Question about Air plane crashes and finding the black box

[Animum2]

Now I don't know if this has ever been thought of before but as it is essential that the black box is found after a plane crash, is there a way that the information that is recorded on these boxes can be transponded to some sort of central computer system that can be accessed immediately after a crash?

Not sure if anyone more knowledgeable has any insights to this?

Just a random thing I was thinking about today after hearing about that air crash over Indonesia today

Just to add this is in the event that the plane can't be found straight away

There are actually two black boxes. One records technical information and the other records the conversations.

No idea OP but I've always thought that too. Surely nowadays data and comms could be streamed back to air traffic control, then black box wouldn't be needed?
Disclaimer: I know absolutely nothing about aeroplanes or how air travel works.

Oooohhhh watching this with interest. I wonder why this isn't the case. Maybe in case they lose comms in bad weather?

As an avid watcher of Air Crash Investigation I can tell you that both black boxes, which are in fact dayglo .orange, are fitted with a transponder which search and rescue can time into. There are areas of ocean which are not covered by the planes tech. When they are found they are sent to a special lab which decodes the data, but the voice recorder can usually be played. The data recorder contains all the information on how the plane is working so any technical info is on there

Ah someone else who watches Air crash investigation!

Airliners transmit information back to their bases at frequent intervals. Their engines also transmit technical information back to their manufacturers. This is while they are 'live', of course but there will be a record of what was going on just before the plane went out of contact.

But as PP said, the orange boxes transmit a signal for a period of weeks. They are also in specific places in the plane so if wreckage is found searchers know where to look for them.

I went to a talk about this once by an investigator. It was fascinating.

That's good info guys, I do like watching air crash investigations and seconds from disaster

Cos I assume if it got hijacked they'd just turn it off and nobody would have a clue what had happened

@user1471565182 yeh like that Malaysian airlines plane?! Where on earth did that go!

Maybe the boxes could be designed to not be turned off?

Another avid Air Crash Investigation watcher here! Probably why I hate flying

I'm sure it has been to do with the cost in the past of putting something like that in place for every flight when the chance of a crash is so low. I'm sure there was an episode in the last series where they said it would happen soon though as technology develops all the time and it's becoming easier / cheaper to put in place.

Im sure i read some debris eventually turned up

yeah they found debris with serial number connected to flight 370 in the Indian Ocean. Wouldnt get onto a malaysia airlines plane after that and flight 17

But if you designed it to not be turned off and to transmit then you'd be relying on wireless and stuff that can easily be hacked. Easily affected by weather as well which planes experience a lot of.

You could continuously transmit the data involved whilst flying always, but that has privacy and significant cost issues for what is an extremely rare event and only in a few cases are the black boxes not found pretty easily and as part of other recovery work.

But transmitting after the crash - that's not going to work, when they are not easily recoverable it's because they are under water etc. and then they're not going to be able to put up an antenna and have enough power to broadcast to the satellite anyway. it's also complicated to make a suitable antenna and power it to broadcast the data to a satellite and still be survivable in a crash.

It's a very different situation to just broadcasting a "ping"

Also imagine the hours and hours of recordings you'd have to store and the staff and expense.

I love watching air crash investigations too , I find it fascinating. I also love the extreme engineering program