David Warren (inventor)
| David Waren | |
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 Warren with a prototype of a black box |
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| Born | 20 March 1925 Groote Eylandt, Northern Territory, Australia |
| Died | 19 July 2010 (aged 85) Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |
| Nationality | Australian |
| Alma mater | University of Sydney |
| Known for | Flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder |
David Ronald de Mey Warren AO (20 March 1925 – 19 July 2010) was an Australian scientist, best known for inventing and developing the flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder (also known as FDR and CVR, or "the black boxes").[1]
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[edit] Early life
David Warren was born on Groote Eylandt, an island off the coast of the Northern Territory. He was the first child of European descent born on the island.[2] He was sent to school at Launceston Grammar School in Tasmania and Trinity Grammar School in Sydney.
His father died in a 1934 Bass Strait air crash.[2]
He graduated from the University of Sydney with a Bachelor of Science.[3]
[edit] Work
Warren became the principal research scientist at the Defence Science and Technology Organisation's Aeronautical Research Laboratories in Melbourne from 1952 to 1983.[4] While there, he came up with the idea for the cockpit voice recorder while investigating a crash of the world's first commercial jet airliner, the Comet, in 1953, after seeing a miniature voice recorder at a trade show. "If a businessman had been using one of these in the plane and we could find it in the wreckage and we played it back, we'd say, 'We know what caused this.'", Warren later recalled. "Any sounds that were relevant to what was going on would be recorded and you could take them from the wreckage."[2] While devices had been previously used to record certain flight parameters, they did not include voice recording, and were not reusable, and therefore were not practical for routine commercial flights. Warren's invention, which relied on magnetic recording media, allowed easy erasing and re-recording, which made it practical for routine line service. Warren's concept of cockpit voice recording added a new dimension to instrument data in flight recorders, and has proved extremely valuable for accident investigation. Interestingly, some accidents where the CVR played a prominent role were solved not by the crew's recorded voices, but by other sounds incidentally recorded on the CVR, which provided a vital clue to the accident cause.[5] (See also Flight recorder#History.)
Warren died 19 July 2010, at age 85, in Melbourne.[6] He was buried in a casket bearing the label "Flight Recorder Inventor; Do Not Open".[7]
[edit] Awards and honours
Warren was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO) in the Australia Day honours in 2002.[8]
In 2007, Warren was included on the "Top 100 living geniuses" list compiled by a panel of six experts in creativity and innovation from Creators Synectics.[9]
In November 2008, Qantas named one of their Airbus A380s after Warren in honour of his services to aviation.[10]
[edit] Notes
- ^ The flight data recorder and cockpit voice recorder functionalities were originally combined inside one box.
- ^ a b c Coopes, Amy (2010-07-20). "AFP: Aircraft 'black box' inventor dies in Australia". Google.com. http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gGqP_CbWB1Lumbch6B0xdt-zKUfA. Retrieved 2010-08-02.
- ^ Dave Warren - Biography, Defence Science and Technology Organisation.
- ^ "Black box inventor dies, age 85". Telegraph. 2010-07-21. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/australiaandthepacific/australia/7902124/Black-box-inventor-dies-age-85.html. Retrieved 2010-08-02.
- ^ "DATA COLLECTION AND IMPROVED TECHNOLOGIES". National Transportation Safety Board. May 20, 1998. http://www.ntsb.gov/news/speeches/staff/s980520.htm. "We were able to derive the speed of the engines based on a sound spectrum analysis of the engine sounds recorded on the CVR. That information, in combination with conversations between the crew enabled us to determine that the engines were not at high thrust as the pilots believed."
- ^ Schudel, Matt (2010-07-22). "David Warren, inventor of 'black box' flight data recorder, dies at 85". Washington Post. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/21/AR2010072106185.html. Retrieved 2010-07-26.
- ^ Tsikas, Mick (2010-07-22). "History Recorder Remembered". Reuters/Wall Street Journal. http://blogs.wsj.com/photojournal/2010/07/23/pictures-of-the-day-july-23/. Retrieved 2010-07-26. (photo)
- ^ WARREN, David Ronald, It's an Honour, 2002.
- ^ "Top 100 living geniuses". The Daily Telegraph. 2007-10-28. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1567544/Top-100-living-geniuses.html. Retrieved 2012-02-03.
- ^ Tribute to Nancy-Bird Walton, Qantas, 1 October 2008.
