THE APPLICABILITY OF THE AIRCRAFT'S "BLACK BOX" TO OTHER MODES OF TRANSPORT

This paper discusses the use of flight data recorders and cockpit voice recorders in the aviation industry. It relates the uses for both, mostly in aircraft operations and accident investigation, and the objections that pilots first had to the use of voice recorders. It describes the use of rail recorders in the railroad industry, and the limited use of marine recorders in the Safety of Life at Sea fleet. Rail recorders collected information on throttle setting, speed and brake pressure, but voice is not yet recorded. Marine recorders focus on voice recording and not on daily operations.