Inventor of the Black Box “黑匣子”之父

飛行事故的調(diào)查過程往往是復(fù)雜而充滿懸念的，“黑匣子”在其中往往是解開事故之謎的“關(guān)鍵鑰匙”。那到底什么時候才出現(xiàn)真正意義上的“黑匣子”呢？我們一起來了解“黑匣子”發(fā)明者的故事吧！

David Warren was a research scientist at the Aeronautical Research Laboratory （ARL） in Melbourne.

In the mid-1950s， he was involved in the accident investigations related to the mysterious crash of the worlds first jet-powered commercial aircraft， the “Comet”. It occurred to David that it would be extremely useful if there had been a recording of what had happened in the airplane immediately prior to the crash.

David then recalled the worlds first miniature recorder that he had recently seen at a trade fair. Suddenly he could visualize such a recorder placed in all aircraft， continually recording details and able to be recovered after a crash.

David drew on his early work experience as a teacher， remembering “show and tell” was more effective than just “tell”. He decided in his own time， to build a demonstration recorder.

Thus， the first “black box” was born.

戴維·沃倫是墨爾本航空研究實驗室的一名研究科學(xué)家。

20世紀(jì)50年代中期，戴維參與了與世界上第一架噴氣式民航客機(jī)“彗星”號神秘墜毀有關(guān)的事故調(diào)查。戴維想：如果有一份飛機(jī)墜毀前發(fā)生的事情的記錄，將會非常有用。

然后，戴維想起了他不久前在一個貿(mào)易展覽會上看到的世界上第一個微型記錄器。突然間，他可以想象這樣一個記錄器被放置在所有飛機(jī)上，不斷地記錄航班飛行細(xì)節(jié)，并能在墜機(jī)后恢復(fù)數(shù)據(jù)的場景。

戴維借鑒了自己早期作為教師的工作經(jīng)驗，一直謹(jǐn)記著“展示和講述”比僅僅“講述”更加有效。他決定利用自己的私人時間，發(fā)明一個展示型的記錄器。

因此，第一個“黑匣子”誕生了。

It was in 1958， during an informal visit to ARL by Sir Robert Hardingham， the Royal Air Force former Vice-Marshal， that the breakthrough occurred. Straightaway Sir Robert saw the potential.

The black box was also successfully demonstrated in Canada. Back in Australia， plans were made by David Warren for further development and production.

It was only after the crash of a Fokker Friendship at Mackay （Queensland） in 1960 that the inquiry judge strongly recommended that black box flight recorders be installed in all airliners.

Australia then became the first country in the world to make cockpit-voice recording compulsory.

Since that time， David Warrens invention， the black box flight recorder， has been universally adopted as a means to investigate accidents and to prevent their recurrence.

The black box flight recorder has proved itself with its significant contribution to international airline safety.

1958年，在英國皇家空軍前副司令羅伯特·哈丁漢姆爵士對澳大利亞墨爾本航空研究實驗室的一次非正式訪問中，“黑匣子”的發(fā)展有了突破性的進(jìn)展。羅伯特爵士一眼就看出了“黑匣子”的價值。

“黑匣子”也在加拿大成功地進(jìn)行了演示。戴維·沃倫回到澳大利亞后，制訂了“黑匣子”進(jìn)一步研發(fā)與生產(chǎn)的計劃。

直到1960年，澳大利亞的一架“福克友誼”號飛機(jī)在麥基（昆士蘭州）墜毀后，調(diào)查法官才強(qiáng)烈建議在所有客機(jī)上安裝“黑匣子”。

隨后，澳大利亞成為世界上第一個強(qiáng)制規(guī)定駕駛艙必須配備語音記錄儀器的國家。

從那時起，戴維·沃倫的發(fā)明——“黑匣子”被普遍采用，成為調(diào)查事故和防止事故再次發(fā)生的一種手段。

“黑匣子”對國際航空安全做出了重大貢獻(xiàn)，證明了自身極強(qiáng)的適用性。

Know More

“黑匣子”，學(xué)名為“飛行參數(shù)記錄器”。客機(jī)上安裝的飛行參數(shù)記錄器有兩個：一個是飛機(jī)數(shù)據(jù)記錄器，負(fù)責(zé)記錄飛行時間、速度、高度、飛機(jī)舵面偏度、發(fā)動機(jī)轉(zhuǎn)速等數(shù)據(jù)；另一個是座艙話音記錄器，負(fù)責(zé)記錄機(jī)上空勤人員的對話、機(jī)上與地面的通話，以及機(jī)艙里的各種聲音。“黑匣子”的外殼呈現(xiàn)明亮的橘紅色并配有發(fā)光帶，這樣在飛機(jī)失事后，外表醒目的“黑匣子”就會比較容易被找到。

Word Bank

crash /kr??/ n. 碰撞；相撞

visualize /'v??u?la?z/ v. 構(gòu)思；設(shè)想

demonstration /'dem?n'stre??n/ n. 示范表演；演示

potential /p?'ten?l/ n. 可能性；潛力

install /?n'st??l/ v. 安裝；設(shè)置