, like they work with 0:08:35.840 --> 0:08:40.920 the airline manufact airplane manufacturers themselves to like preinstall them 0:08:40.920 --> 0:08:43.120 on these planes. Right, Yeah, so you have a black 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:46.199 box manufacturer who sells them to the airlines, who are 0:08:46.720 --> 0:08:51.280 the airplane manufacturers who sell the airplanes to the airlines. 0:08:51.400 --> 0:08:53.360 With the black boxes are installed, it's like a part 0:08:53.360 --> 0:08:57.079 of the plane, that's right. Um, so we should probably 0:08:57.120 --> 0:09:00.840 explain this now it's been long enough. A black box 0:09:00.920 --> 0:09:04.040 can be one of two things, well, one of three 0:09:04.080 --> 0:09:07.360 things really, Um. It can be the flight data recorder, 0:09:08.160 --> 0:09:10.679 or it can be the cockpit voice recorder, that's right, 0:09:10.920 --> 0:09:15.960 Or it can be the crash survivable memory unit. Black 0:09:16.000 --> 0:09:19.680 box refers to all three of those. Yeah, the important thing, 0:09:20.080 --> 0:09:22.120 the only thing that really needs to survive the crash 0:09:22.280 --> 0:09:25.800 is the crash survival memory. That's where the data is 0:09:25.840 --> 0:09:30.199 sent and housed. And um, that's the one that's super 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:34.240 super beefed up to survive like a nuclear war. Basically, 0:09:35.000 --> 0:09:38.559 so on any flight, on any commercial flight, you have hundreds, 0:09:38.720 --> 0:09:42.240 if not thousands of sensors going on at all times, 0:09:42.800 --> 0:09:49.800 and they are measuring things like airspeed, altitude, uh, cabin pressure, 0:09:50.080 --> 0:09:57.559 cabin temperature, UM, wing trim everything, what are your flaps doing? Yaw? Yeah, 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:00.960 you don't just guess at yaw, you gotta measure right, right, right, 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:03.120 And so all of this information is coming into the 0:10:03.160 --> 0:10:07.440 flight computer and plugged into the flight computer is uh, well, 0:10:07.559 --> 0:10:12.200 basically it's like an upstream passive eavesdropping unit. It's called 0:10:12.200 --> 0:10:15.640 the flight Data Acquisition unit, and it takes all of 0:10:15.640 --> 0:10:19.360 this UM. That's up front, right, that's upfront with the pilots, UM. 0:10:19.400 --> 0:10:21.480 And it takes all of this incoming information and it 0:10:21.520 --> 0:10:24.000 records it. So not only is the are the pilots 0:10:24.480 --> 0:10:28.560 and the the ground control getting all this information, but 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:32.160 it's being recorded as well, UM, and it's being routed 0:10:32.200 --> 0:10:35.760 to the recorders through the Flight Data Acquisition unit. Right. 0:10:36.240 --> 0:10:38.960 So also up front in the cockpit you're gonna have 0:10:39.360 --> 0:10:42.080 at least four microphones and in some newer planes also 0:10:42.440 --> 0:10:46.160 video cameras. Yeah. That's the newest, the latest grade, right yeah, 0:10:46.240 --> 0:10:48.199 which you can't do that on magnetic tape. You know 0:10:48.240 --> 0:10:50.240 what I'm saying. Yeah, they have to start drinking vodka 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:55.160 instead of like brown liquors. What do you mean the pilots, 0:10:55.160 --> 0:10:57.840 you know, like it's water. I'm just having some h duo. 0:10:59.000 --> 0:11:03.800 That's not the Great Goose or Yeah, I'm joking. Okay, 0:11:03.960 --> 0:11:05.680 although pilots have been known to drink here and there 0:11:05.720 --> 0:11:07.440 and they get in trouble. Yeah, they should get in 0:11:07.440 --> 0:11:10.280 big trouble for they should. You're the d D Okay, 0:11:10.360 --> 0:11:12.839 if you're an airline pilot, there's no way around it. Yeah, 0:11:12.840 --> 0:11:15.400 the only you shouldn't do is drink and do drugs. 0:11:16.160 --> 0:11:19.600 So um up there to eavesdrop on the pilots, and 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:22.080 not just the pilots, but also all the sounds going 0:11:22.120 --> 0:11:26.040 on in the cockpit. Are these microphones and they're recording 0:11:26.040 --> 0:11:29.280 everything through the cockpit voice recorder. Yeah, and you talked 0:11:29.280 --> 0:11:32.000 about the sounds. That's a big deal. Like not only 0:11:32.000 --> 0:11:35.160 do you want to hear Captain Jim say, holy crap, 0:11:35.200 --> 0:11:37.920 our wing is on fire, but they want to hear 0:11:38.920 --> 0:11:41.680 thirty seconds before that if they hear just some weird 0:11:41.720 --> 0:11:44.560 noise and they're trained to pick up all that ambiance 0:11:44.600 --> 0:11:47.360 sound and experts or trained too to listen out for 0:11:47.720 --> 0:11:49.640 things that you would probably never notice. Is just a 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:52.000 regular dude, right exactly. And they can sit there and 0:11:52.040 --> 0:11:53.800 hear a ping or a thud or a knock or 0:11:53.840 --> 0:11:55.960 a combination of those things and be like, oh, I 0:11:56.040 --> 0:12:00.440 know what happened. Somebody smoked in the laboratory and kept 0:12:00.520 --> 0:12:05.360 while they were on Their cell phone is loaded, and 0:12:28.679 --> 0:12:31.280 so you've got again, you've got the cockpit voice recorder, 0:12:31.960 --> 0:12:35.160 you've got the flight data recorder, and all of that 0:12:35.280 --> 0:12:37.920 info going out to those two guys is going through 0:12:37.920 --> 0:12:40.760 the flight data acquisition unit, and it's sending the info 0:12:40.960 --> 0:12:42.840 all the way to the back of the plane, where 0:12:42.840 --> 0:12:46.439 the cockpit voice recorder and the flight data recorder are located. 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:49.400 And why is it located in the back, because the 0:12:49.480 --> 0:12:52.400 front of the plane takes up most of the force 0:12:52.440 --> 0:12:56.120 of the impact, and it's far likelier that something placed 0:12:56.160 --> 0:12:58.839 at the rear of the plane, specifically like the tail 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:02.760 cone or the aft galley ceiling or something way in 0:13:02.800 --> 0:13:06.440 the back, is going to be likelier to survive because 0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:08.880 the rest gets mushed. Yeah, we talked about that in 0:13:08.880 --> 0:13:12.920 our Surviving a Plane Crash episode. And while they won't 0:13:12.960 --> 0:13:14.719 come out and say it out right. It is a 0:13:14.760 --> 0:13:17.240 little bit safer in the back of an airplane because 0:13:17.320 --> 0:13:20.760 you usually go nose down, and by all accounts, if 0:13:20.920 --> 0:13:24.560 you drive a plane into a mountain, the captain and 0:13:24.640 --> 0:13:26.760 the co pilot are going to suffer the worst of it. 0:13:27.240 --> 0:13:31.160 Maybe if you're in the back bathroom having your cigarette, 0:13:31.360 --> 0:13:33.880 you're shaving like on airplane, you might have a chance 0:13:33.920 --> 0:13:39.320 to survive. Started like cutting itself. Uh and speaking of mountains, chuck, 0:13:39.480 --> 0:13:41.400 this is good at places any to put it. There's 0:13:41.440 --> 0:13:45.679 some something called plane crash info dot com slash last words, 0:13:46.480 --> 0:13:49.160 and there's a lot of It's not just this site. 0:13:49.160 --> 0:13:52.880 There's a lot of sites that have um recordings from 0:13:52.960 --> 0:13:56.360 black boxes, no thanks from like the last seconds or whatever. 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:59.559 And this site also has just like transcription to the 0:13:59.600 --> 0:14:04.040 last couple sentences, and one of them was mountains the 0:14:05.000 --> 0:14:07.720 last thing. But then there's been there's other ones to like, 0:14:07.840 --> 0:14:11.280 um Ma, I love you was one the last words 0:14:11.280 --> 0:14:15.240 of one pilot. Another one was Pete sorry, so I 0:14:15.280 --> 0:14:18.480 get somebody screwed up. Another one was hang on, what 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:22.120 the hell is this? Yeah? And then other ones seem 0:14:22.200 --> 0:14:24.720 like they don't realize what's about to happen. This isn't 0:14:24.720 --> 0:14:27.600 as bad as I thought it would be, right, Yeah, yeah, yeah, 0:14:27.640 --> 0:14:30.640 but it's pretty interesting stuff. Some of it's pretty grim, 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:34.160 some of it's super sad. Yeah, it's like not an 0:14:34.240 --> 0:14:36.640 uplifting things on a read on a Friday afternoon. Oh No, 0:14:36.720 --> 0:14:40.000 it's not uplifting, but it's it's definitely interesting. Yeah. I 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:43.400 would not recommend reading that before you take a flight. No. 0:14:43.600 --> 0:14:46.320 As a matter of fact, Umi was traveling UM recently 0:14:46.320 --> 0:14:49.000 while I was researching this and I met you send 0:14:49.000 --> 0:14:50.640 it to her. I was like, I can't send her this. 0:14:50.720 --> 0:14:54.960 She's got a fly back here. That's awful. UM. Alright, 0:14:55.000 --> 0:14:57.440 so we talked, Uh, let's go ahead and talk about 0:14:57.440 --> 0:14:59.920 the flight the flight data recorder. UM. You mentioned that 0:15:00.000 --> 0:15:05.400 they're all kinds of um of data being recorded, Like 0:15:05.640 --> 0:15:09.800 up to seven hundred types of data can be recorded. UM. 0:15:09.840 --> 0:15:11.720 Like they can tell when you just turn a switch on, 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:14.880 that's like it's logged all of a sudden, captain turned on, 0:15:15.440 --> 0:15:18.560 even interior cabin light switch, you know, that's all recorded. 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:24.280 And UM. The f a A they require pre two 0:15:24.280 --> 0:15:26.520 thousand two planes to have a minimum of eleven and 0:15:26.560 --> 0:15:29.320 twenty nine parameters. If it was built after two thousand 0:15:29.400 --> 0:15:33.360 to um at least eight eight parameters, right, I don't 0:15:33.360 --> 0:15:37.120 see why they just don't log at all if they can. Well, 0:15:37.160 --> 0:15:40.600 apparently like that that rule that forced up to eighty 0:15:40.640 --> 0:15:43.560 eight parameters be recorded like cost the airline industry like 0:15:43.600 --> 0:15:46.320 three million bucks or something. And that's the reason they're 0:15:46.360 --> 0:15:49.320 notoriously tight. So that's why they keep fighting it. And 0:15:49.320 --> 0:15:52.360 it's the NTSB that's saying like, let's push this along. 0:15:52.360 --> 0:15:55.160 It's two thousand five, we need to stop using magnetic 0:15:55.200 --> 0:15:57.760 reel reel right, And the f a A is like, 0:15:58.200 --> 0:16:00.360 I don't know, Well, the f A is being post 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:03.880 around by the airline industry. Well scary enough, um, I 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:05.440 guess it's a good time to mention this. There was 0:16:05.480 --> 0:16:09.120 something called the Safe Act, Safe as Asian and Flight 0:16:09.320 --> 0:16:14.080 Enhancement Act, and it's been up twice and has not 0:16:14.200 --> 0:16:17.200 passed this legislation either time. And all they're trying to 0:16:17.240 --> 0:16:21.680 do is provide a second recorder and one of them 0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.680 should be deployable in the rear, which makes sense, like 0:16:25.000 --> 0:16:27.880 if the plane hits an impact, this thing pops off 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:32.640 the back of the plane altogether and little costs. Like 0:16:33.600 --> 0:16:38.120 I guess so because because they said, uh, the f 0:16:38.120 --> 0:16:41.800 A A has a long history of delaying uh much 0:16:41.840 --> 0:16:44.840 needed upgrades and this equipment, and I guess it's because 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:48.200 of price or the airplane lobby. Yeah. When you when 0:16:48.240 --> 0:16:52.680 your federal agency is actually like a safeguard to protect 0:16:52.720 --> 0:16:56.080 the finances of the industry, is regulating, that's not good. No, 0:16:56.200 --> 0:17:01.000 it's not Why can't everybody just do things right? I 0:17:01.120 --> 0:17:04.640 know it's frustrating, and money is typically at the root 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:07.960 of it all, you know, it always is. Yeah, all right, 0:17:08.000 --> 0:17:10.840 So we talked a little bit about the testing. I 0:17:10.880 --> 0:17:12.280 guess we should just talk about what these things are 0:17:12.280 --> 0:17:14.960 built out of, why they survive that the c S 0:17:15.119 --> 0:17:21.000 m U back in and Roswell New Mexico. No, but 0:17:21.119 --> 0:17:25.160 there are three layers of materials to keep these things safe. Um, 0:17:25.200 --> 0:17:27.840 you got your aluminium housing on the outside of it, 0:17:28.040 --> 0:17:30.760 and it holds all your memory cards. No, the aluminum 0:17:31.520 --> 0:17:35.360 is inside. Oh yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, Okay, that makes sense. 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:37.120 It's the weakest link, you know what I mean, it's 0:17:37.160 --> 0:17:40.640 on the inside surrounding it's the last stand of protection. 0:17:40.680 --> 0:17:42.480 I guess, right, that is, like you said, it's holding 0:17:42.480 --> 0:17:45.560 the memory cards, which are the one thing you really 0:17:45.600 --> 0:17:49.119 want to survive, the only thing. Yeah, and the people. 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:53.160 This is right, right, Yeah, I guess it's a good point. 0:17:53.240 --> 0:17:56.359 And this is the crash Survivable memory unit, which is 0:17:56.359 --> 0:17:59.040 actually a part of the flight data recorder and the 0:17:59.320 --> 0:18:04.640 cockpit voice for quorder. Yeah, but it's also this separate 0:18:04.680 --> 0:18:08.760 it's kind of like the Holy See, you know, the 0:18:08.800 --> 0:18:12.040 Holy of Holies, the Temple within the Temple of Jerusalem. Yeah, 0:18:12.040 --> 0:18:14.080 like everything else will get mangled and it doesn't matter. 0:18:14.359 --> 0:18:15.840 But all you need it, like you said, are those 0:18:15.880 --> 0:18:17.840 memory cards, right, Okay, so so go ahead. There's an 0:18:17.840 --> 0:18:20.920 aluminum housing around the memory cards, right, and then around 0:18:20.920 --> 0:18:24.160 that you have it insulated with a dry silica one 0:18:24.160 --> 0:18:27.439 inch of it. And that is because a lot of 0:18:27.440 --> 0:18:29.720 times when planes crash, they catch on fire. Yeah, you 0:18:29.760 --> 0:18:33.080 want to retard fire. Put a niche of silicus stuff 0:18:33.080 --> 0:18:36.480 around this, around whatever you want, your hand, your head, sure, 0:18:36.880 --> 0:18:39.280 just do it. You won't get burned. H And then 0:18:39.320 --> 0:18:41.960 around that is your outer shell. And it's either stainless 0:18:41.960 --> 0:18:45.160 steel or titanium. It's about a quarter inch thick. And 0:18:45.440 --> 0:18:49.600 that's like you know that you're bomb casing and all 0:18:49.640 --> 0:18:51.560 of that is why you can't build a plane out 0:18:51.560 --> 0:18:54.080 of all this. It would be too heavy. Yeah, And 0:18:54.119 --> 0:18:58.399 so this this one to three punch of a crash 0:18:58.440 --> 0:19:02.280 survival memory unit. Um, it's a cylinder. Did you say that? 0:19:03.440 --> 0:19:06.240 I thought it was implicit. It's just so imagine like 0:19:06.680 --> 0:19:08.879 a steel box. And you can also go on to 0:19:08.960 --> 0:19:11.800 how stuff works and type in um, how black boxes working. 0:19:12.080 --> 0:19:15.720 It'll bring up images. But imagine like a steel box 0:19:15.760 --> 0:19:18.760 that forms like an L on its back right, so 0:19:18.840 --> 0:19:22.320 the foot is sticking upward into the air. And then 0:19:22.440 --> 0:19:25.080 on the part that's along the ground now of the 0:19:25.280 --> 0:19:28.960 L is it's cylinder that's coming up. Looks like it's 0:19:29.080 --> 0:19:31.840 it's holding some oil or something like. That's an oil cylinder. 0:19:32.200 --> 0:19:35.920 It's like a fat squat barrel. Then attached to that 0:19:36.800 --> 0:19:41.639 is this little tube another cylinder but longer and shorter 0:19:42.160 --> 0:19:44.679 that serves as the handle for the whole unit. But 0:19:44.720 --> 0:19:49.200 it's also a beacon. Yeah, and that's super important. Um. 0:19:49.280 --> 0:19:52.280 And actually we'll get into that. But you gotta find 0:19:52.280 --> 0:19:55.200 these things, you know, it does no good if it's 0:19:55.240 --> 0:19:57.320 hidden behind a tree or at the bottom of the ocean. 0:19:58.480 --> 0:20:01.320 They like to hide, they do. So we talked about 0:20:01.359 --> 0:20:04.159 some of the testing that these things go through and 0:20:04.400 --> 0:20:09.160 it's pretty awesome. Um, they do one, two, three, four, five, 0:20:09.280 --> 0:20:12.719 six tests, the first of which is just a basic 0:20:12.720 --> 0:20:15.320 crash impact. They shoot it out of an air cannon 0:20:16.160 --> 0:20:20.399 at thirty four hundred g s into an aluminum honeycomb 0:20:21.320 --> 0:20:24.480 and it smashes it with a force equal to times 0:20:24.520 --> 0:20:27.600 its own weight. It's just like, I want to see 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:30.560 this thing in super SloMo basically, which not only does 0:20:30.600 --> 0:20:34.879 this simulate the impact of a major plane crash, it 0:20:34.960 --> 0:20:39.600 actually probably overstates the force. I think they overstayed everything. Yeah, 0:20:39.680 --> 0:20:42.720 you know, and these things survived. They say, okay, good, alright, 0:20:42.760 --> 0:20:44.480 let's take it on to the next test, and the 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:48.120 flight data recorders like wait what yeah, exactly, And they 0:20:48.160 --> 0:20:50.120 take it onto the pin drop, which I think it's 0:20:50.119 --> 0:20:52.240 funny that they call it the pin drop. Has nothing 0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:54.880 to do with it sound, it's like engineering humor. Yeah. 0:20:55.760 --> 0:20:58.879 But they take like a five pound weight with a 0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:01.879 quarter inch the old pin coming out of the end 0:21:01.880 --> 0:21:03.920 of it. It's like a little spike, and they drop 0:21:04.000 --> 0:21:08.800 it from ten ft the spike onto the weakest axis 0:21:08.840 --> 0:21:13.280 of the uh, the black box. It's like a puncture test. Yeah, 0:21:13.359 --> 0:21:16.359 and it nothing happens, so they move it on to 0:21:16.440 --> 0:21:19.040 the next test. Yeah, the static crush, which would be 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:22.959 a good band name uh, five minutes of five thousand 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:26.359 pounds per square rich pressure applied to the six major 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:29.960 access points. So it's just a constant, not an impact thing. 0:21:30.400 --> 0:21:31.960 But just let me see if I can just crush 0:21:32.000 --> 0:21:35.720 you over time with brute force. Yeah. It's like a headlock. Yeah, 0:21:36.000 --> 0:21:39.080 the worst headlock you can ever imagine. And then the 0:21:39.080 --> 0:21:43.840 fire test, which they fire a propane fireball with three 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:47.160 burners at about two thousand degrees fahrenheit for an hour 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:49.280 and just let it sit there and see if it 0:21:49.320 --> 0:21:52.640 melts or does anything yeah, or explodes or whatever. Yeah, 0:21:52.840 --> 0:21:56.760 it just sits there. Um. And then the planes frequently 0:21:56.800 --> 0:21:59.760 go down. Well, when they go down, they frequently go 0:21:59.840 --> 0:22:02.560 down out into the ocean or the sea. So your 0:22:02.600 --> 0:22:05.960 black box has to survive underwater. So they do a 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:09.800 deep sea immersion test um, which is like a pressurized 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:12.800 tank of water for twenty four hours. Uh. And then 0:22:12.800 --> 0:22:15.800 they also do a saltwater submersion test, so this thing 0:22:15.840 --> 0:22:18.639 has to basically sit around in saltwater for thirty days, 0:22:19.359 --> 0:22:23.199 that's right. And finally they will let it soak in 0:22:23.320 --> 0:22:27.000 other types of fluids like jet fuel and lubricant and 0:22:27.119 --> 0:22:29.840 fire extinguisher chemicals and anything else in a plane that 0:22:29.880 --> 0:22:33.200 it might end up submerged in. And if it can 0:22:33.280 --> 0:22:35.880 withstand sitting in jet fuel for a period of time, 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:37.920 then you're good to go. Yeah. And then after all 0:22:38.000 --> 0:22:42.760 this they put a little um mortarboard on the the 0:22:42.800 --> 0:22:46.480 cylinder and send it along its way to be installed 0:22:46.640 --> 0:22:50.920 in an airplane. That's right where it's sadly, will only 0:22:50.960 --> 0:23:17.520 be used if something really bad happens. All right, so 0:23:17.560 --> 0:23:21.080 your plane is crashed. Yeah, we're both dead, right, but 0:23:21.200 --> 0:23:23.879 the black box has survived, it lives on what happens 0:23:23.920 --> 0:23:27.160 to it, Well, they have to find it first, um. 0:23:27.240 --> 0:23:29.919 And like we said, these things are tested to make 0:23:29.960 --> 0:23:34.040 sure that they can withstand deep sea and salt water immersion, 0:23:34.400 --> 0:23:38.440 which they sometimes have to UM And in the event 0:23:38.520 --> 0:23:40.800 that they are going to go into the water, the 0:23:40.880 --> 0:23:44.520