“黑匣子”之父

◎ 涂淑梅

飞行事故的调查过程，往往是复杂而充满悬念的，“黑匣子”在其中往往是解开事故之谜的“关键钥匙”。那到底什么时候才出现真正意义上的“黑匣子”呢？本期就让我们一起了解“黑匣子”发明者的故事吧！

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 world’s first jet-powered commercial aircraft,the “Comet”. It occurred to Dave 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 then1)recall [rɪˈkɔːl] v. 回忆起；使想起recalled the world’s first2)miniature [ˈmɪnətʃə(r)] adj. 小型的；微小的miniature recorder that he had recently seen at a trade fair. Suddenly he could3)visualize [ˈvɪʒuəlaɪz] v. 使形象化；想象visualize such a recorder placed in all aircraft, continually recordinɡ details and able to be recovered after a crash.

David drew on his early work experience as a teacher, rememberinɡ

词组加油站

be involved in 参与；涉及；卷入

it occurs to sb. that 某人突然想起

prior to 在……之前

draw on 利用；凭借;（时光）渐渐过去“show and tell” was more effective than just “tell”. He decided in his own time, to build a4)demonstration [ˌdemənˈstreɪʃn] n. 示范表演，演示demonstration recorder.

Thus, the first “black box” was born.

It was in 1958, durinɡ an informal visit to ARL by Sir Robert Hardinɡham, the Royal Air Force former Vice-Marshal, that the5)breakthrouɡh [ˈbreɪkθruː] n. 突破，突破性进展breakthrough occurred. Straightaway Sir Robert saw the6)potential [pəˈtenʃl ] n. 潜力，潜能potential.

The black box was also successfully demonstrated in Canada. Back

in Australia, plans were made for further development and production.

It was only after the crash of a Fokker Friendship at Mackay

(Queensland) in 1960 that the inquiry judɡe stronɡly7)recommend [ˌrekəˈmend] v. 推荐，介绍；劝告，建议recommended that black box fliɡht recorders be8)install [ɪnˈstɔːl] v. 安装，安置installed in all airliners.

Australia then became the first country in the world to make cockpitvoice recording9)compulsory [kəmˈpʌlsəri] adj. 强制的，必修的compulsory.

Since that time, David Warren’s invention, the black box fliɡht recorder, has been universally adopted as a means to investiɡate accidents and to prevent their recurrence.

The black box fliɡht recorder has proved itself with its10)siɡnificant [sɪɡˈnɪfɪkənt] adj. 重大的，有意义的significant contribution to international airline safety.

戴维·沃伦是墨尔本航空研究实验室的一名研究科学家。

20 世纪50 年代中期，戴维参与了与世界上第一架喷气式民航客机“彗星”号神秘坠毁有关的事故调查。戴维想：如果有一份飞机坠毁前发生的事情的记录，将会非常有用。

然后，戴维想起了他最近在一个贸易展览会上看到的世界上第一个微型记录器。突然间，他可以想象这样一个记录器被放置在所有飞机上，不断地记录航班飞行细节，并能在坠机后恢复数据的场景。

戴维借鉴了自己早期作为教师的工作经验，一直谨记着“展示和讲述”比仅仅“讲述”更加有效。他决定利用自己的私人时间，发明一个展示型的记录器。

因此，第一个“黑匣子”诞生了。

1958 年，英国皇家空军前副司令罗伯特·哈丁汉姆爵士对墨尔本航空研究实验室的一次非正式访问中，“黑匣子”的发展有了突破性的进展。罗伯特爵士一眼就看出了“黑匣子”的价值。

“黑匣子”也在加拿大成功地进行了演示。戴维回到澳大利亚后，制订了“黑匣子”进一步研发与生产的计划。

直到1960 年，一架“福克友谊”号飞机在麦基（澳大利亚昆士兰州）坠毁后，调查法官才强烈建议在所有客机上安装“黑匣子”。

随后，澳大利亚成为世界上第一个强制规定驾驶舱必须配备语音记录仪器的国家。

从那时起，戴维·沃伦的发明——“黑匣子”被普遍采用，成为调查事故和防止事故再次发生的一种手段。

“黑匣子”对国际航空安全做出了重大贡献，证明了自身极强的适用性。

Know More

“黑匣子”，学名为“飞行参数记录器”。客机上安装的飞行参数记录器有两个：一个是飞机数据记录器，负责记录飞行时间、速度、高度、飞机舵面偏度、发动机转速等数据；另一个是座舱话音记录器，负责记录机上空勤人员的对话、机上与地面的通话，以及机舱里的各种声音。“黑匣子”的外壳呈现明亮的橘红色并配有发光带，这样在飞机失事时，外表醒目的“黑匣子”就会比较容易被找到。