Finding Black Box Important Components Of The Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 Aircraft

Basarnas Operations Director Brigadier General (Mar) Rasman (Diah Ayu Wardani / VOI)

JAKARTA - One of the things most sought after in the evacuation of the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 aircraft accident route is a black box. This object is expected to be able to reveal the mystery about the cause of the crash of the plane carrying 62 people.

Basarnas Director of Operations, Rasman explained that the number of personnel deployed in the search was approximately 2,600. The team not only had the task of finding accident victims, as well as plane debris, but also the Sriwijaya Air SJ-182 black box.

"As of today, approximately 2,600 personnel are involved directly or indirectly in this search and rescue activity," said Rasman, Monday, December 11.

So what exactly is a black box? This is a tool that functions to record data while the aircraft is in the air. Although the name is a black box, this tool actually has a bright or bright color so that it is easy to find when an airplane crash search operation is carried out, generally in orange.

Quoting Flight Radar 24, this recording device consists of two things, namely FDR (Flight Data Recorder) and CVR (Cockpit Voice Recorder). These two things have slightly different functions.

FDR is tasked with recording various data regarding all aspects of the aircraft while in flight, while CVR only records conversations that occur on the flight deck as well as other sounds, such as automatic alarms and radio transmissions.

The person who first discovered the black box for the first time was David Warren, a young Australian scientist. In the 1950s, Warren was involved in the investigation of the mysterious crash of the first commercial jet-powered aircraft, the Comet. At that time he worked at the Aeronautical Research Laboratory in Melbourne.

Often called black boxes, the bright orange recorders are designed to survive a crash intact and provide investigators with valuable insights into what was happening inside the aircraft. Here's how the black boxes work: https://t.co/1uixXTdxnv # SJ182 pic.twitter.com/L7wK4yPQQP

- Flightradar24 (@ flightradar24) January 10, 2021

Inspired by the recording device, Warren thought that a similar device could help investigate the cause of an accident. Australia also became the first country to mandate the use of black boxes on all commercial aircraft.

Through the black box, researchers find out the problem or what really happened so that the plane crashed. Quoted from National Geographic, this tool is placed in the tail of the plane.

Conversations and voices recorded just before the plane crashed or damaged can provide clues to the investigation. For trained investigators, the recorded sounds can be used to determine the aircraft speed and engine rotation speed.