On the minds of many these days, myself included, is the mystery of Malaysia Airlines lost flight MH370, a Boeing 777 that disappeared early Saturday morning on March 8th shortly after departure from Kuala Lumpur en route to Beijing. How does a plane just disappear into thin air? Recovering the flight data recorder (FDR), otherwise known as the flight’s black box (even though it is really orange), might be the only way to solve the plane’s mysterious disappearance. This got me wondering: just how does a black box containing electronic circuit boards remain intact during a catastrophic airplane crash? The truth is that the electronics are likely destroyed, but the recorded data is recoverable.

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A solid state flight data recorder (SSFDR) can store up to 25 hours of flight data. The main components of an SSFDR are an interface and controller board (ICB), power supply, crash survivable memory unit (CSMU) and an optional under water locator beacon (ULB). The ICB is a single circuit board that controls the SSFDR and provides data processing capabilities. It enables front-end data conditioning, recording, and monitoring and ensures that up to 700 different parameters associated with an airplane’s operating conditions are recorded by the CSMU.

The CSMU of the FDR is often the only device that survives a plane crash and holds the secrets of what went wrong. The CSMU is designed to be resistant to shock, temperature extremes, and pressure according to EUROCAE ED-112 standard for Minimum Operational Performance Specification for Crash Protected Airborne Recorder Systems. Even so, if investigators cannot find the FDR, it is of little use.

The ULB will send out a ping signal for at least 30 days that can be detected from up to two miles away. However, there are several instances where the flight data recorders are never recovered such as the ones from the Boeing 767’s that hit the World Trade Center in New York on 9/11. This leaves many people wondering why given all of our technological advancements flight data is not uploaded in real-time.