This is the scene tonight, major plane disaster in Kentucky, a UPS plane crashing near an airport in Louisville.
今晚的現場是肯塔基州的一場重大空難，一架UPS飛機在路易斯維爾機場附近墜毀。
00:07
When tragic aviation accidents happen, soon after the search for survivors, comes the search for the so-called black box. Every commercial plane has them.
They're very crucial because it's one of the few sources of information that tells us what happened leading up to the accident.
它們非常關鍵，因為這是少數能提供資訊的來源之一，告訴我們事故發生前的情況。
00:30
Microphones in the cockpit also pick up more than pilot conversation.
駕駛艙內的麥克風不僅能錄下飛行員的對話。
00:34
About 37 seconds after the crew called for takeoff thrust, a repeating bell was heard on the CVR which persisted until the end of the recording 25 seconds later.
Aircraft have become very complex, a Boeing 787 records thousands of different pieces of information. In the case of the Air India 171 crash in June, the data revealed both engine fuel switches were put into a cut-off position within one second of each other.
And on the voice recording, a pilot was heard saying, why did he cut off, followed by the other pilot saying he did not.
而在語音記錄中，聽到一名飛行員說：「他為什麼切斷了？」隨後另一名飛行員說：「我沒有。」
01:12
All of those parameters today can have a very huge impact on the investigation.
如今所有這些參數都可能對調查產生非常巨大的影響。
01:18
This crucial data can also help prevent future accidents.
這些關鍵數據也能幫助預防未來的事故。
01:20
A crash can cost airlines or plane manufacturers hundreds of millions of dollars and leave victims families with a lifetime of grief, searching for answers that these recorders could provide.
But in some circumstances, black boxes haven't been found or were destroyed.
但在某些情況下，黑盒子未能尋獲或已被摧毀。
01:36
And experts say further developments such as cockpit video recorders and real-time data streaming are needed.
專家表示，需要進一步的發展，例如駕駛艙錄影機和即時數據串流。
01:42
CNBC explores the evolution of flight data recorders and why airplanes have them.
CNBC將探討飛行數據記錄器的演變，以及飛機為何配備它們。
01:52
The rate of fatal aviation accidents was far greater in the early days of commercial air travel.
致命航空事故的發生率在商業航空旅行的早期遠高於現在。
01:57
And in order to figure out what went wrong, flight data recorders were introduced.
為了查明問題所在，飛行數據記錄器應運而生。
02:02
Flight recorders actually go back to the days of the Wright brothers and some of their early designs. As far as what we normally think of black boxes now, the FAA began requiring flight data recorders in the 1950s and cockpit voice recorders in the 1960s.
So that's about 70 years of experience using black boxes for accident investigation.
因此，這大約是70年使用黑盒子進行事故調查的經驗。
02:19
The flight recorder we know today was invented by David Warren in Australia in the 1950s.
我們今天所知的飛行記錄器是由大衛·華倫（David Warren）於1950年代在澳洲發明的。
02:25
In the beginning, it only recorded five parameters, which was, at that time, only limited usefulness in accident investigations.
最初，它只記錄了五個參數，這在當時對事故調查的用處有限。
02:35
By the 60s, more and more commercial flights began to require them.
到了 60 年代，越來越多的商業航班開始要求配備它們。
02:38
Originally, the data was recorded onto aluminum foil, then magnetic tape to today's digital solid state memory chips.
最初，數據被記錄在鋁箔上，然後是磁帶，直到今天的數位固態記憶體晶片。
02:46
Today, a lot of the damage to recorders can be tolerated.
今天，記錄器的許多損壞都可以容忍。
02:49
The unit may not work, but we can go in and get the recording chips inside the box.
該單元可能無法運作，但我們可以進入盒子內部取出記錄晶片。
02:54
The black boxes were painted orange to be more easily found.
黑盒子被漆成橘色，以便更容易找到。
02:58
They were also redesigned and tested to endure incredible forces in order to survive a crash.
它們也經過重新設計和測試，能夠承受巨大的力量，以在墜毀時倖存下來。
03:04
The memory chips are housed behind a thermal casing, insulation, and a steel or titanium case.
記憶晶片安裝在隔熱外殼、絕緣層和鋼或鈦外殼後面。
03:10
They can withstand up to 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit for 60 minutes and survive the sea pressure at 20,000 feet under the ocean. It's equipped with an underwater beacon that will ping and seawater for 30 days, with some newer versions up to 90 days in order for investigators to find it.
Pingas all have their limitations. Pinga can be going like crazy at a certain depth with the water's really cold, but then as it travels into water, it hits an area of water that's really warm and it doesn't penetrate. If it crashes in the water in salt water,
they'll keep it in salt water, because if they remove it from the salt water, it will immediately begin to corrode the devices inside.
他們會將其留在鹽水中，因為如果將其移出鹽水，裡面的設備會立即開始腐蝕。
03:49
The most common cause of failure is typically due to fire damage.
最常見的故障原因是火災損壞。
03:53
The Achilles heel of flight recorders is slow heat over a long period of time, so flight recorders can handle a massive amount of temperature and fire for a short period of time, but if you can't find it and it's sitting there smoldering in the ash,
then that heat is going to slowly work its way into the unit and melt the solid state circuitry.
那麼高溫就會慢慢滲入設備並熔化固態電路。
04:14
In many cases, the recorder itself is not damaged, so we can apply power to it and use some special cabling to connect to it and recover data that way. In a case where they are damaged, though, we have to disassemble the recorder down to what we call the memory board level, and at this point, it's mostly a collection of memory chips.
So sometimes it's necessary to solder down new parts or new tables, and then that allows us to communicate with that memory board with some of our surrogate equipment in the lab and download the data like it was a perfectly functioning recorder.
Typically, the black box is two devices, a flight data recorder and a cockpit voice recorder, but many today are in one unit. It's located in the back of the aircraft as that is considered to be the most crashed, survivable part of a plane. And some newer planes like the Boeing 787
Dreamliner have two with an additional unit in the front of the aircraft.
夢幻客機，有兩個，在飛機前部還有一個額外的單元。
05:06
It's rare where an accident causes so much damage or so much heat that the black box can't be downloaded.
很少有事故會造成如此嚴重的損壞或高溫，以至於無法下載黑盒子數據。
05:13
The biggest example was 9-11, the two airplanes that hit the twin towers.
最大的例子是 9-11，兩架飛機撞擊雙子星塔。
05:17
I worked at the Pentagon for the airplane that hit the Pentagon, and the flight data recorder survived, but the cockpit voice recorder, which was an old tape recorded unit, did not survive because it was smoldering in the bowels of the Pentagon for several days.
The recorder's turn on when the engines start and off when the engines shut down.
記錄器在引擎啟動時開啟，在引擎關閉時關閉。
05:45
They operate in the background unless an indicator light tells the pilot it isn't working.
它們在背景運行，除非指示燈告訴飛行員它沒有工作。
05:50
They're pretty reliable. Every airline checks them periodically, like every day, sometimes every few days. The maintenance is crucial. So if the box isn't working, you don't have any data.
That's why it's important to periodically test and validate not only that the recorder itself is working, but that the data it's recording is valid and it's accurate.
這就是為什麼定期測試和驗證不僅記錄器本身是否工作，而且它記錄的數據是否有效和準確是很重要的。
06:09
The underwater beacons on the units have a shelf life of six to seven years.
設備上的水下信標的使用壽命是六到七年。
06:13
The devices have no memory and record over the previous recording once it reaches the limit of data or audio it can save.
這些設備沒有記憶功能，一旦達到可以保存的數據或音頻的上限，就會覆蓋之前的錄音。
06:20
And oftentimes we would lose a lot of that data either because the airplane wasn't totally destroyed and it got recorded over or the airplane stayed in here too long and the event was recorded over. Most planes can keep 25 hours of thousands of pieces of data, but in some cases only two hours
of audio. So if you have a one hour flight and you land and then you take off again and fly another two hours, it's going to record over itself, you know, after only two hours. Record is a complicated, but that initial read, which is rough, it's not the most accurate read,
but it can give you early directions on what to look for in the on scene portion of the investigation.
但它可以為您提供在現場調查部分應關注的早期方向。
07:07
In the event of a crash or incident and with no significant damage to the memory cards, the NTSB investigators will download the 25 hours of data and two hours of audio recordings, then reconstruct the flight in an animation. There is currently no mandate for video recording
in the cockpit, so audio becomes even more crucial. One of the new enhancements the federal aviation administration recently mandated is for new aircraft to have 25 hour cockpit voice recorders and suggested older aircraft be retrofitted by 2030, but that has not
been finalized yet. It's easy to design and install a new system on a brand new airplane that's coming out of the factory, but to go back and retrofit hundreds of older airplanes and and do the rewiring and everything like that, it's not very cost effective. During the Alaska Airlines doorplug
blowout in 2024, the cockpit audio was overwritten and impacted the investigation. The NTSB urged the FAA to update the current fleet to 25 hours of voice recording and highlighted that since 2018, there were 14 investigations where recordings of incidents had been taped over,
including a few close calls on runways. It's just amazing, amazing what they can pick off the recorder. I mean, you talk about black magic. We can tell you if there's something that's broken loose on the airplane is vibrating. The flight deck has multiple microphones,
including the pilot headsets and an area mic mounted in the panel above where the pilots sit.
包括飛行員的耳機，以及安裝在飛行員座位上方面板的區域麥克風。
08:36
We catch it on the voice recorder above fatigue where the crews may be talking amongst themselves that they tie it. All we can catch it in their voices if they got plugged up their noses plugged up and they really shouldn't be flying. During the hijacking of United Flight 93 on 9-11, the voice recorder revealed the attempt by passengers to get into the cockpit to stop
terrorists before they intentionally crashed the plane. Due to the nature of these recordings, it can be very sensitive to release the actual audio. No country releases the actual audio recording. Most countries release a transcript. The NTSB does a full transcript. The audio available
from incidents like Miracle on the Hudson are typically air traffic control recordings, which are public. These recordings can also be incredibly useful outside of crash incidents.
One of the most, if not the most expensive component on an airplane is the engine.
飛機上最昂貴的組件之一，如果不是最昂貴的話，就是引擎。
09:28
So the data that's on flight data recorders is protected, but we send some of that same data to another unit called a quick access recorder. And what that has done for the people who monitor and design and repair engines is tell them where to look for problems. So we're predicting it,
Some industry experts are calling for more innovations to these devices.
一些業界專家呼籲對這些裝置進行更多創新。
09:58
Investigations today are very, very expensive. So any way that we can reduce the cost and time of investigation is a plus for the whole system. John Golia led the investigation of TWA flight 800 that exploded off the coast of Long Island a few minutes after takeoff in 1996. It became
one of the largest and most expensive investigations in aviation history. We spent two years on Long Island. And then there was a crash with US Air and Pittsburgh flight 427. That took five years.
In some cases, the black boxes are never recovered, like Malaysia Airlines flight 370.
有些情況下，黑盒子永遠找不到，就像馬來西亞航空370號班機一樣。
10:35
Official search for four years, but all they found was some debris far from where they thought the plane had disappeared. In other cases, even with the recorders, investigators are still left with questions. The recent Air India crash has renewed the debate on whether or not to have video
recorders in the cockpit. Crash where the cockpit video recorders are already being installed in a lot of helicopters and other types of airplanes, but they're not required. There's privacy issues and there are cost issues, but the NTSB has been recommending that the FAA require them for years
now. There are also new innovations that are being worked on like real-time feeds from the black box via satellite to the ground. This capability would allow airlines to access data while a plane was still in flight. There are roughly 20 to 30,000 commercial planes in the air at the
same time on a daily basis and sending that much data could pose a challenge. Just isn't enough server space or memory space to constantly do that. But that is the future of flight recorders is once you're able to increase that bandwidth and increase that storage more efficiently process
是的，未來更先進的飛行記錄器將涉及飛機飛行時的實時數據遙測，然後這些遙測數據將被儲存在某台電腦中。
11:46
that information. Yes, the newer future flight recorders will involve real-time data telemetry as the airplane is flying and then that telemetry is being archived in a computer somewhere.
Another possibility are deployable recorders so that when certain parameters are reached and it's certain the airplane is going to crash, the recorder will automatically eject itself and it will have the ability to float and the ability to send out electronic locating signals so that the box can be found. Those are all work and progress. We're not there yet on either of
those examples. But again, there's a cost effectiveness thing there and is it really worth it? How many accidents could could that help? That's something that the FAA struggles with, but the NTSB's, they're all about safety. They're not concerned about how much it would cost. They're all about
Though the black boxes are almost always associated with an aviation disaster, they can bring answers for grieving families and often solutions so that issues that cause an accident don't happen again. It's not just the people that are on the airplane of victims,
有時調查人員本身也可能成為受害者，因為你無法做到在看到這些大規模傷亡事件中的飛機事故後不受影響。
12:57
but sometimes the investigators themselves can be victims because you can't be human and experience what we often see in these mass casualty events in an airplane accident.
And I can tell you firsthand that you lay in bed after the accident many, many nights revisiting what you've seen and it's not nice. Anything that we can do to reduce the need for on-scene investigations, the better off we will be as a society.
