The Black Box: An Australian Invention That Nearly Didn’t Happen

文/比尔·斯科菲尔德 译/李娟

The Black Box: An Australian Invention That Nearly Didn’t Happen

文/比尔·斯科菲尔德 译/李娟

Why are our planes crashing?

The most curious aspect of the development of the black box fl ight recorder was the widespread resistance to its adoption, as it encapsulated the most fundamental tenet of scientific inquiry—gathering reliable data to draw conclusions.[2]It arose out of boredom during a meeting in the 1950s in Canberra.Experts from the Aeronautical Research Laboratory (ARL; now part of the Defence Science and Technology Organisation or DSTO) were trying to find why the new British aircraft—the Comets—were crashing.[3]David Warren was a chemist employed to conduct research on fuels for the new gas turbines that were entering aeronautical service at that time. He’d been asked to calculate what the effect would be if the fuel tanks on the Comets were blowing up.

[4]His answer was that it would not explain the damage of a recovered crashed Comet. While other experts speculated on possible causes he had an obvious (in hindsight) thought—what they needed was data.

[5]So he went back to his lab and wrote a very short tech memo on the need to record data in aircraft that would assist crash investigation. For the technology of the day, recording all aircraft fl ight data was impossibility.

[6]Dr Warren thought that the Comet pilots would have known what was wrong with their aircraft, which is why black boxes include a cockpit voice recorder.

Recorders need to survive the crash

[7]In the early 1950s none of the recording tapes would survive a burning plane crash, but at a trade fair Dr Warren saw the first of the wire voice recorders. The Miniphon wire recorder was the basis of Dr Warren’s first elemental recorder—now in the DSTO library at Port Melbourne.

[8]He found that capturing clear records of cockpit conversation from microphones in the instrument panel and overhead was anything but easy but over time, he developed usable techniques.

[9]Working with instrument colleagues at ARL they found a way of putting flight data as well as voice recording on the wire. This led to the construction of a much improved version in the late 1950s which was very advanced for its time.

[10]Dr Warren showed remarkable tenacity in the black box development;he was a chemist engaged to and under continual pressure to focus on fuels and pass his black box invention over to the instrumentation section.

[11]While others could develop the box it was Dr Warren who tried to get it adopted—and against unbelievable resistance. In an of fi cial letter from the Air Force rejecting the suggestion of putting boxes on RAAF planes it was stated that Dr Warren’s voice recorder would yield “more expletives than explanations”.

[12]After the fatal crash of a Fokker Friendship approaching Mackay airport in Queensland in 1960, Justice Spicer,chairing the Board of Inquiry, stated that black boxes should be installed in commercial aircraft.

[13]But the Australian Department of Civil Aviation purchased a US system instead of Dr Warren’s.

[14]The US system proved useless in a subsequent air crash investigation. A commercial opinion of the day said the worldwide market would be as little as six boxes per year as they would only be installed on experimental aircraft during proving fl ights.

[15]The Defence Department declined to patent the device as it saw little commercial justification for the cost of A£2,000.

A chance meeting

[16]The whole flight recorder project had languished until 1958 when Laurie Coombes, then director of the ARL, wished to fi ll a gap in the schedule of a visiting UK official Sir Robert Hardingham, the Secretary of the British Air Registration Board.Coombes introduced him to Dr Warren who talked about the black box, and not fuels research.

[17]Sir Robert thought it was an excellent idea and Dr Warren was soon flying to the UK to present it to the Royal Aeronautical Establishment and a few UK commercial instrument makers.

[18]He came home through the US visiting a number of aeronautical establishments and commercial companies—none of which were at all interested. The first black boxes were initially produced in the UK with acknowledgement of its Australian origins but these acknowledgements soon disappeared.

A lost invention

[19]In 1965, cockpit voice recorders were mandated in all commercial aircraft built in the US and the western world followed.

[20]The IP rights of Australia to the invention were, by this time,compromised, but in recognition of the background IP the Department of Defence was paid UK£1,000.

[21]I joined ARL in 1965 when the work on the black box was winding down, but Dr Warren often talked to me at length about the history of the black box.

[22]He wasn’t angry that he’d not been taken seriously by the powers-thatbe, but more upset that Australia missed out in exploiting an invention which is, today, in hundreds of thousands of aircraft. ■

飞机为什么会失事？

收集可靠数据以得出结论是科学调查的基本原则，黑匣子飞行记录器就是这一原则的集中体现，然而相关机构却普遍拒绝安装它，这是其开发应用过程中最令人好奇的一个方面。

[2]20世纪50年代在堪培拉举行的一次会议期间，黑匣子在僵局中应运而生。当时，澳大利亚航空实验研究室（ARL，现在是国防科学与技术组织的一部分）的专家们正尽力查明英国最新飞机彗星客机的坠毁原因。

[3]戴维·沃伦是一位化学家，负责研究当时引入航空领域的新型燃气轮机所用的燃料。他曾应邀计算彗星客机燃料箱爆炸可能产生的影响。

[4]他计算后的答案是，即使找到坠毁的彗星客机，也无法解释造成的损害。其他专家推测失事的可能原因时，他却有个事后看来很明确的想法，那就是他们需要用数据来说话。

[5]于是，他回到实验室，就飞机上记录数据在帮助失事调查中的必要性写了一篇极其简短的技术备忘录。对于那时的技术而言，记录飞机所有的飞行数据毫无可能。

[6]沃伦博士认为，彗星客机的飞行员应该清楚飞机的故障所在，这也是黑匣子中包括驾驶舱话音记录器的原因。

记录器需在飞机坠毁后保持完好

[7]20世纪50年代初，飞机坠毁燃烧后所有记录带也会化为灰烬，但在一次商品交易会中，沃伦博士看到了第一代钢丝录音机。沃伦博士在Miniphon钢丝录音机的基础上设计出第一个基础记录器，该记录器现存于墨尔本港的国防科学与技术博物馆。

[8]他发现，通过仪表板和头顶上方的麦克风获取驾驶舱清晰的对话记录绝非易事，但一段时间之后，他开发出了可以运用的技术。

[9]在ARL，他和负责仪器的同事一起工作，找到了一种把飞行数据和声音记录在钢丝上的方法。20世纪50年代末，根据该技术制造出了一种大幅改良的版本，这在那个时代十分先进。

[10]沃伦博士在研发黑匣子的过程中展现了非凡的毅力。他是一名化学家，受雇专事于燃料研究以及将黑匣子由发明推向生产，在此过程中，他一直承受压力。

[11]其他人可能参与了黑匣子的开发，但努力使它被采用的是沃伦博士，这一过程遭遇了令人难以置信的阻力。澳大利亚空军发公函拒绝将黑匣子安装在空军飞机中，信中表示，沃伦博士的声音记录器“招惹的是非会多于表明的事实”。

[12]1960年，“福克友谊”号飞机在靠近昆士兰州麦凯机场时机毁人亡。事故发生后，担任调查委员会主席的斯派塞法官声明，商用飞机应当安装黑匣子。

[13]但是，澳大利亚民航局没有购买沃伦博士发明的黑匣子，而是购买了一套美国系统。

[14]随后的一次空难事故调查表明，购买的美国系统毫无用处。当时的市场观念是，黑匣子只安装在试飞的实验型飞机上，因而其全球年均销量只有6个。

[15]国防部拒绝为获得黑匣子的专利花钱，认为投入这2000澳大利亚英镑几乎没有商业价值。

偶遇

[16]整个飞行记录器项目处于停滞状态，直到1958年情况才有所好转。那一年，时任航空实验室主管的劳里·库姆斯将来访的英国官员、英国航空注册局局长罗伯特·哈丁厄姆爵士介绍给沃伦博士，希望填补其日程安排上的空当，博士谈起了黑匣子，而没有谈燃料研究。

[17]罗伯特爵士认为这是一个很好的想法，很快，沃伦博士便飞往英国，向英国皇家航空研究中心和英国几个商用器械制造商展示他的黑匣子。

[18]他经由美国返澳，在美国，他拜访了好几家航空机构和商业公司，但没有一家对他的黑匣子感兴趣。第一批黑匣子最初产于英国，有着公认的澳大利亚血统，但该认可很快便无人再理了。

丢失的发明

[19]1965年，美国要求其国内制造的所有商用飞机安装驾驶舱话音记录器，其他西方国家纷纷效仿。

[20]澳大利亚原本享有黑匣子发明的知识产权，此时却遭到侵犯，但澳大利亚国防部拥有背景知识产权并得到认可，为此收获1000英镑。

[21]1965年，我进入航空实验室工作，那时黑匣子的相关工作已渐渐降温，但沃伦博士经常向我详细讲述黑匣子的历史。

[22]他并没有因不受当权者器重而生气，而是为澳大利亚错失从发明中获利的良机而遗憾，如今，这一发明已应用在成千上万的飞机上。 □

黑匣子：险遭忽视的澳大利亚发明

ByBill Scho fi eld

（译者单位：中国石油大学（北京）外国语学院）